Why I'm Booking October Half-Term in August (And Where To Go)

Every year it's the same. Someone messages me in late September in a mild panic, asking where they can still get away for October half-term. And every year I have to gently tell them: the good stuff went months ago.

So this is your nudge. It's August. If half-term's on your radar at all, now is when you book it — not because I'm trying to rush you, but because the maths genuinely doesn't work in your favour if you wait.

 

When it actually is

 

For most of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, October half-term 2026 is the week of Monday 26 to Friday 30 October. Scotland breaks a bit earlier, usually the middle of the month. Always double-check your own school, because academies love to do their own thing.

 

One nice detail this year: the week runs right into Halloween on the Saturday. So if your kids are into it, there's a natural little theme to build a trip around.

 

  

Why August is the sweet spot to book

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the honest reason it pays to move now. Half-term is a fixed week — everyone with school-age kids is trying to travel in the exact same five days. Demand is enormous, and supply doesn't budge. So the family rooms, the good flight times, the resorts that are actually set up for children — they go first, and they don't come back.

 

Leave it to September, and you're not choosing the best option anymore. You're choosing from what's left. Usually that means worse flight times, a room that doesn't quite work, or a price that's crept up while you dithered.

 

Booking in August isn't about being organised for the sake of it. It's about still having a choice.

Where I'd actually look

A few directions depending on what you're after:

If you want reliable late-October sun without a brutal flight, the Canaries are the obvious one — warm, short-ish hop, properly geared up for families. They book out fast precisely because everyone knows this.

If you'd rather a shorter trip, a lot of the European city breaks do a lovely job of the autumn-Halloween thing, and you're not committing to a full week.

And if you're not fussed about heat at all, this is a genuinely good week for a UK lodge or cottage — log fires, muddy walks, the kids running feral in the leaves. Cheaper than flying, and the pressure's off.

 

 The one thing to sort before you book anything

Whatever you go for, check your passports now if you're heading abroad. October is far enough away that an expiry problem is completely fixable today — and a complete disaster if you spot it the week before. It's the most boring bit of advice I give and the one that saves the most tears.

 

The Takeaway

Half-term travel rewards the people who move early and punishes the ones who wait. Not because the early birds are cleverer — just because they booked while there was still something good to book.

It's August. The week is the last week of October. If you're going to go, go and sort it now, while you've still got the pick of it.

Not sure where to point the family this half-term? This is exactly the kind of thing I love helping with — I've usually already worked out what's good, what's worth it, and what to avoid. Come find me.

 

*Jenny Willcock is a luxury family travel specialist and founder of Lets Go Travel. She is also a corporate lawyer, a mother of three and someone with very strong opinions about hotel room layouts.