Help me find this holiday destination please

[SirChenjins]

I would like:

Easy access (3-4 hours) from a Scottish or N England airport
A smallish, historical town about an hour's drive from the airport with good restaurants (including vegetarian) - not bothered about bars as we rarely drink
A small sandy beach or 2
Not busy
Not loads of nightlife
Surrounded by countryside where we can walk
Lots of other historical towns nearby where I can stare at old buildings, sit in cafes and buy nice things in the shops
Own villa or house with private pool
The holy grail

(I am prepared to forego the last one though). Any suggestions would be very gratefully received 😊

I adore ohrid in north macedonia . Flights from manchester

Very cheap. Lovely old town. Known as Jerusalem of balkans due to number of old churches. Great restaurants.

It is sited on a lake.

Gorgeous vineyards. Eaay day trips to monastery, trips into hills etc

Easy to visit albania on a day trip

Eg we did a great two hour sunset boat cruise inc prosecco. 10 euro each June 2025.

Not sure about a villa but we stayed at

We stayed at the hotel Villa mystic

It was a lovely family run hotel

Walking into town takes about 15 mins.....the walk in is not beautiful, but once you get in it is well worth it.

We found a guy called George who was wonderfully bonkers and we booked all our trips direct through him eg trip to Albania, trip to St naum monastery etc

Ahh sorry
We booked with tuu and I see they no longer go out of Manchester but fly fr gatwick

Annecy, France - fly to Geneva then it’s an hours drive. You don’t have sandy beaches, but you do have ‘green beaches’. Ie. Grassy area next to the lake. The lake is lovely to swim in. Annecy is a beautiful area, a lake surrounded by mountains.

I’d look at Nerja Spain.
less than an hour east of Malaga airport.
gorgeous old town and some lovely coves as well as a bigger maintained beach with a lovely restaurant strip etc. 15 mins walk out of town (playa burriana) no hotels just villas.
Easy drive into Granada for the day plus some nice walking routes nearby with the backdrop of the alhambras, including the Rio chillar river trek.

Slovenia, 2 hour flight and short transfer to capital. Plenty Lake “beaches” and swim spots as well as coast, pretty quiet depending when you go - not sure about villa but Airbnb aplenty

Annecy is lovely but it is HEAVING in the summer.

Tui still fly out of Manchester twice a week until mid/late September, dropping to once a week in 2027. Haven't been, but was on my list of options for a future trip.
Have a look at Cascais near Lisbon, I think it will be busy, but otherwis ticks boxes. We went in May and it didn't seem like it would be party central but I've obviously not been in high summer.

The Costa Brava is very underrated. You have fabulous beaches, mountains and endless towns and villages.
St Felieux De Guixols is a wonderful town with an amazing market and the Ramblas is lovely. You can fly into either Girona- a beautiful city or Barcelona. As part of the hols you can also cross the border into France or enjoy the Pyrenees.

Bilbao? Easy metro ride out to the beaches. You can take a bus to San Sebastián. You can do parts of long distance walking routes nearby. Not over run with tourists. Fantastic food.

We adored ohrid in north macedonia. I never go back to the same place twice but would go back there. Some seriously cheap deals for 1 July currently whrn i checked earlier ....and it's a v cheap destination anyway! Villa mystic where we stayed before working out £475 pp for a week when I checked a few hours ago

Croatia. We stayed about 30 mins outside of dubrovnik and there were loads of lovely towns to explore, its not been over developed, lovely weather, beautiful walks, beaches, boat rides and beautiful food. Dubrovnik itself can be busy when the cruise ships dock but anywhere in Croatia would probably fit your bill. Split was lovely too.

Agree and if it was me I would locate in Begur. Lovely little town, great food and beautiful sandy coves nearby, lovely day trips. Easy from Girona.

Cavtat in Croatia is only about 15 minutes from the airport. Lots of places nearby too if you hire a car.

We are going there this summer and staying on talloire. A good shout. Flights to Geneva then a flix bus.

You’ll have a fab time. Chamonix is a good day out trip from Annecy as well.

Split is historic and has Dubrovnik nearby.

Thank you. Good to know

If you can fly to Bari, then Puglia is lovely. If you rent a car you can stay in the countryside with a pool, maybe a trulli? and there are loads of pretty towns to visit and some wonderful beaches. Monopoli, Ostuni, Alberobello, Lecce, Locorotono - and Matera a bit further afield.

Brindisi is another flight option

When is this for? I agree that Puglia ticks lots of your boxes, with the exception perhaps of country walks, especially in the summer, which is humid and punishing. Put it this way, I’ve never seen anyone out walking! May and Sept-Oct are best times to go, to avoid the heat.

Pretty much any Balearic or Greek Island? the walking is good but hot of course.

Thank you all so much - these are all fab suggestions and will look into each one 😊