Musandam Oman

WHY GO For amazing mountain and diving adventures

THE FORECAST 32C highs

It’s still not on the regular tourist trail and by no means easy on the pocket, but Oman’s diversely beautiful landscape makes this quiet sultanate on the Arabian Peninsula an exceptional late- summer escape. Worth every penny is a trip to the dramatic Musandam peninsula, jutting into the Strait of Hormuz and separated from the rest of Oman by a small strip of the UAE.

Having landed in Muscat, take a breather with an overnight in the capital before picking up your one-hour onward flight. The newly opened W Muscat marriot.co.uk fuses contemporary design with a traditional Omani aesthetic, and is handily located on the Shatti al Qurum beachfront. Touch down on Musandam at Khasab, and transfer straight to the blissful Six Senses Zighy Bay, backed by the Hajar Mountains and overlooking a placid expanse of turquoise sea. Set amid palm trees, this is more luxury village than hotel, with villa-style accommodation and private pools. The famous Six Senses spa and Bedouin-style restaurant Shua Shack are just a few of the highlights.

The resort specialises in adventure tours, including paragliding, mountain biking and rock climbing around the surrounding 2,000m-high peaks cut by fjord-like inlets known locally askhawrs. Oman offers some of the best diving this side of the Great Barrier Reef, and Musandam is no exception. Sail on a magnificent dhow with Experience Oman experienceoman.om and prepare to fall deeply in love with this rugged, remote gem.

Jerusalem Israel

WHY GO To discover a new take on an ancient world

THE FORECAST 25C highs

Jerusalem, with its millennia of history, is having a modern moment. Newly connected to nearby Tel Aviv by high-speed rail link, it seems to be sucking up its exuberant sister city’s youthful energy, with a flurry of new restaurants and design hotels. The Old City’s Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock and Tower of David tod.org.il are still big-ticket items. But you’ll also want to head to the reinvigorated Machane Yehuda food market en.machne.co.il with its cooking classes, restaurants and buzzy bars that have helped direct Jerusalem’s culinary shift.

Nearby is Machneyuda machneyuda.co.il where Assaf Granit works market-fresh ingredients into Middle Eastern-European fusion dishes such as calamari with harissa, beurre blanc and a ‘Yemen’ pancake. At sleek Mamilla Hotel mamillahotel.com

a rooftop cocktail in the warm evening air is a lovely prelude to supper at Mamilla’s Happy Fish restaurant, where the menu hosts whole baby grouper and fish shawarma. For full immersion in Jerusalem’s old-new vibe lay your head at Villa Brown, where an Ottoman-era mansion of hefty stonework has been turned into a boutique hotel filled with plush designer furnishings.

As you’re flying in and out of Tel Aviv, it’s well worth taking a quick beach break here. Base yourself at The Jaffa hotel, a spectacular former monastery, and browse the antiques in nearby Jaffa Flea Market, with a pitstop at historic Abouelafia Bakery on its outskirts for the excellent Jerusalem bagels.

La Graciosa Spain

WHY GO To explore wild, barely trodden natural beauty

THE FORECAST 26C highs

This island registers barely a note of recognition compare to the fame of its fellow Canaries, but that could be a good thing, for this tiny isle is the ultimate escape for cutting yourself off from the rat race. You reach the volcanic nugget that is La Graciosa by ferry lineasromero.com from the northern port Órzola on neighbouring Lanzarote. Before you board, enjoy a bird's eye view fo your final destination from Mirador del Rio cactlanzarote.com - the striking lookout designed by influential Lanzarote artist César Manrique, which perches above the 2km-wide El Rio strait that seperates the two islands.

Once you arrive at Celeta de Sebo, it's time to adjust to a simpler way of living, immersing yourself in the island's spare beauty. Accommodation is basic, with self-contained villas and studio apartment offered by Graciosa getaways among the best. Restaurants such as Casa Enriqueta 00 34 629 911 966 serve simple Canarian dishes. Look for local favourites, including vieja,or parrotfish, cook a la plancha, followed perhaps by a dessert of bienmesabe, made with almond, eggs and sweet wine.

Use the restaurant stops to fuel up for island adventures. These might be diving in the marine reserve buceolagraciosa.com or renting a mountain bike to cycle the island's 29 sq km, taking in pristine Las Conchas beach and the volcanic peak of Montaña Bermeja. At Playa del Salado reservaparquesnacionales.es real outdoor kids will love sleeping under the stars, though you'll need to apply for a permit to camp there.

Lindos Greece

WHY GO For salty coves, sapphire sea and spa time

THE FORECAST 25C highs

High summer may be over, and the tourist hrodes departed, but in Rhodes the water is still wonderful. There's no better time to make your way to Lindos, the lovely whitewashed town tucked between two tightly curled bays in the island's south-east and dominated by an ancient acropolis dating back to the 6th century BC. Drenche din dazzling Grecian light, this glorified fishing village is all zigzag pedestrianised streets, Crusader-era doorways and tavernas, where all points lead you to the glittering sea below, which nature has thoughtfully set at a balmy 24C.

The hotel of note is the characterful Melenos melenoslindos.com on the flanks of the acropolis. Melenos features a romantic Mediterranean rooftop restaurant strong on seasonality and with unbeatable views. For an adults-only option just outside fo town, check into the newly opened Lindos Grand Resort & Spa - sleek and modernist with wraparound infinity pools, suite-style accomodation, plus beauty and wellness treatments. Or try stylish boutique Caesars Gardens caesarsgarden.com set in exotic grounds. Whereever you stay, there's no better way to start or end the day than a swim at Saint Paul's Bay, a near-perfectly enclosed natural harbour at the southern end of town.

If you want to explore the waters and coves around Lindos, rent stand-up paddleboards from Paddle Paradise paddleparadise.gr in Stegna. Just 25minutes away, the village is host to Stegna Kozas stegnakozas.gr – one of the best seafood restaurants on the island. It's been in the same family since the 1930s and they'll carbe octopus as thick as your wrist right at the table.

Fez Morocco

WHY GO For a hit of culture in the winding medina

THE FORECAST 25C highs

If you’re hot on heritage, Fez is a fine place to enjoy it. More low-key than Marrakech but labyrinthine enough to get lost in, this medieval city in north-eastern Morocco comes into its own in October, when wandering its 9,000 streets and alleys feels easier than in the raw heat of summer. For guidance through the city’s walled Fes el Bali medina, book a tour with Plan-it Morocco plan-it-morocco.com or abandon yourself to streets that throw up cultural treasures around every corner.

Discoveries include the tranquil gardens of Jnan Sbil, the Fez Tannery feztannery.com where leather has been worked the same way for centuries, or the intricate zellige mosaics the city is famous for. At Art Naji ceramic factory artnaji.com you can see the tiles being made in the time-honoured way. Fez is known as the artistic heart of Morocco; channel your own creativity, learning how to emboss leather, etch copper and more, at one of Craft Draft’s workshops craftdraft.org or stop by homewares store Anajamhome anajamhome.com where they’ve curated handmade wares from around the country.

This being Morocco, food is high on the agenda, with regional specialities such as broad bean soup, maakouda – fried potato with cumin, garlic and hot sauce – and bastilla, a pie made with delicate pastry and typically filled with chicken or fish. Try it at the Ruined Garden ruinedgarden.com where Michael Johnstone, formerly of The Ivy, also smokes his own fish.

If you drop your bags at Palais Amani, a stunning 17th-century, 15-room boutique riad in the northern part of the medina, you can also learn how to cook some local classics for yourself at the on-site Fez Cooking School (classes from £42pp).

Beirut Lebanon

WHY GO To celebrate a city back in the groove after years of conflict

THE FORECAST 26C highs

Hedonism is hardwired into the Lebanese mindset, and nowhere more so than in Beirut, where despite – or perhaps because of – its war-torn past, things are buzzing. There are the Roman Baths and the famous shell of the bullet-pocked Holiday Inn; but here, too, are up-and-coming annual design and art fairs and a constantly evolving roster of restaurants, shops and accommodation options.

Elegant Villa Clara villaclara.fr pioneered the upmarket boutique city stay, but the L’Hôte Libanais group has taken the concept and run with it, offering idiosyncratic small-scale hotels strong on heritage values, such as the art deco Dar Al Achrafieh B&B. Achrafieh is also where you’ll find the Sursock Museum sursock.museum of modern art, set in a stunning 1912-built Ottoman-style mansion.

Pause for a Lebanese brew at Kalei Coffee Co’s flagship Rue 4 roastery and café kaleicoffee.com in a leafy corner of the uber-cool Mar Mikhael district. Then browse hipster bookshop and café Papercup papercupstore.com – it hints at the city’s great literary heritage while embracing its funkier side. Bright, breezy Tawlet tawlet.com offers a culinary fusion of old and new, and rustic regional food and cooking classes are the focus. Housed in a lavish, airy 19th-century townhouse, stylish Liza Beirut lizabeirut.com dishes up immaculate meze, Sunday brunches and specials such as citrus-marinated chicken.

A sunset stroll along the palm- fringed corniche is essential, as is a quality sundowner – get it at rooftop bar Capitole capitolebeirut.com and rub shoulders with a cool local crowd. The next day, you may well want to take it easy. Avoid the city’s overpriced beach clubs and instead jump on a bus for the one-hour ride north to Batroun, where a meal of freshly caught fish at Jammal Restaurant 00 961 6 740 095 buys you the right to wallow awhile in this postcard-pretty cove.