AIBU to find European summer holidays too expensive and crowded now?

@SwirlyGates i laughed at that as well 😂

"Vegetarian of tuna", interesting!

I'm in Ibiza in a quieter resort but it's still expensive

banging food tho 😂

I lived in Zeeland for 3 years. It's glorious when it's sunny but it rains more than in the Midlands or London. And the wind was something else. Sometimes I felt I was going to literally be blown away. It's quite rural as well, and while pretty, there isn't much to do if the weather is shit.

And it rains even more in the more northern parts of the Netherlands. It's not a cheap country either.

Within Europe, I have been to Portugal, Slovenia and Croatia in recent years. Lisbon and Porto were busy but not wildly crowded. Slovenia and Croatia were absolutely fine. Nowhere seemed wildly expensive.

Colehurst Lake. We booked through Airbnb but they have a website too. It’s been my favourite in 5 years of Airbnb’s!! Cosy homely cabin and about 20 feet to the lake so DH loved that for fishing! It had the loveliest outdoor covered kitchen too! I hate cooking but loved cooking it it!! It was only perhaps 1/2 mile from the main road so very easy to get to but still very peaceful! There’s a wood fired hot tub too.

@Loulou4022sorry to hijack the thread but would you mind telling me the name of where you are. It’s what my husband would love to do for his birthday and I’m looking for recommendations!

lol jeesh humble brag much. You’ve found a solution so the problem isn’t a problem anymore. Why post?

Equally it’s important to remember that in many places, AirB&B properties can be an Annexe to the owner’s property, or often the owner moves into the Annexe for the summer months so they can gain more income from letting out the larger part of the property, which they move back into in the winter.

You're going to the wrong places! Get out of the main tourist areas and there are still places without crowds.

And we recently paid €4 for a beer and a glass of wine in Europe. It was a simple bar, nothing fancy but it had an amazing view. That's impossible in England now.

Agree that the extreme heat has ended the appeal of destinations like Greece and Spain. Spent two weeks this summer in Scotland and Northumberland. Beautiful scenery and 20ish degrees, bliss!

Yes,I agree when you factor in Baggage,transfers,food & spending money it's very expensive.We just booked a week in Tossa, Catalonia.We have been to different areas of Catalonia on seven holidays.We booked the 1st week in October.With Love Holidays.Its the only way we could afford a holiday.I wanted to go to Costa del sol.Just too expensive.Tossa, quite & very clean.Affordable,we go to a small local supermarket get drink & toiletries for the week.If you have school aged children.You will then obviously need to book up now for August,the price will be higher,but that location in Spain is very good value compared with Balerics,Majorca,Alicante,South of France.
Our holiday four us two with 4* hotel Breakfast,pool view, Double room & AC Afternoon flights,baggage,transfers,7 days.
£800.Please shop around,you will find something!

That's interesting. Having just endured a week of 40 degrees in Italy, was thinking of the Netherlands for next year.

Everything is more expensive, including holidays. The cheap deals we used to get circa 2005 are gone.

We only go to central Europe these days. It’s clean, safe, and less crowded than the beaches of the Mediterranean. Next summer, the Alps!

Wrong places, yes. But I don’t use AirBnB anymore. Too many problems - not with accommodation, with the concept. And it won’t be easily available in Spain...

The problem is the over tourism coupled with everyone now thinking that a summer holiday abroad is a necessity and their God given right.

There are many many many wonderful less touristy places to go but a lot of countries realise the money in tourism and have ruined their local places to attract the money. There is a reason there is a large anti tourist feeling in loads of places.

Some research is key - it’s not hard to avoid the crowds. Which are quite frankly horrible.

It’s been expensive in the summer for years, there are more airports, more budget carriers & people travel from all over.
The heat now puts me off & I prefer to travel there in May or Oct.

Agree with this. Everywhere that was once good / quiet / cute / authentic is now ‘discovered’.

I visited an island in 2018 that I loved. Undisturbed paradise. There wasn’t even WiFi. This island was subsequently ‘discovered’ by ‘influencers’ and their followers. Not realising this, I returned a few years later to find that it had completely changed for the worse. Gutting.

Go to Albania

We haven't been abroad in years, what we can afford we don't fancy.

Well also the pound is not as strong against the euro any more - long gone are the glory days of a euro being worth about 60p.

It has definitely got more expensive and paying a bit extra gets you out of Europe. I think prices have shot up. For me I don’t think it has necessarily got bigger but as I have got older my tolerance for busy places has got lower. You just need to go out of season and avoid package holidays or get a villa! However, I have found I don’t get excited about the travel anymore either so just getting old and miserable. Never thought it would happen to me as I was a holiday rep in my younger years.

@whirlyhead TBF we once (and once only) got stung for about 7 euros in a cafe on the Corniche Kennedy in Marseille for a 1.5l bottle of Badoit as I was so hot and thirsty I forgot to specify "une carafe d'eau" (ie free tap water).

Was not best pleased but owned my mistake.

Well done place being busy just means that other people want to be at a the same time and place as you do, you are contributing to that busy, it’s difficult to complain about somewhere being busy.

A lot of travel is expensive. It’s not getting cheaper anywhere.

Research beforehand can make a holiday much more enjoyable, if you travel for a particular reason, to see particular things, or to do a particular activity, it’s worth investigating either when it is quieter or if there are less busy alternatives.

Many amazing people give budget tips on food, local travel, accommodation, free entry to everywhere on the planet, a few nights on Google deep searching is never a waste.