There is something about a holiday romance that is so much better than a regular fling. Maybe its the finite timeline or the unfamiliar setting, or maybe we're just all a slightly better version of ourselves when we're lying by a beach instead of drowning in work emails and grocery lists.
Even if you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing one firsthand, you'll no doubt know exactly the feeling I'm talking about, thanks to countless books, television series, and films that have documented the intensity of a holiday romance. From fleeting summer flings to life-changing encounters, these stories are the perfect antidote to real life, and our favourite form of escapism when the daily routine is getting us down.
Below, we've rounded up the best books, shows and films that capture the feeling of falling for someone somewhere else.
Films
Call Me by Your Name
The gold standard of summer romance. Set in northern Italy in the 1980s, the film follows Elio and Oliver's transformative relationship over the course of one long summer. It's filled with yearning and nostalgia, and is a masterclass in making a destination feel inseparable from the love story that happened there.
Adventureland
Set in 1987, this film follows recent college graduate James Brennan, who takes a job at a run-down amusement park after his post-uni travel plans fall through. But it's there that he meets fellow employee Em, and the pair develop a complicated romance while navigating the uncertainties of early adulthood.
Mamma Mia!
Greek islands, ABBA hits, Meryl Streep and, obviously, a couple of romances. What more could you want from a movie? We have to physically restrain ourselves from booking a European summer every time.
The Way Way Back
Fourteen-year-old Duncan reluctantly joins his mother and her boyfriend on a summer holiday to a beach town in Massachusetts. Struggling to find his place, he takes a job at a local water park, where he experiences love for the first time. This is equal partscoming-of-age story and summer romance, and perfectly captures that feelin gof freedom and possibility.
Before Sunrise
A chance meeting on a train leads two strangers to spend a single night wandering Vienna together. To be honest, few films have captured the intoxicating feeling of meeting someone while travelling quite like this one.
Safe Haven
Safe Haven is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Fleeing a troubled past, Katie arrives in the small coastal town of Southport, North Carolina, hoping to start over under a new identity. But it's there that she meets Alex, a widow who runs the local general store and, surprise surprise, there's a spark...
The Last Song
This is the film that introduced Miley Cyrus to Liam Hemsworth, so it's a life-imitates-art situation. When Ronnie Miller is sent to spend the summer with her dad in a tiny beach town, she's reluctant. But what better to help her settle into her new life than a love interest, in the form of Hemsworth's character, Will Blakelee?
Summer of 85
Set on the Normandy coast during the summer of 1985, the film follows teenager Alexis, whose life is changed after a chance sailing accident brings him into orbit with the charismatic David. Their intense friendship quickly deepens into first love, but as the summer progresses, their romance takes a darker turn.
TV shows
Every Year After
Based on the bestselling novel by Carley Fortune (which is called Every Summer After), Every Year After follows Percy and Sam, whose friendship blossoms into first love over a series of idyllic summers. But years after a mistake tears them apart, Percy returns to the place where it all began and is forced to confront the relationship she left behind. You can guess what happens next.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Obviously this makes the list. Every summer, Belly Conklin goes to Cousins Beach with her family, where she spends pretty much the entire time with brothers Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher. But as their relationship evolves from childhood friends to the possibility of romance. You'll need to watch all three seasons (and get ready for the movie) to really understand the vibe.
Conversations With Friends
Based on the novel by Sally Rooney, Conversations with Friends follows university student Frances as she becomes involved with actor Nick, the husband of an older writer she admires. While their relationship begins in Dublin, much of its emotional intensity unfolds during a summer holiday in Croatia.
Books
People We Meet on Vacation
For years, opposites-attract best friends Poppy and Alex have taken one holiday together every summer. Despite living in different cities and leading very different lives, their annual trip is what keeps their friendship together. It's also the place where this friendship finally blossoms into something more... If you love the book, there's a film adaptation on Netflix, too.
Hot Milk
Deborah Levy's Hot Milk strikes a slightly different tone. Set in a sweltering Spanish coastal town, it follows Sofia, who travels with her mother (who is unwell) to seek treatment from a controversial doctor. As the two remain suspended in a liminal holiday setting, Sofia begins to step outside her mother’s shadow and becomes drawn to a woman she meets there, sparking a quiet, unsettling relationship.
Eat Pray Love
After a divorce, Elizabeth Gilbert sets off on a year-long journey of self discovery across Italy, India and Indonesia. This memoir traces a process of self-reinvention through travel – eating in Rome, seeking spiritual discipline in a India, and ultimately falling in love in Bali. The romance in this story arrives as part of a much larger personal transformation, but its still got elements of that magical holiday romance trope, nonetheless.
Beach Read
Another of Emily Henry's works, this is about two writers – January, who writes romance, and Gus, who writes literary fiction – that end up living in neighbouring beach houses for the summer. They're both struggling creatively and agree to swap genres as a challenge, leading them into, you guessed it, a romance. This is also set for adaptation in the not-so-distant future.
