Travel tips: a corking new eco hotel in Portugal and invigorating tennis holidays

Take me there: Ecorkhotel, Alentejo, Portugal

Portugal traditionally provided cork for the world's wine bottles, but now that screw caps are taking over it's having to find other uses for its forests of cork oak. This pioneering new eco hotel on the outskirts of Évora is clad entirely in cork, which is great for insulation, and heated by solar and geothermal energy. If that all sounds a bit "worthy", it looks pretty cool, too, with 56 contemporary suites sprinkled like white sugar cubes across the Alentejo plains. There's a pool, spa and restaurant serving traditional Portuguese cuisine, and the heritage sites of beautiful Évora are just five minutes away. Double rooms cost from €120 per night (ecorkhotel.com)

It's a good time to... book a tennis holiday

Hotels and resorts with tennis courts are on standby for a surge of bookings as the Wimbledon final approaches, so to get ahead of the game book now.

The Healthy Holiday Company has launched a collection of tennis holidays, some of which include the chance to try out cardio tennis, a new workout which combines tennis skills with fitness training (thehealthyholidaycompany.co.uk).

A four-night mini-spa and tennis break at La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain (training base for the British Davis Cup team) costs from £690pp including apartment and flights, plus a daily choice of spa treatment, court hire or lesson (lamangaclub.com).

Family-travel specialist Tots Too also has a range of holidays for budding Sharapovas and Murrays, including a week at the Annabel Croft Academy at the luxury Aphrodite Hills Resort in Cyprus from £2,990 per family. Courses from one to five days are available for adults and children at extra cost (totstoo.com).

A more affordable option is offered by Hoseasons at its Talacre Beach site in Prestatyn, north Wales. A week in a holiday lodge or caravan for a family of six costs from £535, with professional tennis coaching among the many activities available at an extra charge (hoseasons.co.uk).

Give me a break: the week's best deals

Scilly savings Escape to the Scilly Isles for a romantic getaway before the schools break up. Couples staying at the Hell Bay hotel – located in a private, picturesque cove on rugged Bryher island – can save £510 if they travel before 19 July. A four-night stay which includes dinner, B&B and return ferry crossings from Penzance now costs from £990 for two people (hellbay.co.uk)

Basque by bike Explore is offering discounts of up to £200 on selected cycling holidays booked before 30 June. Enjoy your own mini Tour de France on an eight-day Basque-country itinerary through the Pyrenean foothills to the Spanish border. The trip departs on 31 August and costs from £871pp (down from £971), including international train travel, hotel and bike hire (explore.co.uk)