To think a family of 4 can't go abroad all in for under £1100

[Whosaysitstheseasontobejolly]

I'm hoping that you'll be able to prove me wrong.
We didn't get to go abroad last year and are all keen to do so this year. But we only have £1100 to spend for accommodation, travel and food.
The closest I have found is a 4 day cruise for £1086 and we have done cruises before and know that costs on board are minimal for us and that all food is included, but it's to France from UK in October so weather won't be great.
DH says that for that price we can go away for a week to sunshine. I say not for just over £250 per person when it's 3 adults and 1 child. We are tied to school holidays as we won't take them out term time.
Can anyone prove my DH right?
Or is it the cruise for us?

House swap?
Camping?

Look at Keycamp, Canvas or Eurocamp, you'd be able to do ferry and stay in France for that money, for at least 7 days, possibly more (we have before).

Do you drive, and have a big enough car to fit all holiday stuff in it plus a weeks food?
If so, then have you thought about camping abroad and driving down? We have done thay before very cheap and had a wonderful time.

If you don't mind travelling by easyjet or Ryanair, you might be able to get cheap flights (but be careful of hidden extras). You might be able to find budget hotels that will help keep your costs low, try Expedia or opodo for a general search if you haven't already.

I have tried and failed to find a holiday for under that, with no luck.

I know that a friend of DHs is going to the Canaries this week 5* all inclusive and it cost £800 for 3 of them.

He only booked the week before Christmas though.

The problem with a family of 4 is finding hotel rooms that sleep 4. I know we never managed it (or paid a lot more for a suite) and usually ended up having 2 rooms. Then you get no child discount.

I second keycamp, and the kids will love it!

Keycamp or Eurocamp.

It's great fun and the child in the party will find lots of others to play with.

End of May BH might be your cheapest bet.

We booked a holiday for just under this £1050. But it was to Majorca. We managed to get it in whit week and booked it at the end of last December. We went into the shop to book it and they gave us more discount because of that (despite us pricing it up before hand online).

It's worth going in to check if they can do it cheaper, rather than just looking on the Internet.

I also second Eurocamp, thats what we hope to do for 2013.

Check out Travel Republic website and choose destinations such as Portugal or Majorca where flights are fairly cheap. Try going on a Tuesday or Wednesday and flights are way less if you don't mind rubbish flight times. Also play around with length of holiday such as 6 or 8 days as this can make a difference to flight times. I haven't cruised with MSC myself but I remember they offered free childrens places this summer ( but you would be squeezed into one cabin) so could be worth checking out.

Found this for you

www.keycamp.co.uk/book/bookonline/searchResults.cfm?CFID=132404&CFTOKEN=85390608

Definitely the French camp sites - easily do it for that much. You could do eurocamp, keycamp etc but if you go direct to the French sites themselves or via www.yellohvillage.co.uk/ much cheaper - just looked a week in July from 400-500 euros in a mobile home. Don't know if you do tesco vouchers but we use them every year to get free eurotunnel journeys so then just petrol to the site and food / spending money. You should be able to do that easily for the 600 spare for a week.

We've stayed in the South of France at Easter time with Eurocamp for that sort of amount. I think accomodation (mobile home) and ferry were around £400 (current offers for April seem to be £350 -450 for 10 nights), if you allow £300 for petrol and tolls there and back, you can book into a Eurocamp site for a night on the way down and back for about £30 - £40. Food costs were higher than home but I had brought some stuff with me. I only factored in the cost of food over and above what I would be spending at home IYSWIM.

It is possible if you are prepared to go earlier in the year for example.

www.eurocamp.co.uk/book/bookonline/searchResults.cfm?CFID=132382&CFTOKEN=86272279

Its worth bearing in mind that camping in Europe is generally good quality and a lot of people who could afford hotels choose camping / renting a mobile home / campervans etc. We've stayed on two of the sites on my link above and the cars on the site were often quite high end (one person had brought their Bentley ). Partly its because its such a good holiday for children and for others they had brought their dogs.

Campsites have good facilities and the mobile homes have a plumbed in bathroom, fridge, full size cooker etc.

We went to Tunisia in June for a week (with Thomas Cook) and that was just over I think, maybe £1200 or so? I second the poster who said get into the travel agents to ask as they will be keen to secure your booking and get the commission off it is always worth asking. Keep an eye out for the little extras as well that bump up the cost - we knocked off insurance (my mum was covered by her bank) and in-flight meals (2 hour flight, not really necessary) which easily took off a couple of hundred quid from the total bill.

I love camping holidays. The one we stayed in last year was 3 bed, en suit, air con. The kids can run free, and go to kids clubs. Evening bbqs, and some very good shows.Key camp or select camp is usually the cheapest. We're a family of 6 and have done holland, and Paris for well under £1k. Austria was the best one, we got Salzburg tourist cards for a out 40 euros a head which got us into tons of the local attractions - everything from a dancing boat to mountain thermal spas.

Thank you all for those suggestions. I will take a look at the camping links and also get myself down to an agent.

We have done w week in May half term in France for less than that with Key camp. Yellovillage sites are good and castels sites are brilliant. Really reccommend chateaux les eaux in pair sur mer. It has a massive covered pool and is peaceful with fab beaches near by and a brilliant zoo. Alternatively, etang de la breche near samur is brilliant and has a very good riding stable if you have anyone pony mad in the family. Kids love this kind of holiday and its all very relaxing. If you drive, you can take stuff like cereals, loo rolls, salt, general food items with you and then stock up in the very good local supermarket for the same as a week shop here plus more for wine!

Last year I researched and researched and couldn't find a holiday for less than £1k for three of us. We didn't go in the end. It's the school holidays that does it. Flights - £200 - £250 each and accomodation rarely less than £400 and that might be a one bed appartment. I hope someone comes up with a good example. Thanks for posting.

We've booked a week in a gite in the south of France for £700 for 5 of us including ferry crossings which leaves us with plenty of money for petrol/food.

It can be done, but book early to get the best deals.

Take a look at this website: www.finquesfrigola.com/webcam.htm - it's apartments in a lovely area of Spain. I have just checked and rental for one of their apartments sleeping 6 during the last week of July is ?785 (£650). Nearest airport is Girona - Ryanair fly there so may be able to get cheap flights or how about driving? It's doable - my family have done it a few times - once straight there, one with a stopover. Also if you are able to go in term time (dependent on children's ages, etc...) then it'll work out even cheaper.

The are also some lovely campsites locally to there where it can work out quite cheap if you bring your own tent - ideal if you are driving although not so good if you are dependent on Ryanair and their baggage charges! For example: www.campings.com/camping-tamariu-tamariu/prices where it would be less than ?30 a night for a family of four. I camped there as a child and it's very nice. There are shower facilities, washing machines, a cafe/restaurant, a swimming pool and a playground. The beach is a short walk.

Sorry...hopefully my links will work this time: www.finquesfrigola.com/webcam.htm www.campings.com/camping-tamariu-tamariu/prices

centerparcs europe. Last week in august is a lot cheaper because the dutch have gone back to school. You can get a villa for a week from about 600 euros

I don't see how the Keycamp can possibly come less than that. I just typed and example in. Cheapest is just over £800 and that's just the accomodation. Three flights to wherever near Lake Garda. More like £1500 I would say.