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.

go north is such a lazy non-suggestion. I'm a short drive from the Northumberland coastline. A cottage in the summer holidays would set you back minimum £1600 for a week.

We drove to East Sussex for our break. The rental cost, plus £300 fuel, plus £400 spent on days out/food totalled less than the "go North" accommodation alone.

dynamo you are right, I should just accept that UK holidays are too expensive and forego them.

I was just asking the minority, when said it is affordable, to provide examples. Sadly they can't, so they probably don't exist, a bit like the benefits of Brexit.

[quote EmmaGrundyForPM]@CeeceeBloomingdale I disagree about Tui. We had a gorgeous 3 bed villa in Kefalonia with them a couple of years ago. It had a pool, beautiful gardens and was on a cliff with the most amazing sea view. With flights and car hire it came to £1300, first week of September.[/quote]
But OP is specifically requesting school holidays and I also book for then. Your holiday would cost many times more in peak season. It’s fine to disagree but I have only had bad experiences with them.

@hibbledibble

dynamo you are right, I should just accept that UK holidays are too expensive and forego them.

I was just asking the minority, when said it is affordable, to provide examples. Sadly they can't, so they probably don't exist, a bit like the benefits of Brexit.

you’re funny.

No, UK holidays are an absolute rip off. I had a last minute hol and looked at staying in the UK, and I'd have had to pay over £100 a night for a rubbish, shabby, dated hotel in a rough seaside town and hundreds of pounds for a return train ticket. No thanks. Instead I went to the continent and had a wonderful week staying in a beautiful 4-star hotel with a lovely pool, 30+ degree weather every day, gorgeous scenery and delicious food. Ridiculous that this was an expensive destination, quite an exclusive destination really (Louis Vuitton and other designer shops everywhere), and still cheaper than a week in a crap seaside town in the UK, trying to enjoy an ice cream on a windy wet beach.

@hibbledibble

dynamo you are right, I should just accept that UK holidays are too expensive and forego them.

I was just asking the minority, when said it is affordable, to provide examples. Sadly they can't, so they probably don't exist, a bit like the benefits of Brexit.

No none of these are real. I imagined it . I have more, I just can't be bothered with your toddler behaviour anymore.

@LeafOfTruth

It's always expensive because you're 'going' somewhere with the same economy as you're 'coming from'. There's no change of economy that means you stretch your money by going somewhere it buys you more.

ie £1 buys you £1 worth of goods or services vs some countries where £1 buys you what would be £2 worth of value where you come from.

It's not even that. I went to a more expensive country than the UK and still had a much better, cheaper break than I could have had here. The UK is just poor value for money. I don't mind paying for quality and a good experience, I do mind paying for mediocre crap.

We were in Scotland last week, in a fantastic lodge (2 bedroom) which cost £640 for the week. The weather was glorious, I was in shorts most of the week and we spent a lot of time out on the lovely terrace or on amazing country walks or by the sea, during which we saw very few other people.

We paid nothing for our days out (although my credit card tells me we paid £6.50 for two coffees and brilliant chocolate brownie one day) and - as we usually do - we self-catered every day with big salads and things from supermarkets as 'mains'.

If we'd had kids with us, we'd have done mostly exactly the same things.

I love the way people lump the "UK" as one big amorphous blob where everything in the entire UK is exactly the same, just as when in Spain they didn't pay for car parking this means that no place ever abroad charges.

There are plenty of amazing restaurants in the UK that offer excellent food at reasonable prices , as well as many rubbish ones. Strangely enough I've generally found that to be the case on overseas holidays as well.
Time before last time
in Tenerife our car got impounded for parking on a street ( locals cars were left) and it cost over £100 to get it back, since then we've been careful to pay for parking which to be fair is a bit cheaper than UK.

I've no idea what we're meant to be aiming for in terms of demonstrating a cheap UK holiday. We can't show anything that needs to be booked more than a few weeks in advance which rules a lot out. But if we're comparing it to sharing an average sized hotel room with your DC then IMHO any 2 bed cottage is a better option.

Hi OP. There are some very antsy responses here and misunderstanding of what you're clearly saying. I too had problems finding anything affordable in the UK this year - we ended up not able to do anything. We were also looking nearer the time due to my work patterns too. I did find a lodge near Sheffield for around £700. Petrol to get there and back would have added another £150 ish (and there would be some wear and tear on the car, which is harder to quantify). We did consider it but ended up unable to think of things to do which were not going to double that cost. I have limited mobility so nature, lovely as it is, cannot be relied upon for leisure. The lodge was very poor quality and had some fairly atrocious reviews. It may have been fine as long as you're not expecting much but it was much more expensive than the prices we've paid for accommodation abroad. I did a UK wide search and other than a £1200 place in scotland and glamping in Wales for 3 nights (£450 and not worth it given a 6.5 hour drive either way), we could not find anything even near our budget. For me, though, the bigger issue is what to do when you're there. I love sitting in the sun to read a book, swimming in an outside pool or in the sea, snorkeling, wandering around pretty market towns, trying new cuisine, visiting sites of interest. There is the odd thing of interest in the UK too, of course, but given the complete unreliability of the weather, you may well have to scrub the sitting in the sun, swimming and snorkeling. This leaves a fair amount of time when you are sitting in your accommodation - which unless you are wealthy, is not going to be a attraction in itself. So perhaps you can get a holiday which is around the same price, but this holiday will likely involve a lot of sitting around. Abroad holiday too involves a lot of sitting around but for me sitting around in the UK is much less appealing. If you, instead, look for entertainment options, the prices rockets in the UK.

BTW, people asking how you get such cheap holidays abroad - don't book a package deal. We buy easyjet flights on the date they are announced (that's usually cheaper), and go through owners direct type places for accommodation. It saves hundreds of pounds on a package deal and you get much nicer accommodation.

All those people citing petrol/diesel costs for a UK holiday needed to keep in mind that whilst we pay tax on these fuels from our already taxed income, airlines pay no duty at all on aviation fuel.

In fairness, the UK will have been expensive this year because, until recently, no one was willing to risk going abroad. We have a house in a holiday destination and have never had a summer like this before - usually we have houseguests for half to two thirds of the summer but this year they’ve been back to back (we do love the houseguests). My husband went to get fish and chips and one lady in the queue said that she hadn’t been able to book any restaurants because they were all full - she was ordering for ten though so perhaps booking in advance would have been sensible.

It may be cheaper next year.

Its the prices for train journeys that gets me raging, DS wanted to travel from Plymouth to manchester, even with a rail card it was quoted as over £200! He actually found that he could fly to manchester via majorca for less 😲

@rookiemere

I love the way people lump the "UK" as one big amorphous blob where everything in the entire UK is exactly the same, just as when in Spain they didn't pay for car parking this means that no place ever abroad charges.

There are plenty of amazing restaurants in the UK that offer excellent food at reasonable prices , as well as many rubbish ones. Strangely enough I've generally found that to be the case on overseas holidays as well.
Time before last time
in Tenerife our car got impounded for parking on a street ( locals cars were left) and it cost over £100 to get it back, since then we've been careful to pay for parking which to be fair is a bit cheaper than UK.

I've no idea what we're meant to be aiming for in terms of demonstrating a cheap UK holiday. We can't show anything that needs to be booked more than a few weeks in advance which rules a lot out. But if we're comparing it to sharing an average sized hotel room with your DC then IMHO any 2 bed cottage is a better option.

^This.

I ask again what is the point of this thread?
Do people want the UK government to mandate cheap UK prices?
Do they want the UK government to invest in changing the weather?
Of is it just another moan/bash the UK thread?

@StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes

Its the prices for train journeys that gets me raging, DS wanted to travel from Plymouth to manchester, even with a rail card it was quoted as over £200! He actually found that he could fly to manchester via majorca for less 😲

This is because flying is stupidly cheap due the tax breaks the industry has.

Ish... but

Every time I've done an all inclusive at a modest price point the food (and booze) has been shit. So yes it's all included which sort of makes life easier, but its much poorer quality than I would buy & cook myself and certainly worse than a basic pub meal or ready meal in the UK.

I also think you are underestimating the cost of a holiday abroad this year. Many people I know on low incomes simply havent been able to go away at all or have had a short camping trip etc, its been quite a luxury to have a holiday this year

It always has been more expensive to have a decent holiday in the UK. It's possible to find a cheap caravan to rent or camping but that's not everyone's cup of tea; cottages, hotels and resorts are expensive.

I generally preferred my holidays here but it was quite funny when we went to the continent - I actually returned home with some spending money instead of an increased overdraft!

We had a school holiday week in a lovely part of cornwall. 4 days of lovely sunshine, 2 more mixed days, one day where it drizzled a bit in the morning. I've had compliments on my tan, beautiful beaches. £1200 for the week for a large 3 bed house 2 min walk from the beach.

1. we didnt leave it to the last minute to book, we booked a year ago.
2. we went to the same place we visited last year, when a lot of people didn't honour their bookings and it really screwed the local tourist industry. We had goodwill with the house owner as a result, so she didnt pull any stunts like cancelling us once prices rose and getting higher paying people instead.
3. we drove there.
4. we kept it simple on food. Fish and chips a couple of times, local pasties which weren't expensive, supermarket pizzas which we could pop in the oven etc. A couple of more expensive meals at simple local restaurants but didnt bother with desserts etc as you can often get cheaper options at supermarkets.
5. there are lots of less expensive day trips than £100. We did a cheap boat trip (cost £50 for 6 of us, spotting wildlife etc, was fab). We also found a few cheap or even free things (ruined castles, local museumetc) and did some lovely coastal walks and visited a few beaches.even on the two dull days the children were happy pottering about looking for shells and rock pooling.

That sounds idyllic, DontWatch. A lovely memory to take away with you too. I've had some beautiful UK holidays.

YABU. DP and I went to grange-over-sands and up the the lakes, in June. Day 1, rain. Lakeland car museum, up to grange, and a walk on the fells. Day 2, coniston, ambleside, cinema, zoo. (i've never been to a zoo until then!) Day 3, Langdale Pike and a great long drive back to Yorkshire. The AirBNB was lovely and clan and our hosts were ace, we did loads of exploration and a long road trip. I absolutely loved it, it was our first holiday since meeting! Usually he'd have gone to Thailand but can't now so exploring england is the best we can do. We're going to do Scotland at the end of the year, too. It doesn't have to be expensive. We did this on £60 of fuel, and £200 each, and came back with money to spend! I loved it so much. Once the rain cleared up after day 1, it was so nice.

Clan = Clean**

@Feelingmardy

Hi OP. There are some very antsy responses here and misunderstanding of what you're clearly saying. I too had problems finding anything affordable in the UK this year - we ended up not able to do anything. We were also looking nearer the time due to my work patterns too. I did find a lodge near Sheffield for around £700. Petrol to get there and back would have added another £150 ish (and there would be some wear and tear on the car, which is harder to quantify). We did consider it but ended up unable to think of things to do which were not going to double that cost. I have limited mobility so nature, lovely as it is, cannot be relied upon for leisure. The lodge was very poor quality and had some fairly atrocious reviews. It may have been fine as long as you're not expecting much but it was much more expensive than the prices we've paid for accommodation abroad. I did a UK wide search and other than a £1200 place in scotland and glamping in Wales for 3 nights (£450 and not worth it given a 6.5 hour drive either way), we could not find anything even near our budget. For me, though, the bigger issue is what to do when you're there. I love sitting in the sun to read a book, swimming in an outside pool or in the sea, snorkeling, wandering around pretty market towns, trying new cuisine, visiting sites of interest. There is the odd thing of interest in the UK too, of course, but given the complete unreliability of the weather, you may well have to scrub the sitting in the sun, swimming and snorkeling. This leaves a fair amount of time when you are sitting in your accommodation - which unless you are wealthy, is not going to be a attraction in itself. So perhaps you can get a holiday which is around the same price, but this holiday will likely involve a lot of sitting around. Abroad holiday too involves a lot of sitting around but for me sitting around in the UK is much less appealing. If you, instead, look for entertainment options, the prices rockets in the UK.

BTW, people asking how you get such cheap holidays abroad - don't book a package deal. We buy easyjet flights on the date they are announced (that's usually cheaper), and go through owners direct type places for accommodation. It saves hundreds of pounds on a package deal and you get much nicer accommodation.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with everything you wrote here @Feelingmardy!

It makes me wonder whether all those saying “I couldn’t stand to sit around on beach”… is that because you’re only experience is sitting on towels on cold, damp, pebbly U.K. beaches where you need a wetsuit to even enter the water?

Yes, an excellent post from feelingmardy

I may well do as you recommend and book self catered abroad. That way I could practice the foreign languages I speak and experience other cultures, as well as allowing the children to experience their cultural heritage. I'm also happy to holiday locally but it's sadly just so unaffordable, and this thread hasn't shown anything to contrary to that.

It makes me wonder whether all those saying “I couldn’t stand to sit around on beach”… is that because you’re only experience is sitting on towels on cold, damp, pebbly U.K. beaches where you need a wetsuit to even enter the water?

Don't be ridiculous. I grew up in the north of Scotland and have just returned from a holiday there. My kids were swimming in the north Atlantic on Sunday, no wetsuit required and there were only a couple of other people on the stunning sandy beach. Personally I'm quite happy on an isolated British beach for a day but hate the heat and millions of people of the Mediterranean in summer. Beach holidays aren't really my scene, having grown up in a beautiful isolated location I like lots of culture on my holidays.

Well, you don't stand to sit on a beach.

There are some gorgeous sandy beaches here, I've stood, sat, laid and walked on many of them!