What’s the deal: The Independent’s travel team battles it out to find the best beach holidays in September

Top breaks you can still book, from Spain to the Deep South

Sa Tuna beach in Begur, Spain, which is blissfully quiet come September (Shutterstock)

Each week, The Independent’s travel team go head to head to see who can come up with the best version of a particular trip. Today we’re tackling a beach holiday in September for two; here are our top tips:

Simon’s choice: a week in Portinatx, Ibiza
Price for two people: £573

Traditional Mediterranean package holidays represent superb value for most of the summer – it’s just during the school holidays that prices soar. Throughout September you can get great deals with the two big holiday firms, Thomson and Thomas Cook, and feel extra-smug because the Med is at its warmest during the ninth month of the year. I recommend a one-week Thomson holiday to the resort of Portinatx at the far north of Ibiza, departing 28 September, which includes flights, transfers and half-board accommodation. The resort wraps around a lovely bay, and the main beach of sugary sand is augmented by a couple of smaller coves. You can clamber along the rocky shore or walk more energetically over the hills to the east and west. The clubs of San Antonio are way beyond audible range, but Ibiza Town is close enough (about 20 miles) to make an easy day trip to the picture-postcard-perfect old town. For cash-strapped Brits, half-board at the Hotel Presidente will avoid excessive euro spend. Any catches? The flight takes off from Luton around 8pm and arrives back shortly before 2am, but that could be worth tolerating for a bargain beach break that works out at a very modest £1.70 per hour.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent

Portinatx, at the far north of Ibiza, is a beach break away from the big clubs (Spain Tourism)

Nicola’s choice: a coastal road trip in the Deep South
Total for two people: £2,124

A few years ago, a friend and I took a road trip through America’s Deep South. We stopped at all the usual points along the way, but also uncovered some surprise gems. One of those was Dauphin Island, Alabama. It has a beautiful sandy beach that was nearly deserted on our visit, and in September the temperature should be a pleasant 24-30C (not the 40C-plus we experienced in July). For £790 per person, Virgin Holidays has one-stop flights to New Orleans from Heathrow, departing 1 September and returning a week later, plus car hire. Spend a night either end of the trip in this great city; The Whitney, a hotel in a former bank on the edge of the French Quarter, has room-only doubles for around $113 (£87) on those dates. From here it’s a two-and-a-half hour drive along the Gulf Coast to Dauphin Island. I’m a sucker for a cheap and cheerful American motel, so I’d check in to the Gulf Breeze Motel; it’s across the road from the beach and has basic room-only doubles for $79 (£61) a night.

Nicola Trup, head of travel


 The deserted sands of Dauphin Island will offer you peace and tranquility in Alabama 
 (Getty)

Laura’s choice: a long weekend in Catalonia
Total for two people: £316

I like to think of the Catalonian region of El Baix Empordà as Spain’s more affordable answer to Tuscany. It’s all rolling fields, crumbling hilltop medieval ruins and teeny, stone-carved towns, with the bonus of exceptional beaches. The nicest, around small town Begur, are clogged by Spanish holidaymakers all summer long. That’s why September is the time to visit – temperatures hang around the sunny but not stifling 20Cs, while restaurants and beaches are blissfully quiet as they wind down for the end of the season. Begur is a 45-minute drive from big city Girona; Ryanair flies here from Stansted for £19.99 each way if you book before 25 August. You can hire a car from Girona with Firefly for about £30, with pick-up on Friday night and return on Sunday. In Begur, splash out on my favourite hotel, the boutique Aiguaclara. Set in one of the Cuban mansions that characterise the town – built by locals returning from making their fortunes in the 19th-century Spanish colony - it has a haphazard charm, strewn with fairy lights and antiques. The cheapest double room costs €120 (£103) a night. My top beach tip here is Aiguablava, with its credulity-stretching blue sea and coastal walking paths leading to secluded coves.

Laura Chubb, deputy head of travel


 Aiguablava beach in Begur, which means ‘blue sea’. They’re not kidding 
 (Laura Chubb)