Disappointed holiday-goers may take some comfort from the weekend forecast, as the Met Office predicts that parts of the UK will be hotter than mainland Europe.
The Met Office says it expects Friday to be the hottest day of the year so far with temperatures even nudging into 35C in Greater London.
But parts of the south could be hampered with thundery showers in the afternoon - a reminder that July has been particularly wet throughout.
Popular tourist spots on the continent including Ibiza, Lisbon and Berlin fall short of the UK high, reaching 33C, 30C and 25C respectively.
In the UK the hot weather will be widespread across south eastern areas in Kent and Cambridgeshire, where temperatures will stay around 33-34C.
Manchester is expected to peak at 32C and parts of Wales will also reach 30C.
A spokesman for the Met added that popular south-coast destinations such as Devon and Cornwall will stay "fresher", with temperatures peaking in the mid 20s, and sunseekers in Brighton will enjoy a pleasant 28C high.
But the good weather is expected to be short-lived and will not extend into the three-day "heatwave territory".
Northern Ireland will be caught by a slow moving weather front on Friday, keeping temperatures at a balmy 22C, that will go on to cool the rest of the UK on Saturday.
The front will result in temperature drops of up to 10C overnight with highs of 26C and 21C in London and Manchester respectively, on Saturday.
The UK average temperature for this July is currently on course to be just 14.1C, one degree less than the 1981-2010 long-term average of 15.2C, data from the Met shows.
So far this month, the highest maximum temperature recorded was 28.5C on July 17 at Heathrow Airport.
The UK has already surpassed 100% of the average monthly rainfall and only experienced two thirds (66%) of the expected sunshine for an average July, a total of 113.4 hours, Met Office figures show.
"We've not seen a temperature anywhere above 30 so far or even with a three in it, that is quite unusual for July," a Met spokesman said.
"In terms of shifting the overall weather stats for the month, it's not going to do much to the average."
August, meanwhile, looks to be starting very a similarly unsettled manner.
The Met Office's long range report says: "There are some fairly strong signals that unsettled conditions are likely to continue through into the first half of August, with outbreaks of rain and scattered showers affecting all parts of the United Kingdom at times."
UK 5 day weather forecast
Today:
Most areas starting off sunny and soon becoming hot. Cloud will spread across parts of England later bringing a risk of a few thunderstorms to parts of eastern and southern England. Western UK will turn cloudier with rain at times.
Tonight:
Risk of thunderstorms for parts of England and, perhaps, a few parts of Scotland this evening, but drier later. Further west, a few showers. Another warm night in the east.
Saturday:
Sunny spells with a few showers, these mainly in the northwest with much of England and Wales often dry. Less hot than today, but still warm in the southeast.
Outlook for Sunday to Tuesday:
Unsettled with rain and showers expected in most places, but also some decent dry and sunny spells. Most persistent rain in the south on Monday and the northwest on Tuesday.
