To think nobody spends THIS MUCH on holidays with kids?

[GrahameSylvia]

Scouting around for September holiday ideas for us and our 18 month old and came across this in today’s Times.

25 cool family resorts in Europe, the cheapest is about £4k for a week, the priciest £32k but on average about £7k. Admittedly they are mostly all inclusive but REALLY?!?!? Is this the kind of silly money people spend on holidays are once they have kids?

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/25-cool-family-resorts-in-europe-g9knl5n7l

On a side note, if anyone has a great hotel or self catering recommendation for somewhere sunny in Europe that will work well with a young toddler do share, finding places that don’t cost the kind of money we can - but are not willing on principle - to pay is a nightmare.

@hatedbythedailymail22 well said..why do people think holidays should be cheap ?
fuel costs for airlines are high, staff costs increasing as pay rises go up, why should hotels be cheap just because they are 'abroad'
They have similar issues with wages/cost of food/fuels etc as we do here in UK.

It always makes me a tiny bit embarressed to be english when i read these threads...as if we the English are in some way entitled to 'abroad' being cheap.

I recently spent £2500 for 3 adults AI in Turkey including flights, 4* resort.
The hotel was spotless, continuous round the clock gardeners/security/pool cleaners, wonderful food at multiple locations all with staff +++++, bar open 24 hrs with never less than 5 staff members...etc etc. So much food choice, warm pools to swim in, aircon in rooms going 24 hrs etc so i imagine costs for the resort are high.
I think it was a fair cost

I’ve just done a week in Spain, 2 bedroom apartment, self catering and car hire for under £1500. Two adults and 2 older teenage kids (17 & 19).

We go to Aldi and do a shop for breakfast, lunches and snacks and then eat out in the evening.

would be lovely to stay at one of those kind of resorts but there’s no way we can justify the cost.

Two people club class to Malaga, if our DS and his friends are joining us we generally take their luggage as part of our allowance so they can fly as walk ons.

£900 when booked really early.

Villa that sleeps six (for two weeks) six so if DS and his friends want pop down to Malaga if they want for a few days with private pool, £3,500

Eating out, it is what it is.

Easily done.

We don't' live extravagantly for the rest of the year, a few trips to the West End probably every few months, nothing extravagant so therefore we don't stint on holidays.

It’s all relative.depends how much they earn, how much they spend on other things. I worked in high end travel and people would spend more than my house is worth on a trip. I think the most expensive was around £90k

You can get self catering apartments with a shared pool in Europe for about 3k for four in the summer. Pre covid 2.4k. The holidays advertised here in the Times are obviously pitched at a much higher budget.

Yes we do, we are going to Mexico in October for 2 weeks in a 5 star resort and it has cost just over 7K for 3 of us. We make good money, haven't got into any debt to go and it will truly be an amazing holiday. We have spent another £500 on excursion when we are there.
We were meant to go to Florida in 2020 but was obviously cancelled that would have been about 10K with all the theme parks. The only reason we are not doing that this year is DS is older and would rather go on a holiday with wildlife and diving than theme parks.
We are going to Egypt next year, this was a cheaper holiday at around the 4.5K mark and we plan on then having a couple of cheaper years whilst we save to go on holiday to Australia in about 6 years time.

In 2019 we had 2 weeks riding in Assam on thoroughbred ex race horses, cared for by a domestic team of cook, housekeeper, waiter and cleaner just for us. We also were provided with a groom for each horse, ride leader, driver and guide. All food included, trips on river, trips to temples, rhino safari on elephant back and gibbon viewing trip, staying in two beautiful tea plantation Victorian bungalows where we were the only visitors. All this for less than £3k each. You would never catch me in some bland all inclusive resort.

that don’t cost the kind of money we can - but are not willing on principle - to pay is a nightmare

what is the principle here ??? you don't basically want to pay for something because you believe it should be cheap , that is not a principle.

We do. It's the cost of a holiday we all enjoy and find relaxing. I don't mind spending the money when it ensures everyone enjoys the trip.

That's not to say we don't enjoy the odd self-catering beach home booking a little more locally, too, but for the "big holiday" we do tend to spend out.

we have stayed at a couple of these places and not paid anything near the price shown here. If you don’t book through the tour operator and you price it up yourself and look at what days the prices are cheaper then it will be less than shown here..

we stayed at the ikos olivia last year and would thoroughly recommend it. We booked through BA holidays and went for 5 nights and it wasn’t too expensive

We spent £7000 for a week in Thai style retreat in Spain with 2 young children in 2016 but it was a honeymoon (well with kids) so a treat. It was all inclusive and the food was amazing. It was a special treat though and we went via a luxury holiday agency. We want to go for our anniversary but many people there were on there normal vacation, my son ended up befriending a famous Spanish footballer's son and there was a diplomat's wife and children, we were definitely one of the less accustomed to the lifestyle families!

This is where we stayed. Week at the beginning of September is around £340

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g736856-d1176749-Reviews-Senator_Mar_Menor_Golf_Spa_Resort-Los_Alcazares.html

I spend 20-25% of our income on holidays - between £10 and £15K a year. We have a very small house, old second hand cars we maintain ourselves, grow a lot of our own food, second hand clothes (I have spent less that £100 on clothes since 2020) and this is what we spend our money on, travelling and seeing the world. We've been to Hawaii 2x, the Caribbean many times, the Arctic circle, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, over 20 states in the US. DC strongly support and encourage this, plan the trips with us, contribute by saving their own money for experiences when we are there and encouraging saving - for example at Christmas DS chose to return a large lego set we got him as he was given another by his grandma and he gelt the money was better used for a specific activity he is keen to do on this summers trip, and we are less interested in. I think people should spend their disposable income on what they enjoy and value and for me, my family holidays are the most amazing memories, very wrapped up in my love for my children and our parenting style.

If you’ve got the money to do so great but we have never spent close to that on a family holiday.

We are a family of 3 (soon 4) us and DS9, we are going to Greece next month for a week with Jet2 which has cost £1126, inc flights, hotel, baggage and transfers with breakfast included for a week.

It is a nice hotel directly on the beach and obviously if you went all inclusive it would be more but we like to get out and about and try different places to eat in the area. We did a similar holiday to Majorca pre Covid for a similar price.

With a toddler look at caravan holidays. Canvas, eurocamp etc. You can fly drive or ferry/tunnel drive. Works out cheap out of school holidays and ideal for young kids. Campsites have parks/pools etc and lots of space to run around. With a little one i prefer to self cater 2 meals a day and eat out once. An all inclusive resort is my idea of a nightmare and a total waste of money.

We never ever go AI thou, and we generally have a lot of trips/activities which is where the money goes - cookery courses, diving, snorkelling etc

Yeah that sounds ideal for OP's 18 month old...

AI is my idea of hell.

This is why I have never done a package or AI! I earn a pretty decent salary, though I am a lone parent.
The last few years we've been:

• Overland to Croatia and stayed in an AirBnB. Fabulous.
• Spain and stayed in a rented apartment. Booked flights early. Self catering. Mostly days at the beach, pool and some day trips.
• A week PGL (just me and my then 11 yo) on the Isle of Wight. We got a bargain as they were trying to fill spaces people had cancelled during lockdowns.
• A fortnight in Scotland - rented cottage.

None of these have been anywhere near 3K.

hmmm we got a week in cala bona mallorca for 552 self catering for me my husband and 16 month old including flights to go in September

fully prepared for it to be more expensive in future when shes bigger

right now tho we just wanted a little holiday and something easy so this works perfectly

It's The Times. It's about high end resorts. Of course they won't be within reach of most people. It's like articles in fashion magazines featuring haute couture.

Ditto this. It's great to have a caravan/static thingy where you're not worried about early starts and bothering other people, they are generally pretty basic decor and fittings wise so easy to toddler proof and clean.
Hopefully convenient activities for a toddler if you don't want to head off for the day. For a toddler, a morning at a play park suits them fine, then back to the caravan for a nap (which is when the parents get their break!).

I’ve just booked a week all inclusive in Rhodes for next August, 2 adults and 2 teens, nice quiet resort for 3k. Try Love Holidays OP.

I’ve just paid around £2300 for 7 nights all inclusive in Turkey. It’s over the spring bank holiday mostly and there was one child free place, I’m a SP so going alone with 3 kids so also got a discount of £150.

I did look at the 6 week holidays and it was around £3000+ for the cheapest week. It’s cheaper at the start and the end of the seasons so May and September also cheaper if you take them out of school but then there’s also the fine to pay £120 per child so doesn’t really work out that much cheaper really.

Holidays with kids are expensive although holidays in general have rocketed but we spent 12k on Florida in 2010 and 15k Florida again in 2013
other than that - generally about 7/8k for 2 weeks sun break and less if it’s a half term . Try and have 2/3 sun holidays a year.