To be shocked at the cost of holidays?

Three children under six will love a seaside holiday in the uk. Hire a big static caravan from somewhere like Park Dean. Yes you might get some rain but in hot countries you might get a heatwave.

What a stupid comment.

You need to think outside of the box when it comes to Summer holidays. Spain is the most expensive place to visit during summer school holidays. Sometimes going longer haul can be cheaper or going to less popular European destinations.

Try easyJet holiday, we’ve travelled with them a few times now and they’ve been absolutely brilliant. Great deposit scheme and only payment 6 weeks before rather than 12. The prices are always much more competitive than TUI or jet2. Although if your a teacher, your blue light card with get you a small discount with Tui/jet2.

Egypt and Morocco are a great option in October, fantastic weather and a little more budget friendly. We often book 12-18 months in advance if we are doing a package to get the very best prices.

I always find Spain and Balearics very expensive.

Skyscanner for flights and then Airbnb or VRBO and book the cheapest half decent looking place. I can get my family of 5 11 nights on the coast in Croatia for summer 2025 for about £1500 and that's with 3 bedrooms so the dc can separate out a bit. Self catered so can cook fairly cheaply plus a couple of nice meals out for a treat. I'm NE so can be trickier than when you have somewhere like Stansted in striking distance but doable.

Most people live off credit cards, did you not know that?

Package holiday sounds expensive. I took my youngest to Spain last year (Dh and older one stayed home as they had a separate holiday for a sport booked for later). Flights were £150 for both of us total. And the Airbnb was £80 a night. Beautiful flat 2 blocks from the beach. 3 bedrooms, slept 6 people, though was just the 2 of us. £710 for flights and accommodation. Obviously would be more for extra people for flights but not accommodation.

We went to the supermarket and the local markets for food, which was a highlight of the trip. No hotel buffets, thank god. Pastries and coffee for breakfast (coffee and milk free from Airbnb), we’d have a baguette with cured meats and cheese for lunch and fresh fruit. All of which was minimal cost. We ate out for most dinners, maybe 20-50 euros depending.

Beach days were free. Airbnb even had beach towels, toys and chairs. We did a few things like going to the aquarium (maybe 30 euros each) or the water park, but we went to a municipal one, so was literally 4 euros each with plenty of waterslides for ds. Got a weekly travelcard for buses and trains, which was like 20 euros and ds was free, so we travelled all over. I don’t think we spent more than £1000 give or take. Obviously, that was for 2 of us, but you could absolutely scale that up to 3 children and it would not cost you £4-6k. 😳 We had a lovely time. Ds still talks about it almost daily and it was nearly a year ago.

That's 2025 - OP says they are looking at 2026

You do not know, when looking at those photos of other people gurning in front of the Eiffel Tower, whether they are staying in a 5* hotel round the corner for £500 a night, or whether they're staying in a campsite 30 miles away for £20 a night and caught the train in. I'm definitely one of the latter, yet people are always telling me how impressive the holiday photos I share on social media are.

Think smart, my friend.

And only take minimal (under seat) luggage on flights. If you rent a house, it’ll come with a washing machine and clothes take no time to dry. You only need minimal light clothes and some sliders. Take cottons throws for the beach rather than bulky beach towels.

I was going to say that too... I'd think August 2026 may be too far in advance

@Unexpectedlysinglemum I like Brittany but had 8 days of drizzle last time in July - by that nature, most places outside of northern Europe will be too hot- in which case OP could price up the kind of thing I sent her but for October half term.

I wouldn't go to Spain in August too hot, and a stay cation should be warm.
Ferry and car and Eurocamp etc in britany should be nice? Or uk?

Mine have never been abroad on a holiday, I do have times when I feel guilty, but we have had some great holidays in the UK. What always surprises me about holidays is the stuff they remember, its like school trips, you can take them somewhere gorgeous and all they remember is the dead seagull, or the fact that someone threw up on the coach !
I did once go into a travel agent to look at going abroad during August, we usually book a three bed cottage within a stones throw of the beach, for double what we pay for that here, we could have a one bedroomed apartment, which would mean half the family sleeping on a sofa bed, in a massive holiday complex. Personally I would rather have the space, I live up North and don't mind a bit of rain, so UK it was. Although I would have considered a Gite in France with a pool, but DH didn't fancy the driving, or forking out for everyone's passports, or just doing anything mildly different, so Cornwall it is !

Could you share some links please 🤞🏻

We very fortunately have family in America, Hong Kong, Norway and Spain. Plus the New Forest, Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight. Many holidays over the years. Just lucky I suppose.

Hotels with flight packages are expensive. But you can have a reasonable cost holiday if you book (early) separate flights and an Airbnb or holiday let via local agents.

That way you don’t have to buy food and drinks out and can make your own food and packed lunch for the beach. Young kids don’t eat much for breakfast or dinner. They prefer light snacks, fruit etc, especially when it’s hot. You wouldn’t get a pool, but if you’re a local bus ride from the beach, you can hang out there most days.

You can get some beautiful town houses with outside space. That way you can hang out in the place some days and have a nice stroll or go to the playground. Houses are easier if you have young children as they have space to play, have a siesta or go to bed early while you chill outside.

Don’t look at package holidays in resort hotels in the med. Look at France, ferry or Le Shuttle, staying in a gite or on a campsite.

Look at Ireland or camping in Italy or camping in Spain. Cheap flights in the January sales on budget airlines and AirBnB.

We’re going to Cornwall for a week in a cottage in August courtesy of my DM and DF and having a week in Devon. I’ve ruled out August holidays abroad for a few years while we’ve got big mortgage payments and are about to return to mat pay/nursery fees. It’s not worth it, and we’re lucky in that we live near beautiful countryside and beaches anyway.

God willing, if we get through the next few baby years we’ll explore France options and look at going abroad in May half term after that.

We did Disneyland Paris and Paris itself for a few days last May half term, but it was a big one off treat as DH had done well at work and we wanted to take DS abroad. But it won’t be an annual thing for us to go abroad. And we’re high earners.

Roompot website in English.

Roompot | Your holiday starts here

That's how we Eurocamp.

The Hull Rotterdam ferry is so much easier than airports.

We had a lovely week in Zante in the October half term. Yes it was the end of their season but there was plenty to do and it was warm.

We have always managed Spain for less than £5,000 for five of us but this year we have a gorgeous, and I mean gorgeous, barn conversion in the Lake District for £2,000…accommodates six.

The very last week of August can be cheaper, or as PPs have suggested, try Easter, May or October half term. Also if you can fly just a day or two either side of the school holiday it can make a difference (and often these can be teacher days so the children aren’t in school anyway).
We’ve always travelled by booking flights and accommodation separately (normally use vrbo for accommodation), but you will get a much smaller pool and not the kids clubs that way, if that’s important to you. In fact if you are booking private apartment accommodation on Costa del Sol it’s worth double checking if the pool will be available as some have been closed over recent years due to water restrictions.

The weather in the October half-term has been getting milder over the last few years too. It can be a really lovely time of year weather-wise! Maybe not for a European beach holiday but nice for somewhere like Paris or Rome or Madrid. You could have a nice time in Scandinavia or somewhere like New York then too. If you wanted somewhere hot though, you could find some good deals for hot destinations further afield during the October half-term.

Forget vacationing in the summer holidays as a teacher and start to consider the October holiday as your annual getaway break instead.

Tui are notoriously expensive. Look at easyjet holidays and jet2 holidays. We've got a week in Greece at a lovely hotel in August for 4 of us for 3.5k. All Inclusive but higher end so really good food, wine by the bottle etc. Small hotel not a sprawling complex full of brits abroad types. I know cause we went last year and it was just perfect. They are out there but it takes patience and scrolling and scrolling as well as date changing and considering different airports to get a better deal. Oh and the sprawling 'brits abroad' places with big water parks and theme parks are always more expensive for some reason! Best avoided!