Where is affordable to go for some sun in October half term?

[thebellagio]

I literally haven't booked a holiday through a travel agent in years.

We've had a shit year and want to have a relaxing holiday for 2 adults and 1 child, possibly with some sun just lying by the pool, but I literally don't know where to go or how much it would cost.

Where is cheap to go, easy to get to and who is good to book with in terms of reputable travel agents?

What would you recommend? Ideally, as cheap as possible!

Southern Greek islands like Crete will be okay. Pools will be cold as they will in Spain but sea will be okay. We go most years mid October. Occasional rainy day but mostly warm and sunny.

We avoid on the beach like the plague. Would you ever book with those wankers again.

Wouldn't ever. Not would you.

the exchange rate is very good at the moment plus Turkey is very popular with Russians so I imagine they have lost a lot of their trade due to Russians not travelling

No, it's not normal, prices have gone crazy. October half term is always a very expensive week but this year it's mad. We normally go to Lanzarote for October half term but this year there no way we can afford the £1.5k hike in what we normally pay.

Try the travel republic site. Lots of search options.

We've stayed here before:

villaspuertorubicon.com/

Five minutes from marina with restaurants etc and beach, large convenience store and bakery even closer. If you hire a car you can get to anywhere else on the island in under an hour.

I can't work out if there is any availability direct from the company (its a couple of rows of small private villas) but if you google villas puerto rubicon you might find a privately owned one on booking.com/AirBnB etc.

I also did a search on jet2holidays for 22 October from Stansted, Trip Advisor 4+ rating and self catering for 2 adults and 1 child and prices start from £2400 for SC or £3k for AI

www.jet2holidays.com/search/results?airport=99&date=22-10-2022&duration=7&occupancy=r2c7&destination=39&sortorder=1&page=1&boardbasis=4&tripadvisor=4

www.jet2holidays.com/search/results?airport=99&date=22-10-2022&duration=7&occupancy=r2c7&destination=39&sortorder=1&page=1&tripadvisor=4&boardbasis=5

Once you've taken into account food and drink, the cost is probably about the same, but IMHO self catering and eating out most of the time is a nicer experience than buffet hotel all inclusive. We have at least one meal out each day, stock up on drinks, snacks and easy food from the supermarket and also have some easy meals like BBQ, sandwiches or pizza and bagged salad.

We were in Villamora in Portugal at that time last year and the weather was 26 degrees every day. Never changed for the two weeks. It was so nice we are thinking of going again this year.

Is TUI about to go bust?

I have booked with Easyjet holidays. You can put in your dates and select loads of destinations and then filter by price. That will show you the cheapest they have available across many places. I do find though that flight times impact prices, so there might be a more affordable holiday with an 11pm flight, which you might not want with a 6yo.

I find some destinations are more popular, which pushes prices up. Self catering is easy to find in Greece and Menorca/Majorca, although I wouldn't recommend here in October. Another you could try is Madeira (rocky rather than beaches).

I don't know, but I'd still book with them in preference to somewhere like On the Beach or Holiday Pirates where I don't think they are members of ABTA so you aren't guaranteed your money back if they go bust or if something goes wrong.

Holiday Pirates just collate deals and publicise them they’re not the holiday company themselves. The most recent message is a family holiday with TUI to Majorca with 53% off… but of course not necessarily with school holiday availability

www.holidaypirates.com/packages/7nt-family-friendly-majorca-holiday?utm_campaign=uk-29-wed-deal--&utm_medium=messenger&utm_source=whatsapp

I do think prices have been crazy though… we were looking at flights to the US and they were £1000 each when normally they’d be £800 in the summer

If you use the Jet 2 site you can input dates, and airports you want to travel from and it will give you all the holidays.

www.jet2holidays.com/holiday-calendar

Try Love Holidays. I’ve just done a quick search for you and Tenerife seems to be coming in around the 2-3k mark for that week.

I don't think so. I'm. On holiday with them now, they're one of the last big companies left.

Us the jet2 free child place finder or EasyJet holidays are are usually pretty well priced. If you willing to fly a day or two before they break up or after they go back you will save quite a lot.

If you haven't travelled in a while, I would stay away from booking flights and hotel separately, or companies like on the beach / love holidays that do that as there is so much travel disruption still its a lot harder to sort out if flights get cancelled etc. Stick to package holidays is my opinion.

A very quick search under free child places

I've used love holidays a few times. You can narrow your search down and find something tailored to your needs

I just disappeared down a winter sun rabbit hole thanks to this thread.

Try Egypy or Turkey