Chase the sun around the globe

Want to be sure of a sun holiday? SANDRA O'CONNELLhas a calendar of suggestions to guarantee the sun never sets on your holiday plans

August

Picture perfect in Portugal

With 10 hours of sunshine daily and temperatures averaging 28 degrees, Portugal’s Algarve is well established as a sun seeker’s heaven.

It’s like being on the Med but with cleaner Atlantic waters and, the further west you go, the more impressive they become, with Sagres offering some of the world’s best surfing conditions.

There are also water parks, mountain trails and miles of sandy coastline to explore, with more than enough sheltered coves to suit everyone.

• A week's self catering at the Club Praia da Rocha in Praia da Rocha, on the western Algarve, costs €562 for four sharing in August, flying Cork to Faro, log onto holidaysonline.ie.

September

Sizzling Sicily

Possibly too hot for even the most committed sun worshippers in August, temperatures dip to the toasty low 30s in September, meaning you can put off worrying about seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness just yet.

Autumn just isn’t in it here. Rather there is no rain, the sea is at its warmest (25 degrees) and tourist numbers have dwindled to more bearable levels, which mean prices have too.

At the same time, nature being nature, it’s harvest time here too which means the island comes alive with a host of traditional celebrations (many of them relating to the noble grape) as well as a Bellini Festival for opera lovers in Catania.

• One week's half board at the Hotel Ipanema in Taormina, departing September 5th from Dublin, costs €999 per person, budgettravel.ie.

October

Sunshine in Cyprus

In a month when the only lights on the horizon back home are those going up prematurely for Christmas, holidaymakers here are still bathing in glorious 24 degree sunshine.

When they’re not, visitors to the birthplace of Aphrodite are dipping their toe in 22 degree waters.

And it’s for the waters that many come, with gentle waves and a variety of beaches. These range from the quiet backwaters of the island’s western peninsula to the fine white sand and shallow turquoise waters of the buzzier east.

• A one-week stay in a one-bedroom apartment in the Avanti Holiday Village in Paphos, 250m from the beach near Kato Paphos, departing October 3rd, costs €729, concordetravel.ie.

November

Gorgeous Goa

The smallest Indian state has great weather year round but the period from November to March is ideal, with temperatures in the mid 20s to 30s, sunshine, clear blue skies and, crucially, none of the humidity you get around monsoon time.

It’s peak tourist season too however so expect to pay a bit more for your patch of heaven by the Indian Ocean, but what price this kind of heat in the most miserable month of the year?

The former hippy HQ still has its famous beachfront shacks to offer but has long since added a good range of decent hotels for the rest of us.

• For great value a week's all inclusive stay at the villa style Aldeaia Santa Rita in Goa this November, close to the sands of Candolim Beach, costs €874 based on two sharing, travelling via Paris, travelmood.ie.

December

Kick back in Cuba

Cuba is blessed with a tropical climate year round but one which, in summer, can be too hot to handle. December by contrast is the perfect time to visit, with sunny, non humid, days that hover happily around 20 degrees.

Opt for Cayo Coco, connected to the mainland by a 27km artificial causeway, and snorkel your way to Christmas along 300km of dazzling coral reef (second in the world only to the Great Barrier Reef).

Back on land there’s a tropical nature park that is home to 30,000 flamingos.

Or simply slap on the sunscreen and kickback on 20km of powder white sands.

• An all-inclusive week's stay at the four star Sol Cayo Coco in December costs £609 (€729) from the UK with directline-holidays.co.uk.

January

Live it up in Lanzarote

Ireland’s favourite Canary Island is almost a pilgrimage site for our wan and winter-battered bodies. Where else, in a matter of a few short hours, can we be guaranteed enough sunshine to see us through the rest of the winter? With seven hours of sunshine daily and average temperatures of 22 degrees, it’s where all those who plead, “I just need to feel heat in my bones”, go to regenerate. And why not – with average water temperatures of 19.5 degrees, even the sea is twice as warm as the air back home.

• Seven nights at the four-star Sands Beach Resort in Costa Tequise, Lanzarote, costs €474 based on two sharing a one bedroom apartment, self catering, departing January 9th, sunway.ie

February

Make for the Maldives

Most of the Maldives’ 1200 islands, sprinkled off the south west coast of India, are a mere 1m above sea water, making them perilously vulnerable to rising seas.

As if that alone weren’t reason enough to visit while you can, the weather is paradise perfect year round too, averaging 30 degrees. February however has the added appeal of being the dry season.

With gleaming white beaches giving way to clear blue water, coral gardens and tropical fish, visitors soon find out that what it lacks in land mass it makes up for with an amazing submarine life. Diving is a must for even the laziest sun-lounger.

• Seven nights B&B in a villa at the Reethi Beach Island Resort, with luxury spa facilities, costs €1,305 each based on two sharing in February, travelmood.ie

March

Dubai dreaming

Even dedicated sun worshippers find summer too much of a scorcher here (in the 40s) but March is the perfect time to go.

Daytime temperatures average a much more manageable, but still exotic, 26 degrees. It can still be chilly at night but in most cases the only cold you’ll feel is the positively Arctic air conditioning of your hotel, shopping mall and even indoor ski slope.

Okay scratch that. If you’d wanted snow you’d have gone to the Alps. You’re far more likely to be soaking up sun on the beach.

For the best value, stay a little way back from the beach but in a hotel with a courtesy shuttle service to ferry you back and forth.

• Five nights in the five-star, seven-restaurant Rydges Plaza Hotel in the Al Diyafah shopping district, two miles from the Jumeirah beach front, start at €535, including flights, sunway.ie.

April

Egyptian wonder

April may be the cruellest month back home but it’s the perfect month to visit the Red Sea resorts of Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and El Gouna, with air temperatures averaging 28 degrees and even the water a bath-like 23 degrees. Red-hot sea more like.

It’s no wonder even non-divers end up spending so much time in the water while seasoned divers never run out of colourful new places to explore. Check out Ras Muhammad National Park, a protected wildlife park that extends both over ground and under water, with a spectacular coral reef.

Or just turn over and bake your back.

• A week's stay in the Jolie Ville Maritim Resort and Casino, a three-star property on the beach at Sharm el Sheikh with a private section of Naam Bay Beach, in April 2011, departing Dublin, costs €709 with Panorama Holidays, panorama.ie.

May

Greek gifts

With average temperatures of 20 degrees, May is the most beautiful time to visit the birthplace of the Minoans. Sure it’s hotter in summer but it’s also more arid and barren as a result.

What is amazing about May in Crete is that you get sunshine plus a verdant patchwork of olive trees, grape vines and orange groves which is all underscored by a carpet of wild pink oleander.

Indeed, if you’ve only been in summer, you won’t recognise it with its spring clothes on; wild poppies, daisies, iris and camomile among them, all interspersed with the rising scent of thyme, rosemary and sage warming up for summer. It’s a heady mix.

• A one week's all-inclusive stay at the Stella Palace Hotel in lively Hersonissos in Crete costs €725 based on two sharing, departing Dublin in May 2011, with Sunworld, sunworld.ie

June

Turkish delight

Yes temperatures on the Spanish Costas will have started to build but to be totally sun sure, stay on the plane until you hit Turkey.

From Dalaman airport make your way down the idyllic and, as yet wholly unspoiled, Lycian coast, heading for the proverbial sleepy fishing town that is Kas.

Not only is sunshine guaranteed but temperatures are already nudging the heat lover’s toasting target – 30 degrees.

All that and the region’s famously turquoise waters to cool off in.

• A week's stay at the Deniz Feneri Lighthouse in Kas costs £550 (€658) in June, including airport transfers but excluding flights. UK flights start at £120 (€143) return with Thomas Cook, exclusiveescapes.co.uk, and thomascook.com

July

Break for the Cape

On the upside, you don’t have to travel too far to heat up at this time of year. The downside is, neither does anyone else, which is why part of said heat comes from being packed like a sardine on the Med’s best known beaches.

So, next year, why not head West instead, for a taste of summer US-style in Cape Cod, Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard.

With miles of beaches to swim off, coastline to explore and tracks to bike round, there’s loads to do and, crucially, plenty of space in which to do it, all at an average of 26 degrees. Keep your sunny side up.

• Four nights at the Chatham Bars Inn, a four-star property in Chatham, Cape Cod, starts at €725 per person in July, including flights and accommodation; sunway.ie.

Hot Packing

WHEN it comes to clothes, there’s nothing that concentrates the mind more than packing. Unlike those who travel with suitcases laden with enough gear to change three times a day, for me holiday packing, or any packing for that matter, is the ultimate test of that old mantra of “less is more”.

What’s the point of lugging stuff across continents and lugging it back again unworn? I want my clothes to work hard and my luggage to be light.

Packing for hot weather abroad is certainly easier than accommodating the paraphernalia that summers in Ireland demand.

The challenge is how to manage with a few items, a sort of clothes diet for these Ryanair days when hanging around baggage carousels gives way to the carry-on culture. It can be done with style and ingenuity as demonstrated by a recent exercise in the US involving women restricted to wearing six items in different ways for an entire month.

According to conventional wisdom, the trick when packing is to think about exactly what you’ll be doing on your hollyers – swimming, sunbathing, dining, dancing, sightseeing – and drawing up the appropriate outfits. In very hot weather, you may not be far from air-conditioning, so two climates should be kept in mind.

In Cyprus one September, the humidity was so great, it kept me indoors more often than outdoors. In Egyptian seaside resorts in October, you could live in shorts and swimsuits, but cultural codes may demand more covered attire elsewhere.

So, a few packing tips for hot weather

Keep colours clean and simple – white, navy, tan, black are safe bets and good mixers. Fabrics like cotton, or cotton/linen mixes are ideal, but avoid ramie, a linen lookalike that’s dreadfully uncomfortable, and fabrics that cling, like silk.

Two swimsuits are essential (either two one pieces or two bikinis or one of each).

They can be worn on or off the beach under a skirt, board shorts, a sarong or a wrap.

Shoes.You don't need more than two pairs in hot weather. Converse and Keds may look cool, but they need socks and when doing the dance of the seven veils at security, think of the time you may spend lacing and unlacing.

A pair of Fit Flops for the beach can double up for sightseeing and for evening, a pair of espadrilles, sandals or slides, nothing more. What’s essential is a pre-holiday pedicure.

Accessories.Apart from shades and sun protection, foldable hats like a fedora, visor or baseball cap are more practical than a trilby which you may have to stuff to keep in shape or else wear travelling. For really hot, humid weather, a long silk scarf wrapped bandana style around the head keeps longer hair in check. A very light bag or holdall that can double up for beach or sightseeing use is useful; add a smaller bag or clutch for evening and pack it with your favourite jewellery.

Travelling gearon the plane can be little more than jeans (or cropped cotton trousers), T-shirt and a light, short-sleeved jacket, each of which can be used again in other combinations; alternatively, a loose summer dress or top, leggings (optional but useful) and a jacket. A cardigan, either cotton or cashmere (cashmere dries more quickly), can be layered on or simply tied around your shoulders.

The final suitcase list.

• Swimwear
• Shoes
• Two pairs of shorts; alternatively a short skirt and a sarong
• Two more dresses, a sleeveless shirtwaister and a simple maxi (not a tiered affair)
• Two more T-shirts, black, white or nautical striped Accessories, underwear, cosmetics, chargers.

Now you just have to work those combinations! DEIRDRE MCQUILLAN