To think it's more of expensive to holiday in the UK?

[hibbledibble]

Like many, I holidayed in the UK this year, due to covid complicating trips abroad. I work in person for the NHS, and can't risk having to isolate on return, if a country's status changes.

I do feel utterly ripped off though. The holiday hasn't been anything extravagant, just driving to a self catering accommodation. The accomodation costs are astronomical, as are eating out and day trips (many days were nearly £100, and that wasn't even including food). I have looked at TUI and it would have been cheaper to get an all inclusive package, and that way I wouldn't have to cook, clean, and could even have used the kids club for some child free time by the pool.

Instead I've had tepid to cold weather, rain, and didn't even get to go to the beach on our seaside holiday as it was too cold.

Not sure what to do in future. I can't afford expensive UK holidays anymore, but not can I risk letting down my department by having to isolate.

@Dyrne

To be fair I don’t know why I’m defending the UK so much. Am quite happy for people to go back abroad when they can so prices come back down for those of us who can properly appreciate a good UK break

Agreed - it's awful here please feel free to sod off somewhere else

We never had particularly expensive UK holidays-we’d breakfast at home, cook dinners and take picnic lunches, then do takeaway/meal out a few times. We’d go days at free places and use vouchers/Tesco vouchers towards more expensive things. If you go to the zoo one day, theme park the next and eat out every night then yes it will be expensive!

The thing with foreign holidays is the weather is often fantastic so you spend all day on the beach/by the pool and spend nothing, but the flights are an extra cost.

We had booked 10 days on Lake Como in a 5* hotel this July = £3200 (not including flights). But we moved the booking to July 2022 because of uncertainty over Covid restrictions.

We then paid the best part of £2K for 7 days in a very pretty (but very cramped) Shepherd's hut in Cornwall this July. The owner completely failed to mention the extensive building work being done on her house which was just the other side of our driveway. So constant building noise and close up views of sweaty workmen and cement mixers. Nice.

We always SC in the UK for our holidays.
Our accomodation budget is usually £700 and for that it needs to sleep 4 and have off road parking. Preferably detached and in August. In total with a few meals out, fuel and a mix of cheap and expensive days out the whole lot usually comes in at a maximum of £2k.

We looked at going to Italy in 2020 before Covid struck and there was no way we could have done it for £2k for 4 in August including flights, food and days out.

I think the holiday accommodation people who have hiked their prices and binned their service this year are going to find they have shot themselves in the foot.

Come next year people are going to look at what they paid and what they go for the money and decide they will do better elsewhere. Longstanding customers who got bumped off for a price hike this year will be reluctant to come back when the travel restrictions start to ease.

It is very difficult to make like for like comparisons with holidays abroad in the sun. I think it comes down to a sense of holiday value. For me a holiday is a period of time looking at, eating, experiencing something different. A week in a holiday cottage in Britain is never going to cut it.

I love holidays in the UK and holidays abroad, but for me the weather is becoming a key factor. I used to subscribe to the "no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing" theory but after a horrendous holiday in Wales one August where is pissed it down all week and our teenagers mutineers (cottage didn't have WiFi either.... ) I insisted on a "one week UK, one week abroad" deal in future years.

Still not had anyone pm me details of a cheap UK holiday..

I'm not into camping. It's really not a holiday to me. Even if I was, it's likely cheaper to go abroad to do it: french campsites have wonderful facilities for very affordable prices.

I spent £100-£200 a night on accomodation for UK self catering. I couldn't find anything cheaper for 3+ bedrooms, and even at that price, at the lower end of the budget the bedrooms were like cupboards.

@hibbledibble

Still not had anyone pm me details of a cheap UK holiday..

I'm not into camping. It's really not a holiday to me. Even if I was, it's likely cheaper to go abroad to do it: french campsites have wonderful facilities for very affordable prices.

I spent £100-£200 a night on accomodation for UK self catering. I couldn't find anything cheaper for 3+ bedrooms, and even at that price, at the lower end of the budget the bedrooms were like cupboards.

I’m not going to argue with you; it’s absolutely fine for you to decide that a UK holiday isn’t your personal cup of tea. People are allowed to like different things.

What does do my head in, however, is people making massive pronouncements that because they don’t like something, the whole thing is shit and therefore everyone that does like it is insane/weird/insert insult here.

@hibbledibble people have given plenty of examples of the reasonably costed holidays they have had in the UK. Personally I'd like to see examples of ultra cheap foreign trips with decent accommodation and wifi but not involving travelling abroad during a pandemic.

And for 2 bedrooms we pay at least £100 per night no matter where we are booking - I'd be stunned to find anything decent for less than that in the school holidays.

I think it's always been the same. When we were kids in the 70s we rarely ate out on a self-catering holiday apart from the chippy and the odd cafe breakfast.

DD and I had a short break on the Ayrshire coast in the hot weather at the beginning of her school holidays. It was lovely, we swam and the scenery was gorgeous but eating out was very expensive and the food wasn't that great. We've had a couple of day trips where we have specifically gone to eat in a nice restaurant but that hasn't been cheap.

I think that has been the case for years though but perhaps has been exacerbated this year because of Covid.

I like the UK for short breaks but since eating out is one of my main holiday pleasures I definitely prefer being somewhere where I can sit with a nice glass of wine and a nice plate of seafood that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

@Jangle33

Anyone thinking of the environmental cost of flying…?? U.K. holidays are wonderful, sunny weather here in the south west, beautiful beaches and lots of fun.

It takes me less time to fly to southern Europe than it would take me to travel to the south west, even assuming I'd want to holiday there. I spent every summer holiday there as a child.

@DynamoKev

I mean couldn’t we all take a year or two off from holidays? I don’t get why people seem to think it is compulsory?

I think you've made your point.

I didn't go on holiday abroad last year. That was quite enough. I had four days away in the UK and it rained. For me holidays mean hot weather, and I miss them when I don't have them. They're the main thing I save up for and look forward to.

We've just gone on days out this year because of the covid/self isolating risk but there are so many others doing the same the traffic is horrendous and there's no where to park.

I've booked a UK caravan/beach holiday for next July already and it's cost the same as our usual holiday abroad but at least we'll have a beach holiday next year

This is really horses for courses— if you are an outdoorsy type family who love camping and walking and self catering and caravans etc, don’t mind some likelihood of shit weather and can enjoy board games etc— then you can have a good holiday in the UK— if you have a H who nit picks even at 4 star hotels, wants affordable luxury and moans if you get so much as 1 day of rain in a week even when abroad , or teens who are awful to be around and bored in pissing rain or moaning non stop about dodgy WiFi — then the UK really isn’t going to cut the mustard in many many ‘holiday’ areas. There is an awful lot of sub standard dated accommodation too , at certainly not sub standard prices!!

Still haven't had a single suggestion for a cheap UK, from those who say I am unreasonable. If these do exist, then please share! I'm willing to be convinced.

We got abroad this year and I was so glad we did.

Only caveat on prices was the Covid test cost. For a double jabbed adult we've spent £200 on testing. 3 tests. 2 in uk @ £70 and £100 each. 1 in Europe at £30. So yes, even escaping the uk the Uk was more expensive 😂

I've been looking to do 3 or 4 nights coastal uk for end of September, thinking Cornwall or Devon and even a a 2 or 3 star hotel is over £150 a night. Forget that, so I decided lets try Bournemouth...same thing!

So now I've scrapped my plans and will do day trips, £20 return train ticket to Bournemouth, same for Oxford....ill just day trip it instead.

You’re not doing it right. If you eat out everyday, it’s going to cost you. Snacks, drinks, breakfast, lunch you can do for a few ££ by having your supermarket shop delivered. We make is ‘special’ with things we don’t normally eat - croissant breakfast and sausage rolls for lunch. No cooking required. Never go self catering without a dishwasher and washing machine as you can handle anything, any weather. Cheaper takeaway like fish and chips rather than pizza. Ice cream in the freezer. English Heritage and National Trust membership and hundreds of places to visit for days out. Full days at the beach if weather permits. My kids ask to go to the castles in The north east again and again and they also love Hadrian’s Wall and the numerous Roman museums in the wider area.

Try realfsmilyholidays for cheap and cheerful - better with younger children, I think. We did it a couple of times when they were younger - no cooking, hot meal at night, cooked breakfast and sandwiches made for lunch. Cheap and cheerful activities thrown in on some days, other activities you pay for or find somewhere to visit yourself.

YANBU. I remember a few years ago, I’d visited my friend for her DC birthday. The birthday is in the second week of July. Got in and my mum asked how they all were, I said they were looking forward to their Greek holiday. My dad chipped in with “Why the bloody hell are they going abroad? We never went abroad with you two!”

I asked him to look out the window and the torrential rain, which was on about day 4 non-stop and asked him what he thought there was to do at the British seaside with two under-5s in that weather. He muttered something about the cinema, which set me and my mum laughing that someone would pay to go away and then spend money going to the cinema everyday.

I have 2 weeks leave coming up and kind of dreading it. Traffic is dreadful as so many people are staying at home and we like to go in the countryside as we have a dog, but that means public transport is more limited. We did look at booking a cottage but they were ridiculous prices so we’re staying at home.

A holiday isn’t ‘essential’ but I like a break and to lie in the heat for a week while I don’t have to do anything. I’m going slightly stir-crazy as I’ve barely been out of the county for 18 months!

We went rafting in France three weeks ago: £25 per person. We enjoyed it so much I thought we’d do it in the UK but the cheapest I found was £58pp. Meals are 20% more here, more likely to ‘have to’ eat in cafes rather than picnics as the weather is unreliable. I love holidaying in the UK but it is, very definitely, not a cheap option.

It really depends on whether you're looking for a like for like experience. Cheapish 4* all inclusive with an outdoor pool doesn't really exist in the UK for obvious reasons.

I've always done a mix of UK and abroad. We're outdoorsy so we might have a 5* alpine spa resort for a week and also a camping holiday. They're not remotely the same but we enjoy them both.

It's true that some areas of the UK want tourist money, but not tourists themselves and often things like the local restaurants are expensive / poor. IMO you'll get the most out of a UK holiday if you look at the pros and cons of the place itself and tailor expectations / plans accordingly rather than try to replicate what you'd get abroad.

We stayed in a gorgeous cabin in the Highlands. Location needed driving, nightly meals out were disregarded because the food offering was patchy for the prices. OTOH we could pack a load of sports equipment (difficult with a package), enjoy amazing walks, paddling, cycling and then chill in a beautiful location at night with a bottle of wine. Totally different and not comparable with booking a hotel in a tourist location abroad IMO.

@hibbledibble

Still haven't had a single suggestion for a cheap UK, from those who say I am unreasonable. If these do exist, then please share! I'm willing to be convinced.

You’re not willing to be convinced though.

You had a quick look on Tui all inclusive holidays (at a time when they desperately need to attract custom so of course they’re dirt cheap). You’ve then demanded for the UK a 3 bed self contained holiday cottage and are pretending they’re in the same league.

Plus prices are mental at the moment - demand is outstripping supply in the UK (driving prices up); while abroad resorts are desperate to bring back tourists (driving prices down).

People have given plenty of tips on how they have an enjoyable, affordable UK break. But no one’s going to link you to “here’s a lovely affordable Airbnb next June with great transport links and local activities” because we want them for ourselves

By all means, if you want to go abroad then do so, but don’t do it because it’s soooooo much cheaper and you’re sooooooo much better.

I think to enjoy holidays in the U.K. you have to hate the sun 🤣