To be shocked at the cost of holidays?

We have 3 kids and over the years we have done the following as time/money has been restrictive at various points.

When they we little we just did things like camping/butlins etc
Then we did a couple of eurocamps - once we flew and hired a car there and the other time we did a road trip to Italy stopping in a couple of countries enroute before staying at a great eurocamp near venice.
Now they are teens we have done more things like city breaks/greek island etc.

3 kids is always going to cost a lot more than 2 - its not just an extra kids worth - sometimes it can be almost double the cost for a family of 4!!!

Things to help reduce the costs are

• going Easter/may/october instead of summer
• going last week of august as generally europe are all back at school
• doing it not as a package so flights and hotel seperately
• having an apartment rather than hotel (although if you have a baby in a cot then a hotel might still work for you)
• driving rather than flying

We just went to Rome in Feb half term - flights were £380 for the 5 of us including a suitcase and apartments in Rome and Pompei came to about £800. Trains between rome and pompei were about £250 and then entry to various sites etc was about another £400. so with food/meals out etc it was about £2500 for the 5 of us (kids are adults sized now for beds/food etc!)

We have 2 DCs, both in their 40s now. We used to go camping, caravanning, holiday parks in the UK or visiting family in other parts of the country. We had a bit of spare cash one year and went to Florida, but we were all crammed in one room, in a fairly manky hotel, and it cost a fortune to us. We were then sold points in a timeshare club. Now timeshare gets a bad name, but it worked for us. We got a week every year for 10 years, in good resorts, with good sized apartments. However, once the DC left home, it restricted us on where we could go, so we sold it, eventually, at a loss. Now, you can buy a timeshare for next to nothing from someone trying to sell. You have to pay a service charge, so check how much that is, before committing, you have to buy flights, but you know when you are going, so can book Easyjet as soon as they are released when they are cheapest. They are a bit of a pain to get rid of when the time comes, but if you have bought cheaply you can virtually give it away without loss. I wouldn't recommend buying without a lot of homework first, but as I said, it worked for us.

This! I was looking and found plenty of cheap ones just now for late July (I found one for two people for £88 for two nights that had great reviews and was fairly central). I don't get it. And Airbnb in Paris you can usually get some cheap but lovely apartments. What sites are people using to search on?

How much, and when are you looking for? I've just done a quick search for a Friday night in July based on my requirements (1 adult and 2 DC, sharing a room) and found plenty in the £70ish price bracket. Chain hotels, most of them with "Porte" in the name 🤷‍♀️.

Three DC is expensive. Most families are two DC. Cheaper option.

Also "not the best hotel" doesn't always mean there will be issues.

Sometimes that just means a slow check in, basic decor and food - so you basically treat it as a place to stop and nothing more.

I know Paris well as I lived there. I even tried looking in my old neighbourhood which while slightly central is very very residential so not popular with tourists. (Which also means limited hotel options but still….)

No cheap joy. Unless I want a hostel and I am too old for hostels.

Haha, mine too! He had the thrill of his life when he saw Takis in the supermarket last year. Totally agree with this. Though I do love the convenience of an all inclusive holiday, it’s definitely a luxury and a self catering holiday is much more affordable with kids (and more enjoyable than I expected it to be).

It can be extortionate! Do you have any grandparents that might go with you? If you book a child under them, you’d get an extra free child place.

That’s what we’ve done this year. We’re travelling with my brothers, wives, mum etc. There’s six adults, and three children (two of which are mine). So we booked it in a way that there’s a child under each two adults per room, so each child goes for free. It was still £2,800 for two adults though (for 10 days).

Last year, we did a basic hotel in Spain. For me and two DC, it cost me £1k in August holidays. I booked with a friend with her DC. 2 adults, 5 kids. We got given two free child spaces. So I had to pay for one adult and a child, and she had one adult and two children to pay for. Total bargain, I’m still convinced to this day it was an error on the website.

There’s pros and cons to booking in advance and paying off monthly, and saving up monthly and booking nearer the time.

For example, a completely random search just now, but for this Saturday to fly out for Easter holidays, I’ve found a self catering hotel for a week, including flights and transfers, £352pp, for a family of 5, that’s £1756.

When we did a basic hotel last year, I took insulated water bottles and bought large bottled water from the shop for the fridge in the room, and took squirty juices along with us so I wasn’t buying drinks all day long. For breakfasts, I’d get a loaf of bread from the shop and eggs and make scrambled egg on toast. I took a jar of Nutella and bought brioche. I also took along things like cream crackers, malted milk biscuits, kinder bars, noodles that could be put into their snack boxes/made in the hotel room for a quick lunch. I know that sounds like a lot of junk, but they had plenty of the lovely fruits available in Spain, too 😂Pizzas were cheap - €8 and that fed both kids for lunch (and me too some days). We even had McDonald’s one night for tea!

I normally love an all inclusive holiday but with kids, it’s much more expensive so I’ve been making self catering holidays work on a budget.

There are usually plenty of reasonably priced chain hotels around the "portes", next to the Peripherique. Porte de la Villette is my favourite. Try zooming out on the booking.com map.

Holidays are crazy money nowadays. DDs are 8 and 5 and have only been abroad once and that was sailing rather than on a plane. I don't think they'll be going on a flight for a good few years yet.

We are planning ferry to France or the Netherlands, taking the car and self catering for our next foreign trip which when I looked online was much cheaper, as was going at Easter or the half terms rather than summer holidays.

Our most common holidays are camping or staying in a caravan. We've been to the Isle of Wight a few times which is great because the ferry crossing is exciting for DDs. If you're up north you could always break the journey up e.g. look at driving down a few hours and getting a Travelodge or cheap hotel somewhere on the way and exploring a new city, and the same on the way back and just do one of the Mon-Fri caravan breaks. That could be a much cheaper way of getting a week away but seeing a few different places.

No you are not BU. I have been looking for hotel rooms in Paris and the cost is obscene. It’s sad.

We haven’t been anywhere for less that £1k pp for about 3 years. Thats both August and October times. Holidays are nuts now. ( even in the days where we could get a free child’s place it always evened out to at least £1k each)

People assume that my husband and I are LOADED due to the amount of holidays we go on.

If someone asks if you're going on holiday, you don't tend to hear all the details of the flights/transfers/catering etc - you just hear a destination and how long.

But we self-cater, we go to the cheapest locations if going peak time, we don't pick where we want to go, we say, "where are the cheap flights to on roughly these dates".

If you say you want to go on a week to Spain in August, when yes, you'll get a high price for a popular holiday at a popular time.

This is the most memorable bit for my kids too! We love a random international snack.

When my children were small we rented a house with a pool in France/ Austria. The weather was good and we spent most days in the pool, with a few days trips thrown in. You can keep the cost down with self catering, as it won't be much more than at home.

Obviously if you want to fly you'll have to rely on public transport but if you choose a biggish town it shouldn't be an issue.

Gerardmer in France is built around a lake, ditto Zell am See in Austria.

Many Alpine areas are quite cheap to stay in during the summer.

YAB a bit U. Hotels are always expensive, especially in August and with 3 dc. Try a self catering apartment, book everything separately yourself. Part of the holiday joy is going for the first supermarket shop to stock up, my dc say looking back that was always one of the best bits!

Yes this! I think it's easy to take a much cheaper week abroad somewhere but it might not be somewhere hot or all inclusive. You have to cut your cloth a bit. I would never dream of taking a £2k holiday (as a two person family). It seems insanity to me. You could easily do it for half that. No wonder people don't have any money.

The flights for budget airlines won't be released until August 2025 that's why you're only getting the more expensive holiday operator flight prices. Wait until a year in advance and don't pick the most popular place at the most popular time for Brits to go. Egypt or Turkey in April or Malta in October would be much more affordable for example.

Holidays abroad are a luxury. Some people make more money than others. Not all options cost the same, not all options are equally nice. Look for a less busy month in a less expensive area, if finances are an issue.

Hi OP, I'm not sure if you've tried all of this, but I'm a very experienced traveller. I've been travelling the last 20 years as much as I can afford (over 50 countries) which has been very variable (student, mat leave, low paid, high paid jobs) but my greatest strength is finding cheap holidays for me and my family no matter my circumstances. These are my tips:

-Avoid package unless it's off season and last minute or an amazing deal
-Use Skyscanner to find all the destinations your local airport flies from and the cheapest time to fly. Consider not the usual destinations or ones you've never heard of. Generally book a year out for high season.
-Use booking websites like booking.com and Agoda for best deals. Appartments are often better for families. Google for discount codes. Use Topcashback to get moneyback.
-If you use credit card, get a BA amex (pay everything on it and pay off immediately but collect the points).
-Sometimes far flung destinations work out cheaper as the flights are less affected by school holidays (i.e. you might well find that for £6k you can do 2 weeks in Asia - the flights are the expensive bit then once there it's really cheap ex. Thailand & Vietnam).

Anyway it takes time but I don't pay much compared to most people even now I can afford it more. Feel free to ask me for more tips.

Use inset days to your advantage so you are either flying out or in one one of those days.

Sign up to easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air and book the day the flights are released, usually in the same. I have booked many flights in school holidays sun £135 each. There is so much variety and options for accommodation, it is flights that can really rack up.

Accommodation, Air BnB, self catering, Eurocamp, hostels with private bathrooms are all worth looking at.

Use Google flights tracker. Put in travel dates and location then track flights to that destination. You get a daily email with the cheapest flights as at that day. When you see flights reduced buy immediately but directly with the airline.

Collect Avios points, that add up over time.

Foreign holidays are not compulsory, especially for under 6 y.o. Never been abroad as a child, not once. Had the most amazing hols at home though.

I've read all your comments OP and much of the rest of the thread. Has anyone mentioned house-swapping? You said you were by the beach - there could well be a Spanish or Polish family who fancy a stay in your neck of the woods.

With it being 16/17 months away you'd have time to make sure the house was totally guest ready.

I've not done it but friends who live in a well known golfing town on the West coast of Scotland have. They swapped with folk in the US eg.

Really good tip from PP about looking for flights from Scottish airports at end of August because of the schools going back that much earlier.
Agree Skyscanner searches (do it incognito) Pick a region in Poland eg and just enter in UK as departure airport. Gives you wider choice of times and dates than just your nearest one.
Good luck!

Where are you looking?! There are only 3 of us but we did a week all inclusive in Spain last year for £1400. Budget airline but 4 star hotel.