Each break, on its own terms
What Hertfordshire County Council’s holidays are good for, 2027–28
Sunset, clock changes and bank holidays are calculated from the dates. The rest is guidance — there are no prices here, because we cannot verify them.
October half-term
25 Oct 2027 – 29 Oct 2027 · 4 nights
sunset 17:47every council off — peak
The last warm week, and the week the light goes
- This is the final week of the year when short-haul sun still reliably works: the Canaries, Madeira, southern Cyprus and Malta are all still swimming weather.
- Mainland Spain, Portugal and southern Italy are mild rather than hot - good for walking, cities and coastlines without the August crush.
- In the UK this is the busiest domestic week of the autumn. Theme parks and attractions run Halloween events and price accordingly; book those before the window, not during it.
- Nothing is skiing yet beyond a couple of glaciers.
Christmas
20 Dec 2027 – 3 Jan 2028 · 14 nights
sunset 15:57Christmas DayBoxing DayNew Year's Dayevery council off — peak
Two different holidays wearing one name
- The first half and second half behave nothing alike. Up to the 25th is Christmas markets, Lapland and northern lights; from Boxing Day to the 2nd is New Year, which is the single most expensive stretch of the winter.
- Lapland and Santa trips sell out the previous spring, not the previous month. If that is the plan, this window is far too late to start.
- Alpine snow is not dependable below roughly 1,800m in December. Higher, glacier-backed resorts are the safer bet this early.
- Long-haul winter sun - Caribbean, Gulf, Red Sea, Southeast Asia - is at its annual price peak across this window.
February half-term
14 Feb 2028 – 18 Feb 2028 · 4 nights
sunset 17:1936 of 44 councils off
Europe's most contested ski week - or its cheapest cities
- February half-term collides with French, Dutch and Swiss school holidays, which is why Alpine prices spike now rather than at Christmas. If you ski this week, book unusually far ahead or look at Italy, Andorra, Bulgaria and Scandinavia rather than the French majors.
- If you are not skiing, this is one of the cheapest weeks of the year for European city breaks - the weather is poor and everyone else is on a mountain.
- Winter sun that genuinely works in February: the Canaries at around 20C, Cape Verde, the Red Sea, the Gulf and the Caribbean.
- UK daylight is still short. Anything built around being outdoors after 17:00 does not work yet.
Easter / spring
3 Apr 2028 – 17 Apr 2028 · 14 nights
sunset 19:56Good FridayEaster Monday29 of 44 councils off
The window that moves - and the one worth planning around
- Easter shifts by more than a month between years, and councils split over whether to follow it. That is exactly why this break diverges more than any other, and why it is the best chance of finding a week your schools are off and most others are not.
- An early Easter still has skiing at altitude and a Mediterranean that is too cool for the beach.
- A late Easter is the opposite: most Alpine resorts are closing, and Greece, Spain, Portugal and Turkey are genuinely pleasant without summer prices or summer heat.
- The clocks go forward at the end of March, so a later break gets usefully long evenings.
May half-term
29 May 2028 – 2 Jun 2028 · 4 nights
sunset 21:18Spring bank holidayevery council off — peak
The best-value week in the Mediterranean
- A bank holiday is attached, so this window buys more nights away per day of annual leave than any other week in the year.
- The eastern Mediterranean - Greece, Turkey, Cyprus - is warm enough to swim and still priced below peak. For most families this is the strongest week of the year on value.
- It is also, on average, the best-weather school holiday in the UK itself, which makes it the one where a domestic trip is least likely to disappoint.
- Long evenings: sunset is past 21:00 across England.
Summer
25 Jul 2028 – 1 Sep 2028 · 38 nights
sunset 20:36Summer bank holiday37 of 44 councils off
Peak everything - so the timing inside it matters most
- Within the six weeks, the ends are materially cheaper than the middle. The last week of July and the final days before term are the two places to look first.
- Southern Europe in late July and August is now routinely uncomfortable rather than merely hot. Northern Spain, the Atlantic coast, the Alps in summer, Scandinavia and Scotland all trade heat for space.
- This is the one window where every council in England is off at once for a long stretch, so there is no scheduling trick available - only choosing where inside it to go.