Can I ask what you'd expect to pay for this holiday?

[HolidayLovers]

What sort of price do people expect to pay for a two week holiday in France, somewhere self catering but with access to childcare / babysitters? I've looked at a few of these places with villas and a communal pool, around the south of France, and they seem really expensive but I don't know if I'm just out of touch as it's the first ever family holiday I will have booked (due to covid). It seems to be around £7000 a week for 2 adults and a toddler.

I'd say that's expensive but it depends on the quality of accommodation and location. It works out as £166 pp per night and given one is a toddler and it's self catering that's high.

Is it for august? Do you have any option out of term time if your child isn't yet at school?

Sorry I though the price was for a fortnight!! So it's £333pppn. Insane price

I was thinking 1200 🤷🏼‍♀️

That seems really expensive for self catering but I guess it depends on the location and quality of the accommodation. I'd expect to pay about half that but haven't been away since covid hit so don't know whether that's a factor. Definitely shop around a bit more

I'd expect a large and villa with pool for be around €4k a week.

Less for something smaller (there are only 3 of you) but more if you're looking for facilities such as babysitting.

Could you hire a smaller villa with pool and work with the owners to find a local babysitter instead? Or, take a babysitter with you if you had a handy teenage cousin etc?

That’s insane for a week, even with babysitting included in the price. Unless we’re talking top-of-the-range accommodation in the most expensive French town there is, and a private nanny.

You should be comfortably able to do that for less than £2000, including flights/transport.

£7000 takes a family with two teenagers long-haul for a fortnight. Not two adults and a toddler to France for 7 days.

That seems insane. We have 5 adults going full board to Norway, Inc flights, ski hire and lift passes next month for £5.5k!

Have you looked at DIYing so looking for flights and an air bnb separately?

Have you considered holiday parks with mobile caravans etc. They’re cheaper. Look at websites such as Eurocamp.

Also, book outside the British and French summer holidays, so maybe in June or September.

It’s the “access to childcare/babysitters” that’s bumping it up.

There are absolutely loads of s/c properties in France and they are nowhere near this price. However there are a handful (like Country Kids or Longeveau) which are set up as a sort of self catering/hotel hybrid - so you have your own property but there’s also a kids club or kids activities, restaurant on site or meal delivery service, maybe farm animals or playground etc.

Are these the sort of thing you are looking at? For those you pay far more because it costs more to provide the extras and for scarcity value.

That is quite hefty. Is it the price for in the school holidays or out of them? With a toddler (jobs allowing) take advantage of the fact that you're not tied to specific dates - it helps hugely with the prices.

Where are you looking? What websites? Building your own holiday is one of the cheaper ways of doing it too.

For reference, we spend approx £1k/head for 5 of us to go away in the school holidays to the Canaries, and a significant proportion of that cost is the flights.

If you want summer holidays, look at Eurocamp through the EC Polish site.

I just booked 7 nights in Brittany in August for 5 people, lovely complex with 3 pools, 3 bed caravan type accommodation - £414.34! Nope, no zeros missing from that.

I'd heard the Polish site was cheaper but I was blown away by quite how cheap it is.

No - that's quite obscene! As said by PP if you are going for the likes of Country Kids its the services you are paying for. 200 - 300 euros a night for reasonable accommodation is what I would expect to pay in France unless you're booking a villa in St Tropez. Pierre et Vacances do holidays with shared pools and childcare but they are not quite in the same demographic.

The South of France is premium pricing. Move away from that area and you will get a more affordable villa. But with the extras you want I would assume £4k .

2 adults and 2 toddlers here, holiday to thailand from london £2000 all inclusive in a 4 * hotel for a week

Um, £3k absolute maximum and staying in a ‘nice’ villa (not ‘luxury’)

The south of France is expensive. It’s difficult to say without knowing the exact spec/location but I’m not particularly surprised by that price.

£3000 tops here too.

7k is utter madness. Is it the hight of summer?

Can you link? That seems really expensive.

I've just put the last week of July into Air bnb and the South of France villas are between 1500 and 2000 for the week.

That's ridiculous! 2k, or 3k tops.

Pre Covid we've always tended to book campsites in the South of France. Top end lodge with lots of facilities, from memory £2k for 3 flights, car hire and 2 weeks accommodation. No access to childcare though.

France is expensive, I'd imagine if you looked at cheaper countries you will find something more reasonable.

I think £7k is not an unusual or crazy price, but personally, I'd expect to pay closer to around £4k per week depending on number of bedrooms, size of villa etc.

I think anything less would be fairly basic in the South of France.