Where to go in September

Planning a holiday next month? In the first of a new monthly series looking at where to go when, we pick six great trips for September, from late summer sun in Sicily to an art fest in Lyon

• Isabel Choat
• The Guardian, Thursday 4 August 2011

Blue sky thinking ... Sicily is ideal for late summer sun

Sicily

September is arguably the loveliest month of the year to visit Sicily. It's the perfect time for a late summer beach fix – the sea is still warm and there are fewer crowds – and the weather is pleasant enough to potter around gorgeous, sandy-coloured medieval towns without working up too much of a sweat. In addition, there are food festivals galore.

Between 15-18 September no fewer than 30 artisanal ice-cream and granita producers from around Sicily will be showcasing their wares as part of the Festival Internazionale del Gelato a Cefalù (sherbethfestival.it, website in Italian). Not a big gelato eater? Then tuck into couscous (couscousfest.it, San Vito Lo Capo, near Trapani 20-25 September); sausages at the Sagra della Salsiccia (siciliainfesta.com, Sunday 11 September) on Aragona near Agrigento; or rice at the Sagra del Riso in Canicattini Bagni near Suyracuse on 11 September.

It's the grape picking season too, so the island is awash with wine festivals. The ViniMilo Sagra dei vini dell'Etna takes place on the first two weekends of September, and Festa della Vendemmia in Piedimonte Etneo from 28-30 September. Both villages are on the eastern flanks of Etna.

• Essentially Italy (essentiallyitaly.co.uk), Long Travel (long-travel.co.uk) and Think Sicily (thinksicily.com) all offer self-catering apartments, hotels and villas across the island

Lyon

Lyon Biennale, 2009
Lyon is a gourmand's heaven, boasting perhaps more restaurants per square kilometre than anywhere else in Europe, and a galaxy of Michelin stars. That alone is reason to visit, but France's second city has plenty more strings to its bow.

The largest preserved Renaissance area in Europe, home to the Lumiere brothers, a centre for fashion designers who follow a long tradition of silk-making, Roman ruins and a dynamic arts scene. The only thing Lyon hasn't got many of, inexplicably, is tourists. Visit mid-September and you'll hit the launch of the 11th Biennale of contemporary art when 70 artists from around the world will exhibit their work in four venues: La Sucrière, the Bullukian Foundation, the Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art, and the TASE factory.

Stay at the Collège hotel (college-hotel.com, doubles from €125 room only) in the Unesco-listed Old Town. The restaurant is styled like a 1950s school refectory – all dark wood and glass fronted cabinets, in stark contrast to the dazzling all-white bedrooms.
• labiennaledelyon.com, from 15 September-31 December, a €12 ticket gives access to all venues

Isle of Skye

If you spot a shimmering disco boat in one of the most picturesque bays of Skye, it doesn't mean you've been at the Scotch. On 10 September, the Celeste, a dazzling sailing boat covered in 60,000 inch-square mirror tiles, will be moored in Portree where it will broadcast songs and stories from the island, collected by artists Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich. Visitors can tune into the stories on Cuillin FM (cuillinfm.co.uk, 106.2 & 102.7FM), while walking through the bay's landscape.

The Celeste is the focal point of Bonnie Boat, a whole day of art and events around the harbour, including designer craft film screenings, dance performances, coracle-making workshops, water vessel races and sailing workshops.

For accommodation, the best starting point is the local VisitScotland information office (01478 612137, visitscotland.com) who have the latest on availability. Options include The Spoons (thespoonsonskye.com, doubles from £130 B&B), a whitewashed three-room guest house on the shores of Loch Snizort, 10 minutes from Portree, has one room left on 10 September only (after that there's no availability until October). Or try Sconser Lodge Hotel (01478 650333, sconserlodge.co.uk, doubles from £80 B&B), built in 1871 as a hunting box for the MacDonalds. Or click here for details of holiday homes across the island.
• More info at atlasarts.org.uk

Abergavenny

Hafod Glan Gwy cabin. Photograph: David Fisher

Food. It's the new music. There are countless food festivals around the country but Abergavenny is the daddy, often described as the foodie Glastonbury. In addition to 200 producers, there will be big names (Fergus Henderson, Angela Hartnett, Odette's Bryn Williams, Valentine Warner, Henry Harris), debates, demonstrations and classes on offer. Accommodation gets booked up well in advance but there is still availability that weekend at Hafod Glan Gwy, a romantic cabin on a bend in the river Wye, half an hour away. Stock up on amazing local and speciality produce at the festival then retreat to your riverside hideaway where you can prepare your loved one a slap up meal (there's a well equipped kitchen) and, weather permitting, dine on the little terrace.

abergavennyfoodfestival.com. Three nights at Hafod Glan Gwy from 16 September costs £285 for two, (01865 764087, sheepskinlife.com)

Cambodia

 

Andy Booth of ABOUTAsia Travel, a Cambodia specialist, says September is a canny time to tour the country. Hotels are still priced at low season rates, tourists will be sparse (even at Angkor) and the countryside will be lush and attractive after the monsoon period.

"Sure, you'll still suffer the last vestiges of the south-west monsoon season, but this amounts only to occasional, short showers in the afternoons every other day or so," says Booth. "Otherwise, the mornings are generally sunny, and the dropping humidity levels create comfortable touring conditions – especially good for normally-sweaty clambers up Angkor temples."

The company has an eight-night itinerary combining Phnom Penh (two nights in the four-star Aman Jaya plus private city tour), Siem Reap (four nights in the four-star Tara Angkor plus private Angkor tours) and Battambang (two nights in the boutique Bambu hotel plus private city tour), which costs from £1,320pp in September. That includes B&B throughout, all tours, private road transfers and a new eight-hour boat cruise across Tonle Sap lake and up the winding Sangkar River with on-board massages and snacks prepared by a chef.
• aboutasiatravel.com

Iceland

Photograph: Ragnar Th Sigurdsson/ARCTIC-I


Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon, ash clouds, economic disaster ... these are the places and events Iceland is best known for. But beyond the capital – and the headlines – is a spectacular landscape steeped in tradition and folklore.

Travel there in September and you can join local farmers as they embark on the annual ritual of gathering up thousands of sheep from the mountains of south Iceland to be taken down to the fertile pastures for winter grazing. For experienced horse riders it is a great way to meet locals and get an insight into a way of life that has barely changed in centuries. A similar ritual rounding up horses takes place at the end of the month in the north west around the Vatnsdalur valley.

A six-day sheep round-up tour is available with Discover the World from 12-18 September for £936pp. The price includes two nights in Reykjavik, accommodation during the riding tour, all riding with saddle bags, rain wear and a riding helmet and airport transfers but excludes flights. A seven-day horseriding trip costs £1,049.
• discover-the-world.co.uk