Three european beaches you can get to from manchester airport for less than £100

GET YOUR PASSPORTS READY BECAUSE THESE THREE EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS ARE CALLING YOUR NAME 17:08, 20 May 2025 With another half-term holiday just around the corner, many families across the UK

will be planning a last-minute get away to make the most of the school holidays. Or rather, you might be planning a trip before or after the half-term break to avoid the kids! But

regardless, there are three gorgeous European beaches that you can fly to directly from Greater Manchester for less than £100 return. Many places in Europe offer gorgeous weather at this

time of year including Greece, Sardinia and France. Over in Crete for example, temperatures at the end of May are typically around 25C. Over May half term, more than a million passengers are

set to travel through Manchester Airport, and Europe’s most popular beach resorts will begin to fill up as tourists descend on hotspots like Malaga, Mallorca and the Algarve. But if you’re

keen to dodge the crowds, there are plenty of spectacular beaches on the Med and elsewhere that remain relatively quiet and overlooked. THREE EUROPEAN BEACHES ACCESSIBLE DIRECTLY FROM

MANCHESTER AIRPORT ELAFONISI, CRETE: _Fly from Manchester to Chania with Ryanair from £92pp return_ Article continues below Crete is the largest of Greece’s 6,000 islands, and at its western

tip is one of the country’s most stunning beaches. Elafonisi Beach is a narrow strip of sand wedged between the tiny island of Elafonisi and the Cretan mainland, wrapped around a shallow

lagoon with clear emerald waters. The beach is best known for its pink hue, which comes from the shells scattered along the shoreline. The closest airport to Elafonisi is Chania, with

Ryanair, easyJet, TUI and Jet2.com all offering direct flights from Manchester. CALA GORITZE, SARDINIA: _Fly from Manchester to Olbia with TUI from £90pp return_ The island of Sardinia is

somewhat separate from the rest of Italy, being closer to Tunisia than to the Italian mainland – and although visitor numbers here are starting to increase, they’re still nowhere near the

levels of hotspots like Venice and Tuscany. That means its beaches remain unspoilt and uncrowded – and few are as spectacular as Cala Goritze on Sardinia’s east coast. It is only accessible

by boat from the neighbouring town of Santa Maria Navarrese, or via a three-mile hike, but explorers are rewarded with a stunning white sand cove set against a backdrop of towering limestone

cliffs and columns. The Gulf of Orosei is dotted with other similarly breath-taking beaches, caves and rock formations and is just to the south of Olbia, which has direct flights from

Manchester with TUI and Jet2.com. DUNE DU PILAT, ARCACHON: _Fly from Manchester to Bordeaux with easyJet from £84pp return_ Article continues below The highest sand dune in Europe, the Dune

du Pilat, faces out across the Atlantic from the outskirts of Arcachon, a popular resort town in southwest France that is famous for its seafood. At nearly 350ft high and more than a mile

long, it is visible for miles around and its sheer size means it never feels crowded even at the peak of summer – so you can grab a peaceful spot on the slopes of the dune to sunbathe, build

sandcastles or take in a blissful sunset. Arcachon is around an hour by train from Bordeaux, which is served by easyJet from Manchester.