The hottest destinations for a spontaneous summer holiday.

Holidays should be relaxing. And that includes the booking process. If you still don’t have anything lined up for this summer, don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Whether you’d like to exhaustively explore a new city, sample some extraordinary local food or simply lie on a beach – or all of the above – read on for the smart destinations to steer for.

For the sunseeker

A favourite of Hollywood superstars including Mr George Clooney and Mr Brad Pitt, Lake Como – the prettiest of the Italian Lakes – is often believed to be hard to reach. It’s not. All you need is a flight to Milan, then it’s an easy 60-minute train ride straight to Como Nord Lago (book a week in advance, and you’ll get a return ticket for less than €15). There’s an outstanding new reason to visit the Italian idyll now, too: the opening of the country’s most exciting new luxury hotel, Il Sereno, on the eastern shore.

For the foodie

Nope. We hadn’t heard of it either – and that’s why last-minute reservations at the village’s Michelin-starred restaurants won’t be too much of a problem. Between them, four restaurants – the Bareiss, Schwarzwaldstube, Schlossberg and Le Pavillon – have a combined total of 10 Michelin stars, with the former two both triple-studded. To put that into context, the population of Baiersbronn is less than 16,000 – but it has the same number of three-star restaurants as London (population 8.7 million). Little more than an hour’s drive from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, you’ll find the quaint Black Forest town offers up a number of tasty accommodation options too.

For the city stroller

The closest major US city to London, Boston is currently undergoing something of a hotel renaissance – which means plenty of last-minute deals to be had at appealing prices. (In particular, check out the outstanding XV Beacon, Nine Zero and The Liberty.) With Norwegian Air offering flights from London Gatwick in July and August at £184, and the best menswear shops clustered around Newbury Street, Boston is ticking a lot of boxes right now.

**For the cultured **

From a cultural vantage point, plenty of attention has – justifiably – been lavished on Aarhus this year. But Denmark’s second city is also sharing its European Capital of Culture 2017 crown with pretty Paphos in Cyprus, where (let us not forget) drinks are less than half the price and sunshine is more than twice as likely. The coastal city, which boasts an embarrassment of Unesco-listed ancient sites, is planning a series of intriguing exhibitions to mark its status this summer. Plus, just 40 miles from Limassol, it’s easily reachable.

For the adventurer

Move over Costa Rica, grab your coat Iceland – the Azores are the hot new adventure destination. A revamped local airline and a number of new hotels are pushing this little collection off Mid-Atlantic islands onto a number of major radars. An amazing beach-mountain-jungle combination and short flight times from both Western Europe and the US East coast, means the Azores are set to be one of the places everybody is talking about in 2018. Get there first – and cheaper – by blazing a trail now.

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