Am I deluded or have holidays become almost unaffordable for many families?

[Tractorprincess]

Looking at holidays and everything is so expensive.

We usually pay around £1200 for a very very nice holiday flat in the UK right on the beach but we're all getting a bit bored of the same place. I always thought £1200 was quite pricey but I'm starting to think it's an absolute bargain.

I can remember going abroad a few years ago with ds1 for around 1k, now I can't find anything half decent for less than 3k.

Thought about doing a few UK weekend breaks but nice places for the dc, the Legoland hotel is £700! I know you can go to cheaper local ones but having done than previous years I was thinking about making it extra exciting.

Centreparcs is extortionate too.

Dh and I are both on ok salaries, hardly rich but above the apparent UK average.

I don't know how people afford to go unless they're very well off or go in term time.

Have you any insett days either side of a holiday? We saved loads by doing Monday to Monday in Europe

We have spent £2.2k doing 10 nights in Borneo, in a five star resort hotel, with a two bedroom spa suite for DH, DD and I. Last year, quick google tells me you can book the same again this autumn for £2300 at the moment.

It is expensive I agree. I've just paid an eye watering amount for two weeks in Florida, we are lucky enough to be able to afford it, but we do book very early and save hard to go (we don't go on nights out, drink etc). I don't book through agents and hunt for best bargains.
Eurocamp is amazing I agree. I think you CAN get a decent holiday for a good price but you do have to really look for those deals and plan early.

There are holidays and holidays, it depends where you go and what you do.

If we're interested in doing something which would be out of our price range in August we can often afford it at Easter. We did that with a canal boat holiday and had a holiday which was crazily expensive in August for about 1/3 of the price in March.

If an off the peg holiday looks too expensive it's worth shopping around and looking at alternative accommodation or ways of getting there, and often you can put something similar together for half the price.- we did that with both Disneyland Paris and always do it with Eurocamp (we used Eurocamp when the children were preschool, but now we are confined to school holidays we check sites directly and the alternative operators, including operators based in other countries, and always bring the price way down).

Look at flying into or out of different airports and at train and driving, but don't forget to add up all the costs to have a complete picture of what's cheaper. In Europe even older children travel free on some types of train ticket with a parent, which makes train way cheaper if travelling with a child for example.

Youth hostel private rooms including Hosteling International can can be brilliant for city breaks and other unexpected destinations.

Cheap flights and Airbnb. We go away about 3 times a year doing it that way - lovely trips to France, Switzerland (flights to Geneva are really really cheap if you can go mid week, even in school holidays) and rent an apartment. We have done 10 days for 4 people for less than £1000.

I have no idea why anyone would pay £3000 for a week in some soulless resort in Spain with some all inclusive thing, but each to their own!

It totally depends. We wouldn't be able to afford a traditional med holiday through a travel agent or justify the cost of center parcs.

We did a fortnight in August at Duinrell (Dutch style center parc) and even including the ferry it worked out cheaper than a week in a UK center parcs would have been! We saved more money by booking with them direct rather than going through a campsite tour operator.

This year we are doing a fortnight in Italy in August. Easyjet flights, week in a hotel in Lido di Jesolo and then a week in a mobile home at Lake Garda through Canvas - for 3 of us that all came out under £1500.

Eurocamp is worth looking at to identify the campsites and then book through a cheaper operator such as Canvas, Suncamp etc.

May and Oct half terms are good if a week away will do. We did a few days in the Algarve in October in a mini villa. Flights and accommodation for 3 of us totalled £500.

It is absolutely possible to find more affordable holidays, you just need to know what you're doing and book independently.

I just paid just over £900 for a caravan locally for 8 people. We did plan to go to Butlins as we have been before and my children really wanted to go again. That would have cost around £3000 for half board.

A caravan was all we could afford this year. Of course with a large family I do expect to pay a lot more for a holiday but I thought £3000 was a bit steep!

Until my children fledge the nest we will have caravan holidays in the country. I would love to go abroad with a passion but my life choices means it isn't possible right now. When they have moved out I will be making up for it.

Going abroad is much cheaper than UK holidays if you go somewhere like Greece with a package company.

Oh yes and for alternative destinations have a look at Slovenia. Water park holidays there for next to nothing and the country is amazing, mountains, forests, castles, amazing history and culture to see on day trips.

Have you considered a holiday in october half term, rather than the summer? I know the weather isn’t as good, but we are paying less than £2k for Gatwick flights (for 4), car hire and a self catering apartment in southern Italy.

@llanai would you mind sharing where you booked your Borneo trip? That sounds amazing.

cardibach Yes - wasn't sure if I was allowed to name. I'm nothing to do with them just a happy customer. I always think they are great for single parents as well.

We've started to book more & more in advance. We booked our 2019 holiday 3 months ago, all inclusive for a week in the next Whit holidays to Spain, 2 adults, 2 kids £2k which we're paying by direct debit with Thomas Cook which is £150 a month that we can just about stretch to.
Looking at the same holiday now, it's already gone up by £350.

We went to butlins as kids. Still quite cheap but tacky.
Accommodation and eating out seem more than they used to.
Eurocamp is ok, tents better than vans. Everything seems to be cheaper the last week of the holidays, I think French schools go back before ours.
Either book early, or take a chance on a late deal, we got a holiday cottage for 6 in dorset for £900, activities extra. Easter and half terms cheaper.

I think you can still get reasonable deals if you research and book stuff yourself and depends where you go obviously.
We went to Malta for a week for 4 of us in the summer hols for £900 half board. We booked the flight months in advance and booked hotel separately.
A week in a lovely Scottish cottage again summer hols costs us £500 and yes it was a massive hol but we went to Thailand at Easter for 3 weeks booked flights and internal flights ourselves and stayed in some great hotels for £3800 all including food and trips. I love researching and booking stuff myself though.

We have been looking last minute, so I do appreciate May/October half term might be cheaper.

Booking in advance doesn't seem to be much cheaper but obviously gives time to pay it off.

I know we don't have to go abroad, and in many ways are lucky to be able to afford UK, it's just we haven't been for quite a few years, and it would be so nice to have great weather almost guaranteed, roll out of bed and let the kids splash around in a swimming pool, warm evening strolls and eating lovely food outside. Just the experience for them of going on a plane.

I can remember our first holiday abroad with ds1 cost us £680!

Yep, super expensive, unless you book it all piecemeal and go self catering. We are looking at doing DisneyWorld and Universal next year as a first for us, and it’s about 8k for everything for two of us for a fortnight. Ouch.

I agree with people saying sun holidays etc. 2 adults 4dc went to Nantes last year for lovely resort on beach booked through them but the accommodation was eurocamp. Same cabin on eurocamp was £1200 compared to the 280£ we paid through sun holidays!

Can someone tell mw about the family friendly walking holiday. That sounds right up our street. We often camp or go to cottages half term or caravan parks (end aug/sept can be done for under 300 for long weekend) . We couldnt go abroad for what we pay in the uk!
Weve also done a night at a premier inn /2days lego land and plan to do something similar for longleat.

I nearly did a singles walking/exploring holiday pre partner. It was actually pricey but it looked brilliant! It was abroad in really interesting places but not family friendly. My kids love adventuring so that would suit us.

We camp. £1200 (we set aside £100 a month) gets the 4 of us a fortnight- three weeks on a European campsite, including ferries, road tolls, petrol and a few trips out.

YADNBU - absolutely ridiculous prices to holiday in the U.K. during the school holidays. Accommodation I have seen in Devon and Cornwall is well over £1000 self catering. Add to that meals and travel and it's well out of most peoples reach.

I also think holidays in Europe are vastly over priced and getting higher and higher.

We won't be having a holiday for thclub 3rd year now.

Travel and places to stay are completely unaffordable for us now. I can't even go to our nearby city 25 miles or so) on the train any more, let alone buy a ticket to London to visit friends/family. In fact, I have family in the next county and I can't afford the train fare any more.

Prices have become ridiculous. Going abroad is completely out for us, even though I have family dotted about all over the globe with whom we could stay so no costs there. Atm I am saving up for a passport for dd, but mine and dh's are also out of date but it'll take a loooong time or something extraordinary happening before we get those done.

If you’re not restricted to school holidays, check out Turkey all inc on Thomas Cook. That was half price to what we pay when we go Spain. Try holidaylettings for accommodation in England

I have noticed a big rise this year. I blame Brexit

I use Expedia to book my holidays and agree with PP that booking really early (a year) or really late ( a week before) is the best way to go.

I spend a large proportion of my income on holidays as I really love to travel, so I would still book something, regardless (up to a point of making myself homeless) of how much it costs.