Not every holiday starts with “I want to go somewhere warm.” Sometimes it starts with something far more specific. A friend group that needs an all-inclusive resort big enough that everyone can disappear for an afternoon. Parents who need a waterpark within the hotel so the kids don’t revolt by day two. A couple who’s earned a proper week with no children in sight and the pool bar within stumbling distance. Sunshine.co.uk is built specifically around these starting points, with dedicated sections for different types of travel that do the filtering work before you even start looking at hotels. Here’s a proper look at which categories do what and which destinations tend to work best for each one.
All Inclusive Holidays — The Format That Just Makes Sense for a Lot of Trips
All-inclusive gets a slightly mixed reputation among travellers who worry it makes holidays feel formulaic or cuts you off from local experience. In practice, though, for families, large groups, or anyone who genuinely wants to arrive and stop calculating, it’s one of the most stress-free ways to holiday. Sunshine.co.uk’s all-inclusive section covers a wide spread of destinations where the format works particularly well, including Turkey’s Antalya and Dalaman regions where all-inclusive is essentially the default at most resorts, the Canary Islands where it’s widespread and reliably good value, and Greece where the range runs from budget to genuinely high-end resorts with multiple restaurant options included.
The all-inclusive section is also worth using specifically when travelling with mixed groups, such as families where some people eat and drink more than others, or groups of friends where splitting a food and drinks bill at the end of each day would become a logistics headache. One price, all sorted before you board, and no conversations about who had the extra dessert.
Family Holidays — From Waterparks to Baby-Friendly Resorts
The family holidays section is one of the most genuinely useful sub-categories on the site because it acknowledges that travelling with children isn’t a single experience. There’s a specific section for waterpark hotels, which is honestly the most reliable way to keep older children occupied for the bulk of a holiday, covering resorts in Majorca, the Costa Dorada, Tenerife, and Turkey where on-site water parks mean days that plan themselves. There’s also a Kids Included section for holidays where children’s meals and entertainment are included in the package price, and a Baby and Toddler-Friendly section for anyone travelling with very young children who needs to know in advance that the resort actually caters for that rather than just technically allows it.
The Canary Islands are particularly worth highlighting in a family context because the guaranteed sunshine makes the trip work regardless of the time of year. Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote are accessible year-round, which means school holiday dates and half-term windows are viable without the specific weather anxiety that comes with booking a summer-only destination.
Adult Only Holidays — When the Quiet Pool Is Worth Paying For
This section is for trips where the absence of children genuinely improves the experience. Adult-only resorts are well represented across Spain, Greece, Turkey, and the Canary Islands, and Sunshine.co.uk filters specifically for them rather than making you wade through general resort listings and check the small print on each one. For couples celebrating anniversaries, friend group getaways, or anyone booking a holiday specifically to decompress rather than entertain, searching from within this section rather than the general destination pages immediately surfaces a different kind of result.
Destinations like Santorini and Mykonos in Greece work naturally in this context, as does the more upmarket end of the Turkish coast around Bodrum and Olu Deniz, and the quieter corners of the Algarve for anyone who wants European sun without the full resort noise.
Last Minute Holidays — For Anyone Who Does Their Best Planning Under Pressure
The last-minute section is worth treating as a genuinely distinct browsing experience rather than just a filtered version of the main search. Because availability and pricing both change as departure dates approach, there’s a specific logic to last-minute deal hunting that rewards flexibility over destination loyalty. If you can travel within the next few weeks, have a preferred departure airport but aren’t fixed on a specific resort, and are primarily motivated by getting good value for a decent package, this section consistently surfaces holidays that offer significantly better per-person pricing than the same trip booked months in advance.
The Canary Islands and Spain are reliable hunting grounds here because of high flight frequency from most UK airports and a large hotel inventory that creates real price competition as rooms go unsold close to departure. Turkey is similarly strong for last-minute all-inclusive deals, particularly in the second half of the summer season when long-haul alternatives start to look more attractive to British travellers and the mid-market Turkish all-inclusive properties adjust pricing accordingly.
Short Breaks and Long Weekends — For When a Week Feels Excessive
Not every break needs to be seven nights. The short breaks and long weekend sections cover departures from two nights upward, which is genuinely useful for city break options in European destinations like Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, and Malta that are well served from multiple UK airports with relatively short flight times. These are also the sections worth browsing if you want to use a bank holiday weekend productively rather than staying home while the weather does whatever British spring decides it wants to do.
Majorca, Ibiza, and Malta all work particularly well as short break destinations for this reason — they’re reachable in under two and a half hours from most UK departure points, they have enough going on to fill a long weekend without needing to frantically plan every hour, and they’re warm enough to justify the journey even with a limited number of days on the ground.
Luxury Holidays — When the Budget Is Flexible and the Details Matter
The luxury section aggregates the higher-end end of the platform’s hotel inventory without making you feel like you’re browsing a generic five-star list with no further guidance. Destinations like the Maldives, Mauritius, Barbados, Santorini, and Dubai feature prominently here, alongside the premium end of the more established beach destinations where the difference between a standard hotel and a genuinely excellent one is significant enough to justify the price gap.
Because the luxury section sits within the same booking platform with the same ATOL protection and the same flexible payment model, the financial safety net that applies to any package booking on Sunshine.co.uk applies equally here. That’s worth noting specifically because high-value holidays are precisely where the risk of a booking going wrong is most financially painful, and having ATOL protection on a premium Maldives package is the same category of reassurance as having it on a standard Tenerife package, just with a higher absolute figure protected.
Couples Holidays and Romantic Breaks — The Category That Does the Curation for You
The couples holidays section and the slightly more specific romantic breaks sub-category are useful starting points for anyone booking a trip with a clear intention but without a specific destination already decided. Santorini is the obvious Greece entry in this space, with its cliff-side hotels and caldera views doing most of the romantic work without any additional planning required. Amalfi Coast and Sorrento in Italy are strong here too, along with the more upmarket Algarve resorts like Vilamoura for anyone who wants a European option that doesn’t require a full commitment to beach resort culture.
For warmer winter breaks, Dubai, Mauritius, and the Maldives all appear prominently in the couples section, which is useful for anniversary trips or milestone celebrations that happen to fall outside the usual summer window.
Destinations Worth Knowing Well Before You Search
A few specific destinations consistently earn their prominence across multiple holiday types and are worth understanding separately before you start searching. The Canary Islands across all four main islands are the closest thing to a year-round guaranteed option for UK travellers, with flight frequency from every major UK airport keeping package prices competitive even during peak windows. Turkey’s Antalya and Dalaman regions offer consistently excellent value for all-inclusive packages and are particularly strong for families and groups who want the convenience of everything included at a price point that makes longer stays genuinely achievable. The Algarve holds its position as the most popular Portuguese destination for British holidaymakers because the combination of reliable warmth, good beaches, golf, and quality restaurants makes it appropriate for almost any travel party.
Greece as a whole deserves separate attention because the island range is broad enough to cover genuinely different holiday personalities, Crete and Rhodes for large family-friendly resorts, Santorini and Mykonos for boutique and couples-focused travel, Corfu for something more relaxed and green, Zante and Kavos for the younger end of the market, and Kefalonia and Skiathos for anyone who wants Greece without the full resort infrastructure.
The Where Is Hot Guide — For When You’re Not Sure Where You Want to Go
Sunshine.co.uk includes a “Where Is Hot” section specifically for people who start with climate as the primary search criteria rather than destination, which is honestly the most practical starting point for a lot of winter and shoulder-season bookings. If the primary requirement is warmth in November or guaranteed sun in March, this guide filters destinations by expected temperature rather than alphabetically, which is a much more useful way to approach the question of where to go when the UK weather is the main thing being escaped.
Why This Approach to Holiday Booking Works
What makes Sunshine.co.uk worth using beyond a first visit is how the categorisation of holiday types allows genuinely different travellers to have genuinely different experiences with the same platform. A couple looking for a luxury maldives retreat and a family hunting for the best waterpark deal in Majorca are both well served by the same booking system, without either experience feeling like an afterthought. The flexibility in how you pay, the protection on every package booking, and the departure airport coverage that genuinely includes the whole UK rather than just London airports make the practical side of booking through here straightforward and reassuring in equal measure.
If you know what kind of holiday you’re planning but haven’t decided where yet, or if you know exactly where you want to go but haven’t found the right price at the right time, this is the platform worth returning to until both pieces of the puzzle land in the same place.