to wonder htf people manage to afford foreign holidays in the summer?

[TheBolter]

Please tell me I'm not alone here...

£4000 for a family of four to holiday in a self catering studion in Tenerbloodyrife!

I don't even want to go to Tenerife, but my expectations are getting lower... started off looking at villas in Sardinia but knocked sideways at the price. Now looking at anything... ANYTHING! that will ensure a reasonable standard of accommodation outside of the UK during July/August but cannot believe the price!

I know I must sound naive, but I really didn't think it would be this much. I was think a couple of thousand would be enough...

I know I may also sound a little self-entitled, but we have DONE camping and holidays in the UK for the last six years, and I thought that now I'm working again, and dh and I are on a combined salary of roughly 60k, and our mortgage isn't too much, that we would finally be able to afford something this year!

So AIBU to think that families who do manage to stump up the extortionate prices for a couple of weeks in the sun are a) loaded b) being ripped off or c) both?

Any advice as to reasonably priced holidays also welcomed... I know this isn't the travel section but I'm suddenly feeling too poor to rub shoulders with the travel lot!

Gites in France are very good value. Don't muck about with flights and rental cars, just drive there - much cheaper.

Driving in France is super-quick, don't be put off by the distances! We have a place about half way down (level with Geneva) and can leave SE England at 6am and be there for a late lunch.

I have always wanted to do that, but my husband has some irrational dislike for anything that is French..

A summer holiday is very important to me and i always book as soon as the books for next year come out. My boys are too old now for free child places but it still keeps the cost down a bit.
I like AI resorts and with a bit of shopping around i can usually get 2 weeks at the begining of august for around the 4K mark. We usually go to Egypt but this year have opted for Turkey as there is more for teenage boys there.

What fab recommendations on this thread..one of the best things about Mnet!

Esp - Owners direct/on the beach

I'm with LIZS i.e drive & self cater in France. Try Gites de France.

Our gite was great last yr - so cheap, esp if you are in SE as min. hassle

I'm jealous of you people in the SE. If we drove we'd have to waste a day either end of our holiday driving down to the south coast.

PlanetEarth: Rosyth or Hull to Zeebrugge ferry (depending how far north your are.) Sleep on the ferry.

Just checking in again and while I can't respond to every post as there are so many, really I cannot thank you all enough for your excellent suggestions.

I'm checking out Skyscanners and Owners Direct, am also considering gites in France.

Our last holiday abroad, Tenerife Feb half term - hire of cottage £200, flights (2 adults 2 children) £300, car hire £100 - Total £600

Don't assume that because people are going abroad they're spending thousands.

So yes, YABU to think that families who go abroad are a)loaded b) being ripped off or c) both?

We have a two bed apartment in southern spain which we let out, but the flights and hire car charges are by far the largest chunk of cost. About £8-900 for return flights for four plus £2-300 for 2 weeks car rental.

Although we own it we cannot afford to go more than once a year if we fly, so we go Easter and august by driving (1200 miles) via eurotunnel paid for with Tesco vouchers, diesel about 6 tanks at £60 plus insurance. We stay overnight each way in a travel lodge type thing for around £40 for a family room. For the kids (3 and 5) it's an adventure !

I too cannot get my head around £4k holidays, but guess it depends on your income and priorities.

Rosyth Ferry is no longer running.

We go in august, mostly to the balearics, but usually pay about £2.5k for a 4* apartment for 5 of us.
Last year we paid just over 2k and it was a fantastic holiday in Majorca, lovely complex.

Try pricing it 3 adults and 1 child (as this can often reduce supplements), this year I priced it all up separately and asked Thomson to price match it, if I'd booked online it would've cost me £3800, with the in shop pric match we paid £2500. Big saving with just a bit of fiddling round

Oh just to add the place we stayed in in Kos last year was not a typical AI resort. It was out of the way, and there was just one other English family there. Mainly other nationalities.

There was a coastal path down into the village in the evening where you could sit more or less on the sand and have a drink whilst the kids played freely on the beach. The food was amazing too. We have never been anywhere so queit and unspoilt.

Hired a car and toured Kos island. It was great.

The hotel was called euro village achillies.

Have recently booked lovely self catering in Cyprus, admittedly sept, but know you can still get a good deal, for £700, thats me, DH and 10m DD (basically free) Check out Olympic holidays, been before and v family friendly!

In 2008 we went to Lanzarote for £2300 AI at a 4 star hotel which was fabulous. When we got home I priced up for the following year and it was £4000 for 2 weeks earlier in the season!!! We couldn't justify it and therefore having been on UK holidays since or we've been to other European trips like Holland on the ferry etc.

My friend flies from London airports as it's cheaper and then they book direct with a hotel/villa and it works out much cheaper than the travel agent.

Dont buy a package holiday, it's much cheaper to arrange it independently.

• Book a villa or apartment via Owners Direct.
• Find the cheapest flights possible (may be on a tour operators plane or not), but if you go for night-time flights they will be much cheaper.
• Budget to only eat out every other night
• Dont shop at "in-resort" supermarkets, find out where the local people shop and go there.
• Make your own lunches and pack them in a cool bag to take with you to the beach
• Get budget annual travel insurance via your bank or a supermarket.

We've saved £££££ doing this for the past few years and still manage to take our holidays in peak time.

would you consider staying in hostels? you go really cheap then. you can get private rooms for you and the family so it dousnt have to be shared.

we have just booked 5 nights away in spain for 850 for 4 of us flying with ryan air 30th june. yes its in school term but i dont care!

eurocamp isnt that cheap, i looked at 5 nights in a normal mobile home, 19 miles from the airport. they wanted 200 in taxi fair as a transfer from airport to camp site! all in all the holiday would have cost 1300 including very cheap flights etc

We went 18 months ago to the Maldives - Bandos Resort. Found a package through Thomson, everything included (last two weeks of August), for £3600. And that was for 2 adults and 1 toddler (18 months then) all inclusive in one of their nicer rooms (massive room with a separate lounge/sleep area). Couldn't believe our luck and booked it there and then. I found it by luck I think and couldn't find the same deal again since... Anyway, luxury holidays like that are now long and gone as we are in the process of buying a new house which will wipe out all our savings. Still, that's life! We are now going for Easter to Southampton for two nights (£60 a night, breakfast included) so the DCs can go to Peppa Pig's world and I'm beyond excited!

boltedr

I could have written your post word for word. After camping etc we wanted to go abroad and 3k for a week seems nuts, we'd never be able to spend that at home

So this year we have found a French place with heated pool etc for2 families at £800 each the week. Channel crossing is £150 by tunnel then food roughly wapphat we'd spend here plus extras.

Sis found it on ? Owners abroad or similar.

Eurocamp is NOT cheap! We costed 2 weeks in August in a tent near the beach and we would not have got change out of £3k. For a tent! Sod that we are going Planetearth's route and doing a houseswap with some Spanish teachers with children the same age. Two weeks, southern spain, house near the beach with own pool for the cost of the flight only. Swap cars so no car hire either. All in £720 for family of 4.

Agree with looking at OnTheBeach.

We are off to Ibiza (the quiet part!) for a week in middle of August- £480 FULL board, flights and transfers included for the 3 of us.

Tell your parents to move to Cyprus/Spain/other desired location... My parents did that and it's saved a fortyune on holidays...

NB: I didn't request they moved, they decided to do so with the money I saved them by dropping out of university

We went to Majorca last yr in July to the holiday village in C'an Picafort,its absolutely fantastic for families & we are going back this July for 10 nights.

It has cost us around 3k but thats AI & includes staying at an airport hotel the night before we fly & 11 nights car parking.