The games are over – the tears are dried off, the medals put away. It's time to set down the Radio Times, put the Hobnobs back in the tin and, after two solid weeks, surgically remove your posterior from the sofa.
If you want to escape the summer's up and down weather here in the UK, we've got good news and not so good news. The bad first: it's August, which, apart from Christmas, is the peak of peak season and you're never going to get those barrel-scraping bargains you might see at other times of year.
And if you're thinking about getting away after the Olympics, well, you're not the only one, sorry.
The good news? There are still deals out there to the Med and other hotspots in Europe, but you have to search around. To get the ball rolling here are a few breaks we found for departures after the Olympics. If you want to get lower prices, and assuming you don't have kids at school or aren't a teacher, probably best wait till September.
Chateau de Lastours, Espalais, France
You can be the lord or lady of your own French castle near Espalais – in between Toulouse and Bordeaux – for under €19 a night if you don't mind sharing with a few friends. That's the price per person per night for a week in an apartment for six in this restored 15th-century chateau, but if you'd rather enjoy a cosy twosome, it's still a reasonable €48 each per night, including breakfast. It's a good spot for those who enjoy walking or cycling, visiting local markets and vineyards en route and it's adjacent to a nine-hole golf course. The owner, Joe, is from Marseille via London.
•+33 581 780 001, chateaudelastours.eu
Hotel Flora, Nessebar, Bulgaria
Change from £550 for a fortnight in high season is superb value in anyone's book – just don't expect gold taps. Best to think of your accommodation as somewhere to lay your head rather than a Vegas-style resort destination, then use it as a base to go and explore. Nessebar, some 450km east of the capital Sofia, is on the Black Sea, a blend of old and new, with parts of the city designated as a "living museum", and at this time of year you are guaranteed temperatures of at least 30C.
• Balkan Holidays (0845 130 1114, balkanholidays.co.uk) has a fortnight's B&B at the Hotel Flora with flights from Aberdeen to Bourgas on 18 August including transfers for £546pp (two sharing), a discount of £41pp off the previously offered price
BelleVue Club, Alcudia, Mallorca
The BelleVue Club is one of the largest resort complexes in Europe, so if you're looking for an away-from-it-all holiday with just the tweet of larks to disturb you as you tuck into another chapter of your Scandi whodunit in the shade of a willow tree, you are so in the wrong place – there are seven pool bars for a start. But if you want a high season getaway with guaranteed sun at a decent enough price for August there's a mini club and children's playground here and lots of restaurants on site.
• Jet2 Holidays offers a week here self-catering arriving 18 August, from £557pp based on two adults and two children sharing, with flights from Manchester, transfers and 22kg baggage allowance per person
Camping Les Etangs Fleuris, Touquin, France
Just 60km south-east of Paris, this site gives you the best of both worlds: easy access to the capital as well as the countryside. It's not too much of a motorway schlepp from the Channel ports and Disneyland Paris is around half an hour away in the car for your little mouseketeers. On site there's a pool, bar, shop and even fishing ponds stocked with trout, perch and carp.
• Canvas Holidays (0845 268 0827, canvasholidays.co.uk) has a week's stay here arriving August 16 for £705 in a fully equipped mobile home with two bedrooms, for two adults and up to four children, which includes off-peak return Dover-Calais ferry crossing. The original price was £1,223, so a saving of £518
Le Silve hotel, Assisi, Umbria, Italy
Le Silve hotel is a really lovely restored farmhouse in the middle of gorgeous countryside and just when you think it can't get any better it's offering complimentary half-board and a free extra night when you book six nights in August, which means nearly £600 off the usual price for two at this time of year. There's a decent-sized pool and space to stretch out around it, as well as the possibility to book horse riding outings, guided walks and bird watching treks and help out with farm activities including milking the cows.
• Real Holidays (020-7359 3938, realholidays.co.uk) offers this hotel for £575pp (two sharing) for a week, after the above discount has been added. Flights not included. On skyscanner.net, Swissair had flights from London to Rome for 16 August from £157 return
Anthea Hotel Apartments, Ayia Napa, Cyprus
You dancing? I'm asking. For the young and young at heart, this hotel is close to all the nightlife action of Cyprus' most famous clubbing resort, but its owners are keen to emphasise it's not some doss house for noisy kids. It's family run, has 145 studios and apartments adjacent to its pool, is close to plenty of restaurants and cafes and is a five-minute walk to the beach.
• Olympic Holidays (0844 576 2386, olympicholidays.com) is offering it for 14 nights' self-catering with flights from Belfast and transfers from £449pp (was £834) based on two sharing an apartment with living area, kitchenette and balcony
Monte Pedrosu Apartments, Sardinia
Freelance Holidays promotes flexible villa rentals, which means you're not bound to a Saturday-Saturday stay and, as long as there's availability, your hire can start on any day of the week and for any length of stay, so you can benefit from cheaper mid-week flights or ferry crossings or just go for, say, five nights.
Monte Pedrosu is part of a 10-unit complex set around a cloistered garden, with a pool (the coast is 1.5km away), cafe, supermarket and two trattorias. Cala Girgolu is the nearest beach and served by a floating gelateria. Car hire is useful but not essential.
• Freelance Holidays (01789 297705, freelance-holidays.co.uk) has availability here from 19 August and apartment 8, for example, for that week would be £210pp based on four sharing, a total discount of £160 off the previously published price. The nearest airport is Olbia, or drive and take a ferry from Genoa (mobylines.com)
Pino di Loto, Syros, Greece
There are just four rooms at this hideaway, on an island that is often overlooked by foreigners but popular with Athenians. There's a pool or you can meander for 15 minutes on foot until you reach the pleasant beaches at Kini or Loto, or take a boat to more secluded beaches towards the north. If you don't want to just loll around, you could hike on some of the old footpaths that dot the hillsides of the island's hinterland past small, sleepy villages to a bronze age hill fort.
• i-escape offers this property from £275pp based on two sharing for five nights at this time in August on a B&B basis, which is a 35% discount from the previously published price. Transport isn't included – a ferry from Athens to Syros costs about £30pp each way
Forever Hotel, Ovacik, Turkey
If you've suffered one dinner party too many with the Smug Marrieds and their holiday tales (…"and here's one of Gavin trying windsurfing with a lovely couple we met from New Malden"…), you might be happy to get away on your own – till it comes to the single supplement. Friendship Travel though, which specialises in breaks for single travellers, has a great deal starting on 16 August to the 19-room, family-run Forever Hotel in Ovacik near Olu Deniz. Its hillside setting usually means a light breeze tempers summer temperatures, there's a decent-sized pool, and a free shuttle to a nearby beach. Double or twin rooms are for single use.
• The holiday with Friendship Travel (0871 200 2035, friendshiptravel.com) includes flights from Gatwick on 16 August, transfers and seven nights' B&B accommodation as described above and two dinners during the week, for £495
More late-deal sites to try
Thomson Holidays has a handy late deals page, which is updated frequently, where you can enter a range of from-to dates, length of stay and ideal departure airport. When we looked, a week's self-catering at the Albatros Apartments in Dalaman, Turkey started at £529pp (two sharing) with flights from Stansted on 16 August. Or on the 17 August, seven nights' half-board at the hotel Rey Don Jaime in Mallorca were available with flights from Luton for £561pp, also based on two sharing. Even better was a week's bed and breakfast at the Hotel Galaxy in Thassos in Greece for £434pp (two sharing) with flights from Manchester on the 19th. See thomson.co.uk
Thomas Cook (thomascook.com) has a similar search page with direct links to TripAdvisor ratings: a week's self-catering at the Tina's Studio and Apartments complex in Faliraki on the island of Rhodes in Greece was £354pp (two sharing) with flights from Newcastle on 18 August for example, a total discount of £432 from the previously published price.
Look also at ownersdirect.co.uk, which pretty much does what it says on the tin for house and villa rentals. When we checked, Villa Graciosa in Playa Blanca on Lanzarote, which sleeps six, was available for a week from 16 August for £185pp based on full occupancy. A simple but comfortable townhouse in Cascais, Portugal was available on 20 August for a week from £152pp when fully occupied (six people). And another property sleeping six, this time in Yaiza, also on Lanzarote, was £86pp when fully occupied, with availability for a week's hire starting any day over the coming weekend.
For a round up of last-minute flight options check the likes of kayak.co.uk and skyscanner.net.
• All holidays were available at time of going to press
