To think all inclusive holidays are very good value?

Well now I know where I'm taking my husband for his 50th! Diamonds looks amazing. Which room did you stay in? What time of year did you visit?

Depends on your budget. Most of the good ones have numerous quality restaurants on site.

AI hols have been around for decades and even the people at my office on £300k pa salaries go on them so I’m surprised anyone isn’t au fait with them.

I could think of nothing worse. Eating all your meals in the same restaurant everyday, food for the masses. Last time I stayed in one all I could see what people piling on too much food and then leaving it. Poor quality food and drinks too

They are. In comparison to a day out at a regular UK seaside town for 2 adults and say 2 kids - add in activities, breakfast, cold drinks, lunch, ice cream/snacks and then fish and chips for supper - you could end up spending £30-50 a head at least.

Huh? That makes no sense, there is plenty of small boutique adult onky hotels thay offer ai,

We love All Inclusives and have been to some really great 5 star resorts. We still go and have a drink and odd meal out, explore the area and venture out of the resort. But it's just total relaxation.

Our favourite has been to an Adults only TUI Blue in Tunisia in April/May. Amazing food, waiter service round the pool and beach. We paid £1200 pp for 2 weeks. Outstanding value.

I can think of nothing I would least like to do. My idea of hell. I want to be with as few other people as possible, I don't want entertainment, or children activities, or to eat with hundreds of other people, definitely not buffets, guess AI isn't for me, at any price!

Why would ai mean you can't explore and go to beaches. They do let you out you know?!

We went last year with our teens who are bottomless pits when it comes to eating. AI was amazing...the amount they ate and drank from the poolside snack bar alone was well worth it. When we previously went half board we spent an absolute fortune on just soft drinks and ice creams

I'm another one who wants to know where this well priced 5 star a la carte AI hotel is because any time I've looked, it's a lot more expensive and the ones that are cheaper are buffets 3 times a day, which I'm not interested in for lunch and dinner.

Can I ask which one you went to?

Which one was this please?

I'd love to go to Greece

Yep because I like a drink, my wife loves an ice cream. Eating 3 meals, actually usually only 2 breakfast and dinner each day. Plus the coffee and soft drinks we have during the day...this January I worked out we were spending approximately £90 a night for our room in a 5 star hotel in Tenerife.

I've loved the AI holidays I've been on

If I’m staying in a hotel for a relaxing trip, AI has worked out the best. Great faciltiies, my children can snack as they want. We still go out for a couple of meals, take the à la carte allowance at the hotel and do the general buffet for a few nights and that gives the best of both worlds. We’ll also see the local area and get our culture fix. This year we tried doing Airbnb, it was a nice change however it ended up costing far more in the end and wasn’t really as relaxing and we probably have had the same experience of our destination if we’d been at an AI.

AI can be brilliant with energetic primary age kids if you just want to not have to think, plan or organise and just flop in the sun for a week, I’m not sure I’d last 2 weeks at one. It’s good to know the overall cost upfront and I doubt it’s any more overall than flight, villa, car hire, food and restaurants unless you budget well, which I don’t want to do on holiday.

We’ve done a few week to 9 day Greek AI holidays and they’ve been great, always 5* and with plenty of pools, beachfront and a few with a water park. We do an exploring type holiday also so I do get a culture fix and as we get closer to teen years I think AI will start to loose it’s appeal for us as we venture further afield.

The only AI I will do now I’m older is IKOS or of a similar standard (which is around £3kpp for a week!)

Otherwise, I can’t stand The Regime as we used to call it. Having to eat by X time and the endless bloody buffets broken up with a couple of ‘al la cartes’ is no longer for me. It was OK when the DC were younger and wastrels.

We now prefer to have more spacious accommodation in a villa as a family, and spend time eating out, which is all part of the holiday for me.

For just DH and I, premium AI is great for a week. We can’t quite afford to take the DCs though 🙈😬

I agree but at the moment with an autistic four year old we are just not going to be boating around the small Cyclades like we were before we became parents.

I really rate the Grecotel chain because despite being AI they also feel authentically Greek. The one we went to had a very nice taverna on the beach and we went out to another one. I’ve done so much self-catering in Greece and it’s a faff with a young child. I’m sure we will go back to it but at the moment very much enjoying the reprieve from having to think, shop or cook.

We did AI for the first time recently and we enjoyed it. It definitely has its place for the ease and convenience. Sometimes we want the authentic experience of finding restaurants and exploring, but we will definitely do AI again sometime.

Can you please name the resorts you loved?

AI is great for us with a young autistic child. We’ve done the really posh ones and are about to go on a not so posh (4 star) one.

I did look at self-catering this year but it worked out way more expensive.

Was it 3k for the entire family, flights included? If so, which resort and who with?

£3k for a five star is exceptionally cheap, though I would never squeeze us into one room.
We had some good ones when children were aged 8 to 18, once children are old enough to get the most out of a resort hotel.They are perfect for picky eaters or bottomless teenagers. The main thing is to avoid the mentality of "we've paid for it so we must use it" and still go out and about for some meals.

However as adults I feel you don't get value for money unless you drink a lot. When I'm booking a holiday I always price up the difference between half board and AI and AI is usually several £100s more. We go HB and just put drinks on the bill.

@intsjl26 agree with cruises, excellent holidays with teenagers.

It depends what you want. Yes, it's good value but in Greece I'd rather go to different tavernas and beaches. That's the whole point of going to me, you might as well be anywhere if you just stay round the pool.

Wouldn’t be good value for us as we like restaurants where the locals eat, off the tourist areas.