Flying south in August is a real bargain — but your dream villa may not be

The Man Who Pays His Way

One marvel of 21st century travel: even if something looks too good to be true, it may be genuine.

Take the vicious fares war being played out between airlines flying to Europe. One of the rare times of the year when it is usually actual fun being in the aviation business is the summer peak. You put your flights for July and August on sale many months ahead, then sit back and wait for them to fill up at progressively higher fares. By careful “yield management” — the dark art of extracting the maximum fare from each seat — you expect to sell the last few spaces for a fortune to passengers who book late for their place in the sun.

This year, though, as airlines squabble for market share, last-minute fares are plummeting. While you could pay more than £40 return between Leeds/Bradford and Ibiza, with plenty of seats on Ryanair available in the first couple of weeks of August at £20 each way, you don't really need to. And while Milan is not a rewarding summer destination, it is an excellent gateway to anywhere in Italy. So fly to the city from Southend for £40 return on Flybe, or for £44 from Belfast on Ryanair, and continue by high-speed train to Rome, Venice or Naples.

Reaching your chosen destination is only half the battle, though. While you might have scored a cheap deal on the flight, finding somewhere to lay your head can cost a fortune — especially if you get stung by a villa scam.

Fraudsters are exploiting the summer demand for accommodation by setting up fake villa rental firms on an industrial scale. Creating professional-looking websites using images stolen from genuine sites, they prey on the growing desperation for a place to stay. Mallorca and Ibiza are being targeted particularly heavily this summer, due to the surge in flights to the Balearic Islands and the scarcity of accommodation.

“After days of trawling the internet, we eventually got a positive response on exactly what we are looking for,” says a lady who is searching for a Mallorcan villa.

“It’s from a website I found purely by accident. They have been very responsive with emails, they've sent a contract to sign and return with proof of payment. Here lies the problem, they only accept bank transfer. And the company I am requested to pay appears to have only been trading since May 2017.”

I advised her not to touch it with a Balearic bargepole. Any villa website that at this stage has a prime property at a good price for the dates you need in August really is too good to be true. Nick Cooper, boss of the genuine and reliable company, Villa Plus, says almost everything has sold out in Mallorca. And he warns: “Customers are simply too trusting, and are blinded to a deal that is too good to be true.”

The cheap flight deals mean there are more airline seats to the Med than available beds. Even my Mallorcan standby, the cheap and cheerful Hostal de la Caravel-la in Cala d’Or, is showing full for all the dates I have tested in August.

So instead, head for the hills: specifically the French Pyrenees. Ryanair will fly you from Stansted to Toulouse for £32 return in August. As Elliot tweeted in response to my story about the fares war: “What have you got Toulouse by booking that?”

Strung along the GR10 long-distance footpath are hikers’ refuges: abandoned huts that once housed shepherds and livestock, re-purposed as transient shelters.

The odd hole in the roof may prove inconvenient in the event of an overnight downpour, and you are guaranteed company in the shape of smelly, snoring randonneurs. But sleep soundly in the knowledge that you have the travel bargain of the summer. It’s a marvel.