The 20 best value summer holiday destinations

You can spend a sizeable amount on a high-season dash to one of the more elegant Greek islands; equally, you can save a euro or two if you choose the mainland over the sun-kissed outcrops of the Aegean or Ionian. That said, you can still enjoy the latter sea if you aim for Epirus, the most north-westerly corner of the country, where Greece pushes up against the Albanian border – just from the inside looking out, rather than from a villa on Corfu. Not that there will be a drop in the quality of your holiday if you organise a week in Parga – an endlessly pretty town which adorns the seafront, directly across from Paxos.

Do it: Olympic Holidays (020 84926868; olympicholidays.com) has a week’s stay for a family of four at the five-star Parga Beach Resort, flying from Manchester to Preveza – the best-placed airport for the mainland north-west – on August 6, from £3,501 in total.