The Benefits of Short Breaks

Traditionally, the summertime is the most popular season for taking a vacation. Be it to sunny European shores or further afield to the likes of Asia or America, 45 million Brits annually choose summer as their holiday season of choice. But who said holidays have to be reserved for purely summertime or that it's better to take one long holiday rather than smaller breaks throughout the year?

Breaking your holiday time up into smaller segments throughout the year has many benefits that people perhaps overlook when booking their main holiday. Take the winter months for example. Wouldn't it be nice to know you have a weeks holiday to somewhere warm and sunny while the temperatures drop back home? Interspersing your holiday time throughout the colder, wetter seasons has been scientifically shown to lower the likelihood of depression and the common cold given that the body has improved exposure to sunlight and therefore produces serotonin - also known as the 'happy hormone' - for longer.

The benefits of short breaks don't stop there however as smaller holidays throughout the year provide excellent opportunities for family gatherings and activities. Going away as a family two or three times a year as opposed to just once allows you to spread the quality time you spend together for longer. Booking holidays in this way also means that some members of the family who may not be able to make it to one vacation through work or study commitments might be able to go to another and therefore don't miss out.

Of course, taking smaller holidays to lots of different places will always allow you to see more locations than one longer holiday ever will. City breaks in particular are a great idea for people who want to enjoy smaller breaks since you can easily experience a number of different cities across the course of a year rather than just one. Believe it or not, smaller breaks have also been shown to encourage holiday makers to make the most of their time so are therefore more likely to see more sights, visit more attractions and generally experience the culture better than people who are there for a number of weeks.

For people who don't want to holiday outside of the UK there's plenty of options on home turf. Holidaying around your home country can also prove pleasantly economical given that there's less transport costs. In fact, saving money on transport allows you every opportunity to indulge in other areas. UK short breaks can easily become luxurious affairs should you decide to stay in one of the country's many grand retreats that really do offer something for all the family and, just like any good short break, can be enjoyed all year round.