Temperature: 18☌ high 12☌ low Season: autumn Flight time from UK: 3 hours 40 minutes Time difference: GMT+2Īthens makes a brilliant and warm weekend city break, where the new youth culture is breathing life into this historical city and hip young start-ups are booming in the face of austerity. Where to stay: Just 36 guests are given the run of green jungle, white beach and blue water across 250 acres at Imanta Resorts Punta de Mita. Tailwind Jungle Lodge, for example, hosts community events, donates to sustainable development in the area and promotes local businesses to guests – and it’s just a 30-minute drive to Sayulita for a day’s surfing. The small hotels here are closely tied to the community.

Or consider staying in Sayulita’s quieter neighbour, San Pancho. Nip in just before peak season, though, and not only have the summer rain and humidity finally eased off, but it’s the best time for whale watching, too. An absence of major hotels, in favour of hippie-chic guesthouses ( Casa Love and Petit Hotel Hafa are favourites), gives the impression of a best-kept secret – but, come Christmas, Sayulita is packed. Less glam than Tulum, but much hipper than resort-y Puerto Vallarta further south, it’s an easy-breezy scene, more catching waves and afternoon Margaritas than yoga and cold-pressed juice. Join the hippies in this Pacific coast surf town, where brightly painted design boutiques and vintage surfboard shops rub up against al pastor stands and street eats sold from wheelbarrows. Temperature: 33☌ high 20☌ low Season: dry Travel time from UK: 15 hours Time difference: GMT -5 For more, see our edit of the best hotels in Lisbon. If you're after a view, try this rooftop Airbnb near Alfama or Memmo Alfama which has one of the best rooftop pools in the city. Where to stay: Tropical-themed The Ivens gets our pick for one of the best new hotels in the world for 2022.

Make time to explore neighbourhood-of-the-moment Cais do Sodré, a formerly sketchy part of town that now has a spruced-up riverfront promenade, cool warehouse conversions and fab food stalls at Time Out-curated Mercado da Ribeira. Lisbon was even named Europe's most budget-friendly city break for 2023. Of course, it’s not just the weather that makes this cobbled capital so alluring: now ranking among Europe’s coolest city breaks, it’s a hive of high-end but refreshingly affordable restaurants, raucous hole-in-the-wall bars and covetable concept stores (not to mention those cute, canary-yellow vintage trams). Temperature: 20☌ high 12☌ low Season: autumn Travel time from UK: 2 hours 45 minutes Time difference: GMT +0Īs most of mainland Europe shivers, Portugal remains enviably mild: Lisbon’s average November temperature is 18☌.

Pretty winter scenery