Stop Choosing the Destination First

I have a slightly dangerous habit when it comes to travel.

I decide where I want to go.

Then I look at the price.

This is completely backwards.

Because September has reminded me that sometimes the cleverest way to travel is to forget the destination for five minutes and ask a much better question:

Where is unusually good value right now?

That sounds like a tiny change.

It isn’t.

Let the bargain choose the adventure

Yesterday I was looking at the September price drop at Relax-Nat on the Costa Brava.

Today I’ve been looking at the bigger picture.

And there are some rather interesting numbers appearing.

KAYAK has analysed its UK search data for autumn 2026 and found that Bilbao flight prices are around a fifth lower than last year and more than a third below summer prices. Dubrovnik flights were around 20% lower than 2025, while Portugal, Italy and Cyprus were also showing strong autumn value.

That doesn’t automatically make any of them the right naturist holiday.

But it makes me look.

And that is the trick.

Instead of saying, “I want seven days in this particular place,” start with the cheap flight and investigate what exists around it.

Naturist beach?

Campsite?

Walking?

Wild swimming?

Somewhere safe to park the van?

A little apartment that doesn’t require me to sell a kidney?

Now we’re planning a Lauren holiday.

£34 can change the question

Jet2’s live cheap-flight listings are particularly good fun at the moment.

As I’m writing this, advertised one-way fares include Alicante from £34, Dubrovnik from £34, Corfu from £34 and Gran Canaria from £43, although fares are live and can change.

And suddenly the psychology changes.

You’re no longer asking whether you can afford the holiday you originally imagined.

You’re asking:

What adventure could I build around a £34 flight?

That feels much more exciting.

Alicante immediately puts the Spanish Mediterranean coast into play. Gran Canaria gives you access to one of Europe’s best-known year-round naturist destinations. Croatia opens another completely different possibility.

Which? recently found return flights from London Stansted to Pula in Croatia for as little as £31 during its September research, with average September highs around 24°C in Istria.

And Istria matters to naturists.

It is home to established naturist destinations including Koversada and Valalta, so this isn’t a case of buying a cheap flight and then discovering your nearest naturist option requires three buses, a ferry and an encouraging relationship with Google Translate.

That’s my kind of bargain.

Cheap isn’t the point

There is an important distinction here.

I don’t want the cheapest holiday.

I want the holiday where I finish booking it and think:

How on earth have I managed that for the money?

Those are completely different things.

A £20 flight to somewhere you don’t particularly want to visit isn’t value.

Neither is saving £80 on accommodation if you then spend £200 getting from the airport to it.

The clever number is the whole-trip cost.

Flight.

Accommodation.

Transfers or car hire.

Baggage.

Food.

Insurance.

Campsite fees.

And, in my case, the inevitable coffee purchased while staring at a map because I’ve confidently driven in the wrong direction.

Again.

September rewards flexibility

This is why I love travelling outside the traditional summer rush.

The weather hasn’t suddenly received a memo announcing that August is over.

The Mediterranean and Adriatic have spent an entire summer warming up. Crowds begin thinning, some prices fall and suddenly places that looked extravagant a few weeks earlier start becoming interesting.

But September comes with one warning.

Check everything.

Some seasonal campsites, restaurants and transport services begin reducing their hours or closing later in the month. A wonderful July review tells you very little about whether the same facilities are operating on 28 September.

So check the official website.

Check the closing date.

Check the transport.

Check the weather.

Then check the price again.

Because sometimes the best travel decision isn’t choosing your dream destination and finding the cheapest way of getting there.

Sometimes it’s spotting an absurdly good opportunity and thinking:

I’ve never considered going there before.

And perhaps that’s the real bargain.

Not simply spending less.

Discovering somewhere you would otherwise never have thought to go.

So I’m changing my travel-searching habits.

Destination second.

Opportunity first.

Now somebody please take the flight-search websites away from me before there is a campervan parked at an airport and I have some explaining to do.

If you found a £34 flight tomorrow, would you let the bargain choose your next naturist adventure?