ILE DE RE, FRANCE

ILE DE RE, FRANCE : A holiday on the Ile de Ré, a narrow, sun-bleached island connected to the west coast of France by a long road bridge, feels like a return to a less hurried, more innocent age. It’s an island of sand dunes and sunflowers, pine forests and poppy fields, vineyards and fishing villages, all connected by 60 miles of cycle paths. Just about everyone on the island gets around by bike, with smaller children pulled along in two-wheeled trailers. After long days paddling in the sea and building sandcastles, you can pedal to one of many friendly harbourside cafes and scoff platefuls of fresh oysters and mussels.

TROPEA, CALABRIA

TROPEA, CALABRIA

Like a fractured metatarsal on the foot of Italy, the Tropea promontory juts out into the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea, its superb white-sand beaches shielded by high cliffs. The town of Tropea pulls off a rare trick by managing to be both fashionable and unspoilt, a maze of steep narrow streets, Renaissance churches and yellow-stone palazzi.

Benirras Ibiza

Benirras Ibiza

In the 1960s, Benirras became infamous as the scene of drug-fuelled orgies. Today, it attracts a stylish mix of young Spaniards, Italians and Swedes, though the hippie vibe remains; each day, the mellow sunset is hailed by a chorus of bongo-players. Benirras has been protected from hotel developers, but there are several upmarket villas nearby, including one owned by a DJ, which has six bedrooms, a private pool, a music room and a sundeck. Benirras, in the north of Ibiza, is about as far as you can get from the fevered fleshpots of San Antonio. Here, at the end of a long and winding mountain road, lies a perfect slice of sand, bookmarked by cliffs and overlooking a deep, calm bay.