All inclusive holidays vs self catering

[musingonhol]

Which would be your choice?

Love the convenience of AI but can see why some hate it… especially at buffet time! I often think self catering must be peaceful but paying all that money to come away and have to do a food shop and wash up?!

Is there a compromise?

SC - more space, don't mind the cooking/washing up and visiting local delis, markets, bakers and supermarkets is one of my favourite holiday things.

I book b&b and we eat out but this is not the cheapest option. I carry basics like a knife, couple of plates etc on road trips so we can prepare a basic bread and cheese lunch from the supermarket when needed, and the last couple of hotels had kitchenettes for basic prep. I do not cook meals on holidays! We tend to do a weeks ai once a year but I choose places with multiple restaurants that are waiter service, again no cheap

I don't know anyone who's done SC and doesn't eat out every evening - some breakfasts out some in and lunch the same. AI works out cheaper even though it looks more expensive, and as they are bigger hotels, they tend to have much better pools (especially for kids).

I love both options, love eating out somewhere different with SC but love the better pools and convenience of AI

Depends on your family situation.

When the kids were young we liked AI. The kids just wanted to make friends at the pool and go to the mini disco at night, so we were happy to spend most of the time at the hotel with some trips to the beach/a local market. They could have their pick of the buffet and drinks/ice cream when they wanted.

As adults, we much prefer to travel independently and usually get a self catering property. We don't do much actual cooking, just get easy stuff in for breakfast and eat out a lot. Sometimes if we don't fancy going out we will pick up something easy like a pizza/salad. It's nice to go out for most of the day and have a meal out without thinking "this is a waste of money as we've paid for AI".

Personal preference. I only do self-catering and we don't even eat out much. I just prefer the space and privacy of self-catering. One DC has a lot of food issues so easier to cook. We always have a car and go out lots so don't need the facilities of a hotel.

Means we enjoy the overpriced restaurants on the beach without eating rubbish food.

You're holidaying in the wrong places if all the restaurants only sell overpriced rubbish food.

We ate extremely well in various different tavernas in Greece.

We did both and start to veer towards s/c nowadays. We also don't do the typical beach/pool holiday anymore.

We had lovely AIs with several restaurants on side and a good bar. But since Covid we found that the prices increased but the food and esp drinks (even soft drinks) offered has come down in quality.

We always venture out and eat out as well, most likely we overpay but found the AI convenience worth it.

For s/c we don't do a big shop and cook each day, we have breakfast there, some snacks in the fridge we can also take with us and drinks. If we have a meal there it will be cold cuts and cheese with fresh bread or - if available - the BBQ.

I always have a dishwasher and washing machine as requirements, if we eat in, DH is sorting out the kitchen before we sit down with drinks. He also does the run for croissants, bread or whatever we want fresh for breakfast in the morning.

Most accomodations now have a cleaner in the price or you can opt for paying extra, so no need to clean outside wiping down a table.

When DH and I are back to childless holidays in 2 years I think we will either do s/c or look for hotel on B&B basis.

I did AI once and hated it. For me half the fun is finding different places to eat or going to the local market, so we normally do SC. I used to love coming back from beach / day out, getting dd showered and ready for bed, and chilling with a glass of wine. Separate bedrooms. Now Dd is older and doesn't normally come we have done a couple of hotels with breakfast, but I don't normally really fancy eating first thing - I prefer to slob around on a terrace in my dressing gown with a coffee. I don't do a lot of cooking though - BBQ / Salad / Bread etc or a takeaway pizza etc if not eating out.

Depends where and what you want.

If I just want a relaxing few days, or a week of sunshine and reading and I'm not bothered about exploring, or I know the area well then I'll go AI. If I'm going somewhere I've never been before I'll do SC so I can have a good explore.

I'd not do AI for more than a week, I did two weeks AI in Greece when the kids were little and even they were bored by about the 10 day mark. We did't have much money, so chose AI to keep the costs down, but ended up going out and about on the last week as everyone was going a bit stir crazy.

We've never done AI in a hotel as it's not our kind of holiday. I don't like the mass produced food with hoards of people and being told when to eat. We don't stay in hotels abroad. We tend to do SC in a cottage here or stay in a villa abroad. We tend to buy breakfast stuff in, cereal/ toast/ eggs/ croissant and have either a big lunch or dinner out and then have an easy picnic type meal at the villa for the other meal.

We've only ever once done AI and hated it.

I don't have an issue with SC, it gives far more flexibility. It's usually much cheaper so we have options about eating out. When the dc were young we went to France a lot and often bought rotisserie chicken, crusty bread and salad in the evenings which involved no cooking whatsoever.

Now it's just the two of us we always rent a villa with a pool somewhere warm in September. We will go out in the morning to visit or explore somewhere, have a nice lunch out, back to the villa for a siesta then down to the beach for a swim and sunbathe. Dinner will be salad at the villa with a glass of wine, all very easy. We only go out for dinner maybe twice in a week, but eat lunch out every day.

We go on holiday to relax and unwind. For us, throwing salad into a bowl and then washing up a couple of plates and glasses is not an issue, whereas being in a hotel complex where its mayhem at the buffet, you can't get a sunbed and there's a lot of noise all the time is not my idea of relaxing.

Different people have different priorities

Self-catering and eat out for all meals. Not cheap but far better quality than AI

Only meals we cook on holiday are breakfasts and that's just coffee and toast.

Curious as to why that is? Surely the hotels have employed people from the local area. I always think Airbnbs aren't great for local areas, but resorts are.

Personally AI has been best for us as our dds have tried things they wouldn't normally try at home and as a result are not fussy eaters. We have gone self catering and it's lovely to choose from a menu and be waited on but the restaurants where we went were quite expensive and dd2 is a pescetarian so we spent ages looking for places to accommodate her. We also had to do an expensive food shop every couple of days. If you want to go out and about and not be tied to the hotel I'd say b&b or self catering is best

We've had amazing quality at a lot of the AI hotels we've been to

I like both and do one of each every year. For AI I only do this in 4/5 star resorts with lots of facilities like Caribbean or turkey. Places where I wouldn't really want to leave the complex anyway. We've never had a bad experience.

We do SC in Spain, France, Italy. We eat out every night. Breakfast is fresh croissants and fruit, lunch is a pre made salad, baguettes, meats or soup.

Self catering isn't for me...

I could cope with bed and breakfast with eating out for dinner. A breakfast buffet is a pure joy for me ..I really spend enough time food shopping and cooking and clearing up at home. I don't want to give it headspace on holiday.

With children I think A.I is better, makes for a more relaxing holiday. As adults prefer B&B, as we love exploring and seeing new places, trying different restaurants etc.

We do B & B or self catering as AI is stressful and a bit like feeding time at the zoo. I don't like staying in hotels over run with particular types of tourists so pick my hotels / self catering accommodation accordingly. I love eating out at local restaurants and shopping at local shops/markets.

This - especially in a large resort with lots of options for places to eat out. Also supports a wider range of local businesses.

We usually do SC with breakfast so we have breakfast then eat out in the evening, we don't have much during the day, just sandwich/rolls and ice creams type of thing. Never done AI as don't fancy it.

We did AI and hated it - not so much because of the food, but more because of the family room thing. We don't sleep well with all of us in one room!

We prefer self-catering. The kids are older now but we used to put them to bed and then sit out and chat/play cards and it was far more relaxing.

Like others on the thread we tend to do simple breakfasts and one other meal at the accommodation (or bring a picnic), and then eat our main meal of the day out. We do it relatively cheaply. If we do eat at the villa, it's bbq so very simple with almost no clearing up - bread, meat, salad!

It does affect a lot of local businsses though. I had a long chat with the owner of a family run place on the island of Kos and he said that the recently built AI hotels had affected local businesses quite badly.

Usually do self catering due to fussy eaters but, frankly, it means the holiday is not really a holiday for me - i still have to go shopping, cook, clean up. Same crap, different location.

We’ve gone all inclusive this year but chose a place with multiple in house restaurants. The idea being that the kids (16yrs +) can mainly just go and sort themselves out, join us for meals if they fancy it, but also leave DH and I a few nights to go to the posher restaurant on our own.

We’ll likely still walk into the local town and eat/drink there, even if it’s just the occasional lunch/beer on the beach or coffee in a cafe with a view, so am balancing the convenience against concern for the local economy - I worry that AI sets ups are damaging for local bars/restaurants.

To echo a PP: SC to me is eating out every day

I would never cook on holiday. Fuck me I don't even cook at home DH's job