Portugal

The Easter break bank holiday has one purpose, and it’s not stuffing our faces with chocolate.  Nope, after a ling sunless Winter it’s to reacquaint out skin with its old friend – sunshine.  The four-day weekend (with a couple of extra days tacked on either side if you can swing it) is the perfect time to head to sizzling climes, and there are plenty of destination just a few hours away where the temperatures are soaring, this time of year.  Ride a camel on the beaches of Egypt’s Sharm el Sheikh, lie on a sunny boat deck as you sail past Croatia’s stunning coastline or head for the cultural

Sometimes when the temperature start sizzling, all you really wish for is soft sand to push your toes into, and bright blue water to jump in.  If you live in London like I do, you can rest happy in the knowledge that there are a whole host of sensational beaches within three hours’ journey from the here – and let face it, we’ve had had commutes that took longer than that.  So, hop on a plane and before you know it, you’ll be soaking up some rays, getting your surf on and ordering pina colada in a coconut, if that’s what tickles your fancy.

Head down a dusty track along Herdade da Comporta, an expanse of coastline just an hour from busy Lisbon, and you could find any number of surprises. You will see solitary majestic villas - one reason why this stretch of sand in the rural Alentejo region has been compared to the Hamptons of the 1970s - or, like me, a sapphire-coloured expanse of lake with dragonflies dancing across its surface.

You would not think it but Portugal is one of the oldest countries in Europe, its borders have remained largely unchanged since the 12th-century.  The Portuguese founded the first global empire. Lisbon’s ornate Torre de Belem (torrebelem.pt), Portugal’s symbol of the Age of Discovery, is a Unesco-protected monument and celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2015. The ornate tower was originally built in 1515 as a fortress to guard the entrance to Lisbon’s harbour, and served as the starting point for many voyages of discovery: it was from the beach in Belem that the great explorer Vasco da Gama set sail to chart the sea route to India. UNESCO chose to list it as a World Heritage monument for being ‘a reminder of the great maritime discoveries that laid the foundations of the modern world’.

Europe has a lot on offer for free-spirited youngsters. We have listed ten of these adventures for children between six and ten. From nature walks to walking with dinosaurs, from winter fun to summers sizzle, from whale watching in Iceland and peering into caves full of bats in Bulgaria to playing princess for a day in Vienna.

Faro might be known as the gateway to the Algarve, but there’s much to discover in the town itself. If you stick around to explore you will be surprise at what you will find.  A delightful mixture of Moorish remains and 18th-century Portuguese architecture, Faro’s cobbled streets and old city walls offer glorious sights wherever you turn.  And, with the temperatures still in the mid-20s throughout September, it’s the right place for those wanting a last minute summer get away.