To be shocked at the cost of holidays?

Fly and hire a car, use Airbnb or similar, also look at Capfun which is similar to Eurocamp but has more European families. It can be hard with 3 children, especially as they get bigger as hotel allocation becomes 2 rooms. Private rented apartments/ villas can mean you get more for your money and I find are a much calmer, enjoyable experience where you can immerse yourself in local culture more.

What do you call cheap ?

we stayed in Devon in a caravan/mobile home which was £800 ish and more costly then a week in tenerife £350 ish

yes I have flights on too but then have a pool and guaranteed sunshine

If you need to be home during GCSE results then look at going that following weekend (which is usually the bank holiday Monday) from Edinburgh. I'd expect it to be cheaper than flying out of Newcastle.

Book your own flights through easyJet or similar and your own accom through Expedia. We do this and it’s way cheaper than TUI.

I’m completely shocked at the cost! I expect holidays to be a few hundred per person for an all inclusive - not upwards of £1000. I freely admit I’m stuck in the past - I audibly gasp every time I get a round in!

Scottish school summer holidays are end June to mid August. If you can fly outwith these times, you could save £

Have you considered home exchanges? We did lots, only paying for the cost of the flight. It's a v cheap way to gave holidays

The last week in August is usually the cheapest of the four for UK breaks, if that's any help to anyone.

You're not being unreasonable being shocked! I have a DD 2 and we looked at August just Wales and it would be £800 to stay in a caravan for 4 nights for goodness sake. I suddenly understand why people take their kids out of school for holidays. The £160 fine is worth it imo

Book a cheap holiday cottage in uk and get supermarket delivery and self cater for the week. Kids will be happy with that

My dc didn’t have an abroad holiday til they were 7 and 9. And then Covid hit so they didn’t go again til 11 and 13. They have very fond memories of summer holidays on Scottish beaches when they were little. Or visiting grandparents . I don’t think they really need to do anything else at that age.

As always, the answer to the question about how other people can afford something you can't is some combination of they've got more money than you assumed, and they're paying less for it than you think.

If you're stuck with school holidays exactly, the two best ways to save money are to book a loooooong way in advance, and to avoid summer. I have October 2026 booked already, for a steal of a price.

It's still not going to come cheap with 3 kids, and I bet most of the DC in your class have smaller families, but doing both of those things will make it as cheap as you can.

Interrailing is my aim for next summer. We will then have a 12 and 9 year old. We were considering this year but youngest is still a bit little and we had some limitations with work so having one more practice in UK on the trains first
edit to add - thanks for sharing and if you have any other recommendations or tips I’d be super interested!

I guess I should add that the very first place to start would be Interail.eu, the official website.

I just did a calculation and for 1 adult and 2 DC, one over 12 and one under 12 (under 12s get a free pass!) to go to S. of France/ N. Italy for example would be around £600. That's a 4 day pass (full price, not bought in one of the regular sales), travel from your UK station, Eurostar and TGV supplements included. You could include overnights in Paris or a good day trip from your destination in that. The beauty of it with school aged kids is that this is a FIXED price- it doesn't fluctuate according to holidays.

I do it all myself....but it IS complicated, and it helps that the organisation is one of my special interests (autistic)! Obviously, the driving holidays are less complicated but more tiring.

If you want to try the Interrail route, seat61.com is an AMAZING website- all the answers you need to know are in there somewhere! I'm also on an Interrail traveller's Facebook group.

Even holidays in the UK are obscene. (Depending on where and when you go I guess).

This sounds amazing! Do you use a particular company to organise this, or just do it yourself. Would love to have this experience with the children, but wouldn't know where to start

Skyscanner, would they not show jet2 flights too?

I'd say £1500 BUT I avoid tolls by taking the Routes Nationales and I never include the price of food, because you'd be eating whilst at home anyway! (And also we stay at cheap simple campsites away from the coast).

sorry forgot to mention that we can usually do about 11 days camping in France including cost of accommodation, fuel, ferries, road tolls, supermarket shops, bike hire, eating out , day trips etc for about £2.5k for a family of 5. Not cheap and still have to save and budget, but definitely a great family holiday which everyone seems to enjoy.

There are also cheap deals in the UK. We’ve had some really nice holiday homes up in Stirling that were very reasonable and there is loads for the kids to do

@Wingingit247 castell Montgri ? Fabulous camp -

@hailsugar I actually thought those kind of holidays were not a ‘second rate’ option either-I found them far more enjoyable, kids made friends, lots of room to run around . Stayed once in one in Antibes that had a fairground 3 minutes walk away and the coastal railway 2 minutes walk away so managed without a car too, just flew into Nice- great holiday

The cost of family holidays during school holidays never ceases to amaze me. We managed one package holiday abroad before our kids started school. Since then we have mostly done camping holidays in France, which we have always really enjoyed. We tend to go as soon as the kids break from school (i.e. July) and book ferries and accommodation in January with special offers/ cheaper options available. I always contact the campsite directly and book their own mobile homes/ camping pitches as find Eurocamp too expensive. DC now 16, 15 and 9 and this has worked really well for all ages over the years as always plenty of friends to make and activities going on to please all on good campsites. Best of luck.

I'm really taken aback by the price of flights tbh. Last time I flew was August 2016 and my return flight from Venice was £20! (and going out was about £90 I think). I stopped flying for environmental reasons and we now drive or take the train, but I still thought I was being noble and taking a financial hit by doing so. Not so- I'm paying £700 for the three of us to do a tour of Europe this August!

Have you thought about France or Holland and Eurocamp or Center Parcs type holidays there? They are SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper if you’re willing to drive. We’re a family of 8 and going overnight ferry to Holland in August, staying in a huge beautiful 6 bedroom villa on a big park with loads to do for around half what it would cost to do a “traditional” holiday abroad. There is a beautiful site in Spain only an hour from Barcelona airport if you need to fly and prefer it hotter, you can book transfers to take you there. The site goes directly onto the beach, has restaurants and supermarkets on site, and 4 swimming pools. Again, significantly cheaper than a hotel even with flights.