Why September is the month nobody books their villa for (and probably should)

Ask most people when they’d book a villa in the Mediterranean and you’ll get the same answer: August. Sometimes July, if they’re trying to be clever about it. Almost nobody says September, which is odd, because September is when the whole thing actually starts to work properly. I say this every year to clients who wince slightly, as if I’ve suggested something a bit off. There’s a deep-rooted assumption that summer holidays belong in summer, full stop, and that anything after the school term starts is somehow a lesser version of the same trip. It isn’t. In a lot of cases, it’s the better one. It’s just taken the travel industry a surprisingly long time to say so out loud. What actually changes once August ends The temperature drops a few degrees, which sounds unremarkable until you’ve tried to enjoy a long lunch outdoors in 38-degree heat with children who won’t stop complaining about it. By mid-September, most of the Mediterranean settles into something closer to perfect – warm enough to swim comfortably morning and evening, cool enough that walking around a town at 2pm doesn’t feel like an endurance exercise. The crowds thin considerably too, and not in a subtle way. Restaurants ...