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?

Definitely bed and breakfast if we're staying in a hotel and I would much prefer self catering to all inclusive. I don't think I've ever cooked in my life when I've been on holiday and think one of the main pleasures of a holiday is choosing a new restaurant every lunch and dinner time.

We've been going sc or b&b for over 40 years. AI really doesn't appeal and I'd rather the money went into the local economy. Never cooked or washed up in all the years we've been going on holiday. Love trying out all the different tavernas each evening.

We don’t often do AI type holidays. I agree with previous posters that B&B is best. Fill up on the breakfast buffet, then don’t need lunch and go out somewhere tasty for dinner!

Self catering is my choice - but eating out every evening and finding lovely new places - and grabbing lunch somewhere. Just have a few bits in for breakfast maybe if you eat it and use the fridge for wine and beer. Winner winner. Simple. For me, self catering does not mean I self cater. I'm not going on holiday to cook.

We do exactly this. Then we either go back to our room for lunch or eat down by the pool.

We go out for dinner in the evenings and by then its cooler.

No sandwiches here. If we aren't eating out we get meals delivered to the villa. I only choose places close to restaurants and they are usually more than happy to provide takeaways as well as their being the usual pizza, gyros etc.
Generally I find SC much cheaper despite not doing any catering for ourselves bar opening cans and bottles of drink.

We did our first AI holiday in April (2A+2C). Prior to this we always did self catering and just ate out because I'm not cooking or cleaning up on holiday.

When SC I don't really mind too much about the hotel so long as it's clean as we are out most of the time and aren't eating there. Going AI I wanted a 4/5 ⭐️ hotel as knew we would be eating there and likely spending a bit more time there. It cost roughly £900 extra to go AI. So that was £100/day extra. I've come away from that holiday thinking it was excellent value. We had a light lunch out three times and stopped for drinks while out wandering/at the beach a few times and each lunch was at least €60 and a round of drinks and juices was around €20. We had breakfast and dinner at the hotel each day and the food was actually very good with lots of choice so the youngest could pick at a few of her favourite things and actually ate more than when out. Between breakfast, dinner and drinks/juices/ice cream we would have easily spent far more than £100/day if we weren't AI. Wouldn't hesitate to do the same again and we are actually looking at a 4 day break just the two of us while DC are away with grandparents in July and have looked at AI for the two of us despite having never done it before as a couple because it was very hassle free. For a day by the pool we could just pop the cash/currency card in the safe and go without worrying about having someone stay with our belongings when down by the pool.

I really don't like the idea of all inclusive, I feel it is too restricting. We like to get out and about and wouldn't want to be stuck in a hotel all the time.

We always go self catering but we it doesn't mean we cook or wash up. We get in stuff for breakfast plus snacks and drinks. We eat out for lunch and dinner and we can choose where and what we want.

You don't have to be stuck in the hotel all the time. I go AI and don't stay in the hotel all the time. Just means it's all covered when I'm there.

What I’m getting from this thread is that self catering works best if your family is happy with ham and/or cheese sandwiches every day for lunch.

No wonder you don’t want to self cater if you think ham and cheese sandwiches are what you have to eat. 🥴 We tend to load up on a bunch of tasty fresh picky bits at the local market and then everyone fends for themselves! Our kids are 8 and 10 and perfectly capable of raiding the fridge or cupboard when they get hungry, no catering necessary. We get stuff like fresh fruit and veg, olives, a couple of local cheeses, dips, local cured meats, fresh bread from the bakery, good butter, gazpacho, wine (for the adults)... Throw it out on the table at lunch time and chuck it back in when people are full. The food shopping and subsequent grazing/enjoying a glass of wine by the pool after a day out exploring is one of the best bits of the holiday! Not a ham and cheese sandwich in sight.

If that is what you like then that is good but for me it is too restrictive having to eat at the same place all the time just because it's paid for. I really don't like big hotels either, I prefer somewhere quiet.
But we are all different 🙂

Oh definitely we are all different, I just think there's sometimes a perception that people who go AI never leave the hotel. I think I just like knowing that it's all paid for before I go away and I find that less stressful.

OP: not a ham and cheese sandwich in sight
Also OP: we buy ham and bread and cheese on holiday

😂

All this throwing and chucking doesn't sound very pleasant.

Self-Catering - with a mix of eating out - all the AI I've seen so far looks pretty fucking miserable and expensive.

Love to explore and eat local food.

None of us eats sandwiches. Yes, I buy bread (fresh, crusty, taste like bread and not plastic), cheese and meats (cured, never cooked), tomatoes, olives, dips, fresh fruit, but I don't build a sandwich.

We eat what we like and the rest goes back into the fridge. The dishwasher deals with three plates and cutlery plus a cutting board.

And we eat this mainly for dinner as we eat out for lunch.

I hate people dripping from the pool into the restaurants in the resorts and just wearing swimwear. Sorry, get properly dressed if you want to eat.

All inclusive definitely has its place it's amazing with kids I have 3 big eating lads so works really well for us. I actually eat really healthy when I go all inclusive as well because I just go for the fresh salads and fruits and freshly cooked fish or meat.

It definitely is a much more relaxing holiday without the shopping cooking cleaning washing up of self catering.

Plus the benefit I guess of knowing how much you have spent before you even go on holiday.

Jambon Fromage is just the BEST (and its Italian, Greek, Spanish, Croatian equivalents).

I don't understand the scorn! A heavenly combo of fresh local produce, albeit not for every day of the holiday otherwise I'd be sinking to the bottom of the Med.

Ha ha just back from France where we did self cater and ate baguettes until they were coming out of our ears 😁😆

Actually that was when I realised I eat much more healthily and varied a diet when I do all inclusive.

Both have their pros and cons of course.

You’ve literally just said your lunch would be predominately bread, cheese, ham with some additional fruit.

Honestly, it’s post after post saying lunch would be a combination of posh ham, posh cheese and bread.

Now try again and imagine you don’t eat ham, cheese and bread.

So when we self cater, we end up eating out for lunch and dinner or cooking/meal planning. which we do, but AI (or breakfast and lunch in hotel) ends up being a much more relaxed holiday.

No, I love it too. One of the reasons I've chosen the apartment for our next holiday is because it's 5 minutes walk from both a Mercadona and an Eroski.

We like lazing around on the balcony in the morning with coffee and ready made tortilla and crusty bread. Then we'll go out for the day for walks and the beach and have lunch in a restaurant at around 2 pm. We might go out for dinner too or we might have drinks and cheese, olives, crisps etc on the balcony.

Washing up is minimal and we probably only have to go to the supermarket 2/3 times in a week away.

I don't want to join the scrum at a buffet for lunch and dinner and we don't spend anywhere near what it would cost for a la carte AI.

I'm a late convert to the joys of completely relaxing on holiday by going all inclusive 😀

We hire a car and explore as well. Lovely big breakfast, then the hotel will make you a packed lunch if you order the night before. Off on a days exploring then back for an easy evening meal.

We also eat out a couple of times and go out for drinks, ice creams etc every day.

Oh but you are in sandwich denial. Buying posh bread , cheese and ham is still buying bread cheese and ham. Because you don’t layer the three main ingredients of your meal does not make it a more varied dish.

sorry you are eating bread cheese and ham.

@FancyBiscuitsLevel it's not sandwiches. We never eat sandwiches on holiday.

We are total foodies and one of the things we love to do is explore local shops , food markets and delis and buy local produce , including cheese and cured meats and sausage and nice dips. We also find patisseries and bakeries and get treats in to have for afternoon tea if we are lazing around the villa pool. DH loves to find the best tomatoes , olive oil and salad ingredients to make a nice big salad to go with everything.

DH is off work this week and he's acting like we are on holiday. He decides what he wants to cook for dinner and then goes out into town to get the ingredients. I'm waiting for him to finish making us a prawn linguini right now. He is in his element and I don't have to cook. Win win.

It's either your thing or not and if AI is what you like then stick with that. Self catering is absolutely our thing.

Also can I apologise, there’s nothing wrong with ham and cheese sandwiches, particularly if you make them with fancy local cheese and ham with fresh crusty bread.

I don’t want anyone to feel this summer I’ve put a dampener on their intention to feed the family cheese ham and bread most days - wonderful to avoid holiday catering faff, but if you have kids that don’t particularly like ham and cheese sandwiches, it’s limited.

Enjoy your deconstructed butties with pride.