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With heatwaves sweeping through Europe and spiking air fares giving the tourism industry a headache, there has been a shifting demand in traveller expectations for holidays at home with sun lounger-worthy beaches, fancy-pants hotels and Mediterranean-blue seas.

Scotland, it turns out, ticks all those boxes – even if the idea of swapping Puerto Pollença for Portree or Torremolinos for Torridon would once have been laughed at. And this surge for Scotland is backed up by stats too. More than 50,000 people permanently decamped to the country from the rest of the UK in the first half of 2025, according to the National Records of Scotland, and even more are visiting from abroad.

In other words, Scotland is having a moment, and visiting this summer has never looked more appealing. Here’s why.

Beaches for every day of the summer

There is no shortage of beautiful, dramatically sited beaches for your holiday, and many can be enjoyed from sunrise to sunset when the northern sky turns dusky pink and bands of light spread like brushstrokes across the sand. Imagine Scotland, but painted by Mark Rothko.

I’d recommend the northwest, where you won’t have to look hard to find daydream shores. My favourites are ludicrously lovely Clachtoll and Achmelvich in Assynt, and the Hollywood-endorsed Silver Sands of Morar (see Highlander, Local Hero and Harry Potter), which are found draped with kelp and scattered between Arisaig and Mallaig. Often, they’ll be exclusively yours, apart from the sheep.

On the north coast, you can watch the Atlantic moshing from Durness to Tongue along the North Coast 500. End-of-the-road Balnakeil Bay is the start of what could be called the Costa del Sutherland, and golden sands and striking coves pop up all the way to Ceannabeinne.

Farther east, Thurso East is a little Hawaii for surfing, with North Coast Watersports your passport to adventure. On Harris, another favourite of mine, the likes of Luskentyre, Seilebost and Horgabost have inspired songs and novels and it’s easy to see why. The tropical-like water is so blue it looks like it’s been created by AI.

And you don’t have to go that far north either. Edinburgh has Cramond and Portobello, while St Andrews is more than the high altar of golf. West Sands is for crashing waves; Jannettas Gelateria is for award-winning scoops of tablet ice cream.

Swimming pools in surprising places

With temperatures hitting 30°C from Aberdeenshire to Dumfries and Galloway, it almost seems an obligation to slip into a bathing suit.

In the Borders, at Schloss Roxburghe outside Kelso, you can lap the shimmering pool in the shadow of a turreted country house hotel, while the East Neuk of Fife has a succession of tidal pools, including Cellardyke, which act as primers for the maritime-flavoured pubs of Crail, Anstruther and Elie. The whole business of cooling off in a Scottish heatwave means fish and chips by the seaside but also cradling a cold pint of Tennent’s. Try The Ship Inn in Elie.

Two other public pools worth a dip are Gourock’s vintage saltwater lido and New Cumnock Outdoor Swimming Pool, which channels a Californian beach club vibe and was rescued from closure by The King’s Foundation, led by His Majesty the King. It is a striking rectangle of hazy blue.

It has islands to rival Spain, Italy and Greece

By now, everyone knows about the enlightening beauty of Skye or Mull and the archaeological splendour of Orkney. But what about Coll or Tiree, one of the sunniest spots in the UK and ideal for world-class kitesurfing? They are a memorable CalMac ferry trip away from Oban. Hovering on the horizon like a strange sea creature, Eigg showcases a wholly different side to island life through tangible community engagement and local empowerment.

Topping my list of places to return to is Barra, and the most wonderful aspect is how to get there. Most memorably of all, a lifetime’s-best scenic flight with Loganair awaits before you land right on the tidal beach runway – and you can’t do that in Spain or Greece.

World-class hotels, seafood and whisky

No longer is a luxury hotel shorthand for shooting lodges and tweed jackets. Now it means accessible landscapes and lochs, Michelin-grade restaurants and whisky bars for everyone.

Favourites I’d earmark for a holiday up the West coast include The Pierhouse near Appin and, further north still, The Torridon, west of Inverness. Holidaying at home has its benefits, especially with creel-caught langoustines and lobsters pulled right from the shore, as well as loch swims, boat charters and sea kayaking as invigorating as anything you’d find in the Adriatic. And there is local whisky, as light as the breeze.

In Glasgow, meanwhile, Peter McKenna, the chef, is the toast of the city because of his latest Finnieston venture Eleven Fifty Five. You can stay nearby in the new-look Arthouse on Bath Street. Just over a century ago, it was the childhood home of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a British prime minister. This is a city worth visiting long after the Commonwealth Games (until August 2) have finished.

Festivals galore

Every August, I lose myself amid the cabaret tents and vaulted Cowgate venues of the Edinburgh Fringe, which translates into the best weekends of comedy, music and theatre I have all year, topped off by terrific meals at the likes of Lyla, Timberyard and The Spence. Add the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival to your summer calendar, and you’ll need another holiday to recover from all the indulgence.

And don’t be deceived that the capital has the only festivals worth travelling for. In September, the Stranraer Oyster Festival is shellfish nirvana, celebrating the country’s last wild, native oyster fishery on Loch Ryan, while the community-spirited Shetland Wool Week (late September to October) brings together craft and textile enthusiasts, plus flocks of Britain’s most northerly native sheep.

Hollywood beaches, hundreds of islands, starry swimming pools, seafood and sheep. How could heading overseas ever compete with that?

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