"September is one of my favourite times of year". Says Sean Tipton.

The summer may be over but often the weather does its best to make up for a disappointing August and the countryside can be utterly spectacular as the Autumn leaves put on a dazzling display. Walks through woods in the British countryside show our country at its loveliest, but if you ask travel industry insiders about which month is the best to travel overseas, most will say it’s now, September.

Why is this? Well firstly, we take the majority of our overseas holidays around the Mediterranean and unlike the UK, the weather here is much more predictable with sunshine and good temperatures virtually guaranteed throughout the month and in many cases, well into October. However what you won’t see are, temperatures hitting the forties, crowded beaches and sky high prices.

My personal recommendation would be to head off to the Costa del Sol and hire a car.

One of the main reasons prices come down is that our European neighbours are creatures of habit. They have very clearly defined holiday period; Paris and Madrid are ghost towns in August because everyone has headed off to the beach, but come September,everyone is back at work or school. So the hotels put their prices down and also you won’t be desperately searching for a spot to lay down your towel or trying to find a table in a restaurant if you’re a little late for lunch. However there are still some people around and you won’t find the slightly depressing end of season atmosphere which starts to come in in October.

So if you fancy a break in the South of France, an visit to an idyllic Greek island or a sail around the Turkish Aegean without breaking the bank, now’s the time to go. My personal recommendation would be to head off to the Costa del Sol and hire a car.

The gateway to the costa is the city of Malaga, one of the nicest in Spain and well worth a day or two of your time. The Spanish have invested large sums of money in modernising the resorts further along the coast, so don’t turn your nose up at a visit to places like Torremolinos and Fuengirola, you’ll be very pleasantly surprised.

But the main attraction has to be the Moorish cities of Grenada and Seville and my own favourite Cordoba, which has one of the world’s most spectacular buildings, the Mezquita.

The Andalusians are also renowned throughout Spain for their warm friendly nature, great sense of fun and the food is delicious, so liberate your inner gypsy and head off for a spot  of Flamenco and discover precisely why we all fell in love with the Costa del Sol in the 60s and 70s.