How can people afford 2 week summer holidays?

[NobilityScooter]

Pre COVID we went on holiday in the UK because we couldn't afford to go abroad. £1.5-2k accomodation then £1k spending money. = £2.5-3k holiday (2 adults + 2 children).

The costs crept up each year until COVID then the UK shot up in price. We changed locations to holiday somewhere cheaper still in the UK. Then the accomodation was poorer standard too for the price but it's what we could afford. I looked at what the same place would cost the next year when we got back (not that we wanted to book it but to see a cost comparison). And it was over £1k more expensive!

So we looked at cheap all inclusive abroad. And got something for the same price as the UK post COVID but abroad. Fabulous holiday. Wanted to book it the next year over £1k more expensive! We're lucky to be gifted £1.5k that year so went back to the same place and had a great time but the DC were getting a bit old for it so needed to find somewhere new.

Everything is so expensive! Looking at last year's holiday place is £2k more expensive! So it's gone up £3k in 2 years!

So my question is how does anyone afford to go on holiday in school holidays? (2 DC at school and education jobs mean we can only go in school holidays). This is £3k - to £7.5k in 8 years. How is anyone supposed to afford that? I see lots of people on holiday and places are selling out so people must be paying those prices. Our mortgage has doubled (£650 to £1250) and our gas and electricity has tripled (£88 to £270) plus our food bills have rocketed post COVID. Where is the spare money for a holiday?

I know of plenty of holidays 400 - 500 PP i dont think thats too expensive, me and husband are going to japan this year and its costing us roughly 4.5-6k for the whole thing for 2 weeks, thats expensive BUT we know we will love it.

School holidays make it so much more expensive, if you can take the kids out of school for the last week of term then holidays will be much cheaper.
Otherwise, try searching on Easyjet, you pick departure airports (we find London cheapest) and dates, and set the location to "anywhere", sort by price low to high and there are options for a week all inclusive for a family of 4 for less than £2.5k.
Or self catering for less than £1.5k.

Not in school hols though. That's what knocks it up.

From the outside looking in my family would probably look like we're spending a fortune on holidays this year, but the way it's worked out we've either been paying it up, or gifted them.

We are a blended family of 2 adults and 4 teens

We're going away to a popular UK theme park in Easter which was a combined Christmas gift from my in laws.

In June, 2 of the kids are going abroad with school (Europe) this has been paid up over the past year and the cost has been shared with each of the kids non resident parents so helped make it more manageable. Grandparents are helping out with spending money for them.

DP &DSS are going to Germany for a World Cup game in June - gifted for FIL

DD & I are going to Paris in June - not an expensive trip but since everyone else in the family are away I didn't want her to feel left out. I paid for this myself.

DSD is going to America in July but this was fundraised by her club as the purpose is to compete in her hobby.

DD & DS are going away to Greece with their dad in July funded by ExH

Then in October we are going away altogether to a place in Spain, this was a great deal 7 days all inclusive and was £2.5K I saw the deal around this time last year and again we have been paying this up since booking.

We are both working full time in decent salaries (mine is just above median salary for uk) DP is self employed and only slightly below median for UK but we live in Scotland so housing costs are not as high as elsewhere in UK.

Last year we didn't go anywhere at all though.

I'm very also used the different school holiday dates elsewhere in the UK to my advantage in the past.

Eg I booked the first week of Scottish school holidays but flew from an English airport (when English kids still have around a month of school term left) and saved around £1300 off the total price. It's a bit more hassle to drive to the further airport but worth the saving. If you live in England you could go on the last week of English hols but fly from Scotland when our kids are back at school.

We started camping 3 yr ago, cheap sites in Devon/dorset, nothing fancy as long as has electric and a kids play area we are happy.

Exactly- just depends what kind of holiday and where abroad! Camping in France and even renting a house, in many parts of France, self drive, self cater- can be much cheaper than holiday in UK. Kids do NOT need to go to posh all inclusive in Barbados, or Disneyland Florida, etc. We have never taken kids out of school for a holiday, and never will.

Scandinavia might be a good option - their school holidays are over by second week of August and prices for flights and self catering accommodation drop quite significantly. Flights to Copenhagen are about £200 pp and a nice 2-3 bed cottage by the sea in Denmark or southern Sweden is £600-£1000 for a week.

Billund is about £80 return and Jutland holiday parks are cheap. Last 2 weeks of August in Danland Bork Havn is around £600.

I never understand these questions, it’s like the op thinks everyone earns the same, and the answers of its debt, the same mindset.

people afford it as they have more money than you, on the whole, they earn more or habe lower costs. 🤷🏻‍♀️

We travel a lot with the kids (3-4 holidays a year) and we usually book flights early in advance and then a holiday home with a kitchen. We usually have breakfast in the apartment and one meal and the other meal in a restaurant. It’s more cost efficient and in a way more relaxing during peak season. Try Mediterranean countries, are much cheaper than the UK.

Have you looked at National trust holiday cottages? Away from the coast there are some cheaper options. If you have another family you can holiday with them a bigger place shared can work out as more economical.

We almost always SC. Not as much of a relaxing time but I'd rather do that than not go away.

@Helenb70 indeed- we lived in Copenhagen for a couple of years from 2020 to 2022 and that coast is a brilliant holiday with kids- great beach too - we had a lot of sun- average about 23 degrees- so not mega hot but lovely beach and 2 fantastic theme parks, one in city and one set in woods- Copenhagen also has amazingly funky hostels with family rooms- so can be quite cheap- it's not cheap when you are there but there are ways to be ok!! -before we moved we did an amazing AirBNB 3 bed flat overlooking harbour for £1100 for a week in August- absolutely top end funky place - supermarkets are slightly more than UK but not by much- wine is cheaper than UK in supermarkets and some things are easy to do on the cheap, you can sit in parks and by harbour with a bottle of wine/beers etc - hotdogs are simply the best- and cheap and Norwegian have flights for £170 return each in August ( with bags) - kids can canoe etc on the inlets , lots of outdoorsy stuff

I don't book holidays in the summer. We go away for a few days camping. Then we have a week's holiday in a different time of year, eg Easter. The weather isn't as good, but there's generally fewer people around. I agree though, prices have shot up to ridiculous levels.

Lots of self catering apartments in the greek islands for a great price, even in school holidays. Very basic apartment, clean quiet beach- two weeks, 2 adults, two children, dinner out every night with lovely food and beautiful views, breakfast is bakery goods and coffee on the beach and lunch is a mix of self catering, bakery and a few lunches in restaurants. Not 5* accommodation by any means but we prefer to beach, explore and eat good food over an all inc break. £3k for 4 including, flights, accommodation, boat trip, bus to Corfu town for a couple of days and hiring a car for a couple of days. I find dining out in the UK astronomical if you want decent, fresh food.

Single income household. Channel tunnel is not too far, so I put Tesco Clubcard vouchers towards the cost and go camping. DC love camping. This year we're going to France and our main campsite is a municipal site, so quite cheap. Total budget £2k for one adult and two teens for two weeks. That's about 5.5% of my gross salary. I'd rather eat beans on toast every day than not go on holiday, because I love travel. So I do prioritise a holiday. Set money aside monthly to pay for it.

Edited to add: I have priced up other kinds of holiday and think that if you book as soon as flights become available and go for an Airbnb and also go for a less popular or well-known area, then you can do it. Maybe more eastern European countries, or just not the more obvious destinations. Use Skyscanner and the "anywhere" option to see what the cheapest flights are for your dates and work from there.

Ryanair flights to spain £250 return each, self catering flat with 2 bedrooms and a sofa bed £800 for a week.

No idea where are you but could some of these be an option
https://www.onthebeach.co.uk/results?adults=2&childAges=10%2C12&children=2&dateFormat=specific&departureDate=2024-07-31&flexibility=3&hotelIds=&infants=0&locationIds=&nights=14&departureRangeEndDate=2024-07-31&rooms=2&searchType=holiday&departureAirports=&filters%5Bboard_basis%5D%5B0%5D=SC&bags=0&sort=PRICE_LOW_HIGH

We always do self catering and have dinner out and sometimes in, and eat breakfast in and make lunch. Have done greece loads, lake garda etc. Haven't read what I've pasted but we search those then book via air b and b and easy jet flights and it's half the price.

We moved to the US. Jobs pay more, cost of living is less. Mortgages are fixed for 30 years. We don’t even live in a cheap city. One week skiing holiday so far this year. Planning another week in a hot place with a lovely lake but driving distance, and ironically two weeks in the UK. Although was thinking about booking a villa in southern Italy for a week of that and booking ahead, flights were £200/each, villa 1200 eur (big with pool) per week and car hire is dirt cheap so I think you can have a lovely holiday abroad for less than £7000… frankly you could fly to Hawaii for that and have a couple weeks there.

avioid the summer holidays go in October half term o another holiday especially if your kids have a week or so when other schools aren’t off my so n was off school till mid January so we had our main holiday flying our New Year’s Day. Look at less popular destinations and that are cheaper when you get there we are going to Albania this year

Hi, So me and DH are teachers but our kids are quite little. Short answer is a two week holiday is too expensive. So firstly I look as far forward as I can and check every school holiday against websites to see if there is a cheaper week to go, maybe where our holidays don’t align with national. An example would be I went to Butlins October 1/2 term 2023, I booked it in around May 2022. At the time they were classing the week as 1/2 term so I got it for £199 for their top grade accommodation Monday-Friday. I even had it on a monthly plan and with food added on paid around £25 a month! That includes all shows, activities and the pool. I usually find one of the Easter weeks cheaper too, got a cheaper week this Easter (trying Ribby Hall) and currently found a cheaper week next Easter so about to book.
In the summer we go away in a group. So this year centre parcs with my entire family (parents, grandparents, cousins, uncles aunts etc.) We then split the price which makes it more affordable and book it well in advance.
So no big holiday but 2-4 small ones (Monday to Friday) a year. Also Merlin passes are a good way to keep everyone entertained in the holidays, coupled up with a couple of nights in a premier inn!
Im hoping to save to go abroad one in past the years of eye watering childcare. I do feel bad my eldest hasn’t been abroad as I went every year as a child and my parents on paper would have had worse jobs than me and DH. Just a sign of the times 🤷🏼‍♀️.

In 2022 we went to Spain in august 4* hotel for 1.5k plus spending money
We looked to book similar for 2024 and it's shot up to 3.5k!! We are going may half term to a 3* hotel for 2k

Not sure what type of a holiday you are going on in the UK that requires 1k spending money and 2,5k accommodation, though. We go to Cornwall, Wales or Scotland. Accommodation is about £600 per week and we don’t spend much more than what we would spend at home as often cook as much as possible and maybe an occasional lunch out and ice-cream.
In summer, we go camping in Devon - £25 a night.
We drive to France to save on flights in summer holidays. It’s still not cheap but saves us at least 1k.

I've been quite surprised this year to find places on air b n b in May half term and August considerably reduced. These are UK though. I looked at flights and decided abroad wasn't worth it.

We've hardly ever done two weeks holiday. It's usually a week for us, or 10 days on a good deal. It works out a lot cheaper and we can usually afford a long weekend somewhere in the uk too.
We use vrbo or Airbnb and book flights early.