Still haven't booked your summer holidays? Then one of these last-minute deals might be just what you're looking for, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL
1 Lower cost CorsicaFor a little island adventure, the upmarket UK villa specialist Coastline is starting to discount its July prices, including the Hollywood-style glamour that is the hilltop Villa Casa d'Oro, with cascading terraces, tropical palms and a freeform pool – that is to say it's not a boring rectangle. Five minutes from Palombaggia beach yet a world away from a resort holiday, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom villa is down to £734 (€856) per person, based on six sharing, a saving of £2,400 (€2,800) on the brochure price. And that includes flights from London, car hire, twice-weekly maid service and daily deliveries of newspapers and pastries. Yum.
www.coastline.co.uk
2 Portugal for peanutsWhat could be better than paying half the price your holiday neighbours paid for their villa? With Holiday Homes Direct offering discounts of up to 50 per cent it could be easily done. A four-bedroom villa in the lively – okay, hectic – Portuguese resort of Albufeira, with private pool and sleeping eight, starts at €500 per week on selected dates this summer, down from a published price of €1,000. Fill it up and that's less than €9 per person per night. Top that.
www.holidayhomesdirect.ie
3 Save a fortune in FuerteventuraActually, the same daily rate will also get you Casa Jeanne, a three-bedroom villa with pool in Fuerteventura. Sleeping six, the single-storey detached holiday home is in the residential area of Tamaragua, five minutes' walk from the nearest supermarket, bar and cinema. Buses run from it to the beaches at Corralejo, three kilometres away. On offer at half price, it's available for €350 a week.
www.holidayhomesdirect.ie
4 Luxury for lessin Provence A year in Provence might sound too long, but a fortnight is just too short, especially if you're staying at Le Moulin de Lourmarin.The 17th-century restored mill has four double bedrooms, all en suite, and a pool. Its three hectares of grounds are laid out in a mix of lawn, orchards and olive and lavender groves. The property, which has four sun terraces, is a two-minute drive from a village.The owners have just cut €500 off the weekly price for the remainder of their July and August bookings, bringing the cost down from €4,998 to €4,430.
www.purefrance.com
5 Loire Valleydiscounts The same company has also knocked €500 off remaining bookings to Armancon Manor House, in the Loire Valley. A turret short of a chateau, the 18th-century manor house has a heated pool, tennis court and oodles of manicured lawn. Situated between Dijon and Auxerre, it's a great option for two, three or even four families sharing; the nine-bedroom house sleeps up to 16 people. Prices for June are €4,550. Take off the €500 discount and that's €35 per person, per night. Even better, you get a full-time cook thrown in for free. Bon appetit.
www.purefrance.com
6 Free nights for golfersOceânico, the Irish developer of upmarket properties along Portugal's western Algarve, is offering 14 nights for the price of 10 on all its summer breaks. This includes villas at the exotic Jardim da Meia Praia, just outside the bustling seaside town of Lagos. Amenities include tennis, golf on one of Oceânico's seven nearby golf courses, and a children's playground. Activities include horse riding, cycling and dolphin watching, not to mention all the inactivity you can get up to on the sandy beaches for which the Algarve is famed. Prices for four sharing start at €463 per fortnight, but you have to book by the end of June to avail of the offer.
www.oceanicogroup.com
7 Volcanic valueFor some Sicilian sunshine it has to be I Due Castagni, a 19th-century villa that started out as a palmento, where grapes were crushed, which an antique wooden wine press in the hall attests to. Situated on the eastern side of the island, in Mount Etna National Park, its fertile gardens are home to an eruption of old roses, hydrangeas, camellias and magnolias; al fresco diners are shaded by the 200-year-old horse chestnut trees that give the property its name. Offering both sea and volcano views, the house sleeps six and has two bathrooms. Prices have been cut by 30 per cent this summer to €945, a saving of more than €400.
www.yourtuscany.com
8 Medici madnessOr how about Poggio Bartoli, a 15th-century villa in the Tuscan town of Vicchio, half an hour from Florence? Built as a summer residence for the Medicis, the six-bedroom, seven-bathroom house accommodates up to 12 people, with an annex available to house six more. The property has a 16m pool, snooker room, ballroom and more canopied beds than you'd care to make. Happily, the air-conditioned property also comes with domestic help three times a week. Babysitting and cook are available on request. It has also had its weekly rent halved, from €9,180 a week to €4,590.
www.summersleases.com
9 Cut-price CataloniaMore expensive, but cheaper to get to, is Can Rajoler, a restored Catalan farmhouse in the countryside close the beautiful beaches of Spain's Costa Brava. The four-bedroom villa, which sleeps up to 10 people, has had its prices for the rest of June cut by 20 per cent, to €1,080 per week. For that the owner can pick you up from Girona airport, 10km away. As well as a swimming pool, amenities include a barbecue, table tennis and gardens; a spa centre with thermal waters is just three kilometres down the road.
www.coloursofspain.com
10 Unbeatable IbizaFinally, the party island of Ibiza offers some of the best villa value anywhere in Europe this summer. Villas S'Argamassa is a small complex of 15 villas, each with a private pool, 300m from the beach. Restaurants are a five-minute walk, and if you head into the livelier resort of Es Canar it's just a five-minute taxi ride home. More attractive still are the prices. Normally a week at a villa here will set you back €1,550, but if you're quick you can bag a late deal at the complex for €654 a week. That's a discount of 60 per cent. Just don't tell the guy next door.
www.jamesvillas.ie