Drown your sorrows

Nigel Farage’s election campaign may have resembled one long pub crawl, but for most of us, the hard drinking will just be starting. And drowning your sorrows need not be a sorry affair in which you suckle a two-litre bottle of K Cider on a windswept park bench. Not if the craft beer movement can help it anyway. From Cambridge to Leeds, Edinburgh to Brighton and right across the capital, we’ve tried and tested the best British boozers for a comforting pint of ale. And if you’ve already fled across the Channel, try our tips for the best brew pubs in Europe. Who says continental lager is all you can drink on the continent?

Take a long walk

Maybe it isn’t so bad? Maybe you just need a bit of time to work through the futility of it all: reflect, philosophise … suppress. Just leave the house and start walking. You will find inspiration in our guide to tackling the UK’s long-distance footpaths or perhaps you’ll prefer to take on some of the wilderness trails in the north of Scotland. This year the Pennine Way turned 50; it’s 267 miles long – a decent-enough stroll to sort your head out.

Go off-grid

If post-election Twitter memes are failing to make you LOL, you hate all your friends on Facebook (even more than usual) and even Radio 4 has morphed from its usual role as the soothing voice of a posh imaginary friend into a cackling assault on the senses, then it’s time to go beyond the reach of your 4G network. We’ve rounded up the the best places to get a social-media detox – tranquil spaces from Suffolk to Cumbria to cater for square-eyed, head-frazzled urbanites who basically need to shut up, stop sharing and calm down a bit. We can also suggest a long weekend at one of the country’s most remote guesthouses, Skiary in Scotland, which doesn’t even have electricity. And if all that fails, you can just go sleep in a cave.

Hide

If you thought British politics in 2015 was a cold, barren place, try living in Siberia. But really, six-months living in a cabin by frosty Lake Baikal could actually be just the thing to put the bickering banality of the election into perspective. And no one will find you there either (probably because they won’t go looking, but still …). There’s plenty of other cabins to hide away in around the world, such as a log hut in nowheresville, Montana or really rather impressive hiking cabins in Norway.

Go as far as you can

In the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, no one cares about the gap between the polls and the reality. Anyway, a trek into the mountains to visit the indigenous tribes people of the Pacific is one way to pretend that none of this is happening. Likewise on a canoeing trip around the Cook Islands. Those on a budget should also take a look at our roundup of the best tropical holiday hideaways. In fact, even if we just voted unanimously for a progressive socialist utopia and the sun started shining, these places would still be a good shout.

Let your hair down

Incredibly, there are actually better reasons to stay up till 5am and feel terrible about it afterwards than a general election. Get your dancing shoes on at one of the UK’s top clubs or rave across the continent, ticking off the venues on our expert list of Europe’s best party spots. And from Belgrade to Lisbon we’ve got guides to nightlife in all the top clubbing cities. The election may be over, but the weekend has landed.