Holidaying abroad is not an option for most people - is it???

[Heyduggee123]

So looking for next year - looking at Ibiza in June for 10 days AI - costs for a half decent hotel, not in the middle of nowhere are coming up at nearly £4k!!

By next year I'll have 4 year old twins and haven't been on holiday outside of the UK yet. This isn't even in the school holidays. How on earth does anyone afford this?

For context yes there are cheaper options, but anyone wanting anything other than just a room with separate bathroom for 4 of us with half decent reviews the costs just spiral.

I think I'll have to stick with our annual 2 weeks in Wales for a few years longer

I think UK holidays are great but can’t always guarantee the weather so for the prices it feels just as expensive they aren’t cheap. It was thousands for a cottage on the south coast last summer. Ibiza is amazing and great for kids if you’re not there for clubbing but is a more expensive destination. When I was a child we did Turkey (love it for how cheap it is, guaranteed sun and fab excursions) and I would try mainland Spain, Portugal. What’s your budget? It is definitely doable just have to research and try and get the deals.

Ignore package holidays.

Look at Easyjet. £30 flights. Look at Booking.com and other sites for accomodation - lovely apartments, for example. £200-£300 for a week. Self-catering.

You're not stuck with package ripoffs.

In the UK just go on Holiday Cottages and stuff. We had a week in Whitby for £450 last year, even though some claimed holidays were 'thousands'. I think they just search for 7 bed mansions or something. We had a 3 bed cottage for £450, 5 nights.

Ibiza is very very expensive if you don't go for the whole sharing one shithole room between 4 of you to go clubbing. A lot of rich and middle class Europeans go to Ibiza on holiday. You need to do more research.

@Tothepoint99

Some people are quoting really good prices for family holidays! But do people who put together their own holiday packages of accommodation, car hire and flights etc feel secure if it were to fall through? We'll be a family of 6 come next summer and will have to look at some of the DIY suggestions on here rather than walking into TUI and being robbed 😀

I always get travel insurance when doing a diy holiday build but we've been lucky that they've always gone to plan and I've never needed to worry. Dunno if I was planning for 6 would I chance it though!

We don't do car hire, and we pick cheap accommodation - I don't mind if it's a bit shabby as long as it's clean and the plumbing works. We really only use our digs to sleep and shower in anyway as every day we head to the beach or on trips, and choose different restaurants for dinners so we prefer to put our money towards those things.

AI would be a waste for us for this reason, and I refuse to do SC because I want a break from doing dinners!

Look at turkey - you get so much more for your money. A week 5* AI in September in Antalya a few years ago was cheaper than the week we did in Cornwall.

We do AI with young kids as like that everything's paid for in advance. We've done turkey twice with young kids and would go again as it's such good value for money

Go to a holiday shop like TUI or something and tell them what you want and see what they can find for you. They have deals and the shop stuff are generally very knowledgeable. They can cut through a lot of stuff using that knowledge.

Why go AI that is very very expensive.

So is holidaying in this country.

Why not get a villa with a pool instead of a hotel room.

We are a family of 4 adults and our holiday would usually end up at somewhere around £2500. We eat out every night, villa with its own pool. We might have to pop inside to get a cold drink instead of waiter service but for the cost difference it doesn’t make sense. Really don’t like being cooped up in a hotel room

Like some PPs we switched to Eurocamp style places once we had a child. Always book direct with the park as you get a better class of accommodation than through Eurocamp etc this way.

I can really recommend:

www.yellohvillage-serignan-plage.com/fr/ in France

and

www.camping-serenella.it/ at Lake Garda

Just to add, we ski and I class £4k as skiing territory. Which is naturally a very expensive holiday, so I expect anything else to come in significantly less than that.

To answer a PP about independent booking. We always feel confident as we book accommodation that's refundable until around a day before. If we fly somewhere, we find cheap flights and know we can claim the taxes back, so we're not out of pocket. Had to cancel our Christmas ski trip ladt year with three weeks notice. Full refund on the apartment and we got about 75% of our flights back via taxes.

When we book with Eurocamp, they have a pretty robust cancellation policy and we tend to book the ferry through them too.

Loads of options out there if you're open to location and accommodation.

@Lunalae

Ignore package holidays.

Look at Easyjet. £30 flights. Look at Booking.com and other sites for accomodation - lovely apartments, for example. £200-£300 for a week. Self-catering.

You're not stuck with package ripoffs.

In the UK just go on Holiday Cottages and stuff. We had a week in Whitby for £450 last year, even though some claimed holidays were 'thousands'. I think they just search for 7 bed mansions or something. We had a 3 bed cottage for £450, 5 nights.

Thanks. So helpful. Always foolishly believed packages were better.

Martinhal sagres

We did a week in Egypt. AI, Two beautiful rooms, for 2 adults and 2 kids, less than. 2.5k

Istanbul, 4 nights, gorgeous gorgeous hotel, just flights and b&b 1.3 and it's seriously cheap out there.

Look further afield. We did Cuba, AI, 2 weeks, including getting married for less than 3k.

Our 3 year old will visit her 15th country next year. Plenty of people do travel, if that’s what they want to do 🤷🏼‍♀️

I only have 1 child but we always get a standard room, i either take her kids blow up bed or the room might have a sofa bed. Never needed a separate bedroom and can't see us doing so until she's a teen. £4-£5k is an average holiday cost for us in Europe say the Balearics or Canaries in school holidays, in think Ibiza is one of the more expensive places.

I'd rather not have a holiday at all, than a UK holiday.
Crap weather, overpriced accommodation, rip off tourist trade...

@Whammyyammy

I'd rather not have a holiday at all, than a UK holiday. Crap weather, overpriced accommodation, rip off tourist trade...

I’ve had far worse holidays abroad than I’ve had here. Five days of continuous rain in Italy in August. Inedible food in Greece and Malta. Harassed constantly by men in Cairo. Equally I’ve stayed in beautiful hotels in the UK with great food and days of sunshine.

Spain and Spanish islands seem to offer free child places which can help with costs, but you'd have to compromise on using only those hotels in the deal. When we last looked, we couldn't see similar offers in Greek islands, so you'd have to shop around.

Next year our DS (12) will be paying adult rates which sticks in my craw as he's nowhere near an adult. We'll be doing UK self catering holidays too then.

I think Ibiza is a prey normal family place unless if you aren't in party central.

I would suggest early or late season for a cheaper price.

But with 4 it is expensive.

I think you are just looking in the wrong places - we have a week booked in a 4 star hotel in Malta in August, including breakfast, and paid about £2k for the three of us. We did a week’s skiing in Austria in Feb half term and spent about £1k.

Yes, costs have risen significantly. The two hotels we stay in usually in Croatia - wow - more than double this year from a week for two for £2,400 to the same holiday costing £5,500 this summer.

We won't be going. ☹️

When my children were small, you could always get one free child place and one half price. You don't seem to be able to get this anymore?? I remember one spectacular deal - at a 5 star, all inclusive in Turkey, for one week, I paid about £850 for me and the 2 kids.

Currently in Ibiza with 2 kids and despite some rain it is absolutely a family destination. That said I would "warn" anyone looking at the islands, the cost of living here is high. There are significant issues with staffing, creating issues at all the restaurants as people simply can't afford to live on the island. Prices have rocketed. That said today we bought a Eur 15 picnic at our local supermarket for a family of 4 and had a great time rock pooling on the beach. Menu of the day can be found (2 courses and glass of wine ) for Eur 12 per person. Also be aware that all inclusive no longer means all inclusive due to new laws which limit the number of drinks served over a meal. There are lots of changes this year in the Balearics, to step away from the traditional 18-30s tourism. The intention is good, however we fear prices will continue to rocket here. 4k may well be a bargain in years to come...

Have you considered Croatia or Slovenia?

We're spending about a grand more than that for 10 days AI in Benidorm in August.

While expensive, we've spread the cost. It's also all the money we will spend. We chose a resort with lots going on so we didn't need to do anything else.

We added up a 2 week self catering holiday and while the accommodation was cheaper, we still had to factor in food, petrol / flights / ferry, activities, entrance fees (especially for UK breaks) etc and it didn't work out much cheaper.

Paying June prices for Ibiza when you don’t actually want to go to the big club opening nights is insanity.