Coolcation Nation: The Rise of the Anti-Sun Holiday

As the UK swelters through another summer of extreme heat, travellers are swapping sun-soaked hotspots for cooler climes… welcome to the rise of the anti-heat holiday.

For years, the perfect summer holiday has come with a very specific temperature: hot enough to justify buying a new cozzie and getting an ice-cream by the pool, but not so hot that you melt and can’t leave your AC hotel room. But this summer, as temperatures across Europe have pushed towards and beyond 40°C, we have started doing something previously unthinkable, actively looking for worse weather. Or, at least, less aggressively good weather. Searches for so-called ‘coolcations’ (holidays designed to escape extreme heat) have risen 74% year on year in 2026, according to Trip.com.

The anti-heat holiday is here, and it looks like Scotland, Norway, and the mountains (anywhere with a cool breeze) are the most desirable destinations to escape to. The shift is more than a travel trend with a catchy name, though. In the UK, Trivago reported bookings for Norway up 55% year on year for July and August, Sweden up 57%, and Denmark up 29%. Meanwhile, Scotland saw a 15% increase in flight bookings during June and July, as much of southern Europe sweltered.

So now we are craving grey skies? Of course, this is not to say the Mediterranean is finished. People are still booking Mykonos, ordering Aperol Spritzes, and escaping to 38 degrees by the pool. But the fantasy of the relentlessly sunny holiday is becoming harder to sustain when we are witnessing soaring temperatures on home soil.

We have spent years being sold the idea that travel should involve excess sun, more food, and gloriously late nights. The anti-heat break quietly rejects that. You can have a balanced holiday to recover from life, and escape to a cool area to go on walks, read books, and sightsee without being stopped in your tracks by the heat.

Travellers are increasingly choosing destinations based on how they expect to feel while they're there. In Germany, 49% of travellers now say some destinations have become too hot to visit, according to Booking.com's 2026 travel research, while 63% consider the risk of extreme weather when choosing where to go and 64% consider it when deciding when to travel. Climate change is beginning to dictate our holiday destinations…

Perhaps the irony is that the places we once mocked for their unreliable summers are now becoming increasingly desirable because of them. A little rain? Twenty-two degrees? A cardigan in August? The height of luxury!

The coolcation isn't really about avoiding the sun, but about rejecting the idea that a good holiday has to leave you overheated and underslept. And frankly, after another summer of European heatwaves, a cool breeze and pint by the cold plunge isn’t sounding so bad after all. Coolcation, anyone?