Data Sources

Temperature data — Meteostat and NASA POWER

The temperature band on each destination page shows, for every calendar month, the average daily high and average daily low over the last ten years. Our primary source is Meteostat, which redistributes observations from national weather services (including NOAA and Deutscher Wetterdienst) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. We use the weather station closest to each destination, so the figures reflect the place itself rather than a regional average.

Where no nearby station has a complete enough record, we fall back to NASA POWER, a public-domain dataset derived from satellite and model data on a half-degree grid. Grid data can run cooler than the coast for small islands and seaside towns, which is why we prefer station records.

The "Chance of rain" chart counts the average number of days per month with at least 1mm of precipitation — the threshold most climate summaries use to exclude trace or drizzle amounts. It uses the same window as the temperature band, and normally the same station, but a station's rain gauge can have gaps even when its temperature record is solid; where that happens we use NASA POWER's satellite precipitation estimate for rainfall specifically, while still using the station for temperature. Where neither source has reliable enough coverage, the page shows "not yet available" rather than an unreliable figure.

Price indices

The price index shown on each destination (a normalised 0–1 scale) is independently researched from publicly available fare data and established seasonal patterns. It represents a relative price signal — how expensive a given month is compared to that destination's annual average — rather than a live price quote.

Important: Price indices are not real-time. They reflect typical seasonal patterns derived from historical data and are updated periodically (at least annually). Actual prices for specific travel dates will differ. Always check current prices on the booking platforms we link to.

The index is used to classify months as peak (typically ≥ 0.80), shoulder (0.45–0.79), or off-season (below 0.45), alongside the crowd index.

UK school holiday dates

There is no single national school calendar in the UK. Term dates are set by local councils in England and Wales, by each of Scotland's 32 councils, and by the Education Authority in Northern Ireland. For each region we store the dates that the large majority of councils use, and flag the known exceptions in the tooltip on the season calendar. We hold the current and next academic year and refresh every August.

• England & Wales — the common council pattern, cross-checked against Royal Borough of Greenwich, Norfolk and Coventry. Find your own council's dates via GOV.UK.
• Scotland — follows City of Edinburgh and Glasgow City Council, which most councils match. The February break is two days in Glasgow and the west but a full week in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife.
• Northern Ireland — Education Authority non-operational dates, which apply to almost all grant-aided schools.

Crowd data

Crowd index values (a normalised 0–1 scale) are derived from destination tourism authority reports, published visitor statistics, and known seasonal visitor patterns. They are not sourced from real-time footfall sensors or aggregated mobile data.

Like price indices, crowd indices reflect typical seasonal patterns and are updated periodically. Major events, natural disasters, or geopolitical changes may cause significant deviations from historical patterns. Always verify current conditions from official tourism authorities before travelling.

Destination photography

Destination photos come from Wikimedia Commons. Each one is checked individually before use for a licence that permits commercial use with no fee owed to the photographer — CC0, public domain, CC BY, or CC BY-SA. We don't use paid stock photo libraries. Full attribution for every photo in use is on the photo credits page.

Affiliate partner pricing

Where we show illustrative prices alongside booking links (e.g. “from £X per night in shoulder season”), these are shoulder-season estimates based on our independently researched price indices. They are not live quotes from booking platforms.

We partner with Booking.com, Expedia, lastminute.com (via Awin), GetYourGuide, and Viator. Current prices are always displayed on the partner's own platform after you click through. For our affiliate disclosure, see Affiliate Disclosure.