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.

I doubt it sting the PP or any of us saying we blow that sort of money on our holidays

(but I should add, that's what we can afford. If we had more to spend I wouldn't be averse to going somewhere fancier)

holidays are expensive. I don't think those prices look too bad really, if that's what you're into. If I wanted a beach/pool/doing nothing holiday I might look at that. My holiday this year was partly paid in 2019 but the rest of it is adding up and with food will be over£5k.

OP when I had toddlers, we went to Eurocamp and similar. They loved it. I thought it was fine too. We always went to Italy or Spain and toured around too so we weren't stuck in a resort.

Some great suggestions here OP

My own suggestions would be to definitely not bother with AI- I'm not that pro them anyway as I think it gets boring eating and drinking at the same place and is shit for the local economies , but it works much better if you have older children- otherwise you end up paying through the nose.

Cruises can be good value and the right ones have lots for little ones

Eurocamp is brilliant and good value if you are ok with upscale camping or lodges and can drive- as someone else said either drive to it with your car or fly in and hire. These have been some of my favourite holidays

EasyJet holidays have some good packaged up options and use some good hotels too at a good price

Booking.com is brilliant for just nosying around and reserving without paying- whilst then seeing if you can get suitable flights. Very often you don't pay till a few days before too, so good if you are saving up rather than fully having the money 'right now' and is good as well if you change your mind as you haven't paid!!

My favourite places with young ones would be

Puerto pollensa , camp de Mar and Cala d'or in Majorca

Can Bosch and Cala n forcat - menorca

Santa Eulalia or Es Cana- Ibiza

Corfu- kassiopi or Paleokastritsa

South of France- Eurocamp has loads

Brittany - Eurocamp or lots of gites

Algarve- carvoeiro

Christ I’ve got to agree that seems a lot!

I think my holidays have been a bit more cheap and cheerful.
I found Sol in Bulgaria great for kids- about £1k for 3.

But they don't have to cost anything like that. I just looked up where we took DC when they were toddlers - to a Eurocamp in Lazio near Rome and it seems ot have gone down in price. Just over £300pw for a large static caravan with air conditioning. Add Ryanair flights at sensible times of day from a London airport (lunchtime flights there and back) for under £200 for the whole family. That's £500. Add the same amount again for food - lots of restaurants on site and in nearby village and of course in Rome (very short bus ride away) Lovely safe on-site paddling pool for toddler. I prefer this sort of freedom with very young children - make tea when you want, buy your own cold drinks - a bit of freedom not having to stick to hotel AI. That was very early September. the price dropped in mid to late September.

So you could have a week's holiday in Italy for around £1k. Less, if you chose to self cater. I've never really understood the appeal of AI hotels. I find them very constricting. I prefer to cook food I know DC will eat, at a time they want it, or to chose my own restaurants and day trips.

Is Egypt not absolutley baking hot in August? I'd love to go there. But DH hates the heat.

Remember, the Times appeals to people such as your average Mumsnetter, who apparently earns a 'six-figure salary'. So of course 4k is reasonable for a holiday - cheap even!

In the real world, there's loads of other options that children will enjoy at least as much.

Avoid in august
Same with Turkey

debilitating heat

I don't know anybody IRL who goes on holidays like that - we are talking middle-class professionals btw - everybody either camps or does self-catering in the UK, the only people who go abroad have family they can stay with or camp or do a cheap long weekend city break.

I mean people do, but it doesn't mean that there aren't cheaper. A 2 minute look on Jet2Holidays has given me quite a few all inclusive holidays for 2 adults and 1 child for under 2k, and that's travelling in August.
We've paid around £4k for a week in a luxury villa in August.

I’m doing Centre Parcs Netherlands - driving so only eurotunnel / petrol costs, it’s about Euro 1500 for accommodation and I’ve spent nearly Euro 400 per booking activities. For a toddler you’d not need the pricier activities so could spend less. Not the height of luxury though!

So maybe Euro 2500 for the week excluding all food

Yes they do indeed - I freelance for a travel company and it’s a ‘normal’ booking

This was why we started house swapping. 10 years of free holidays our kids are extremely well travelled! We live in an attractive tourist city though and have a decent house. Also got our heads around randoms in our house - it’s not for everyone.

www.tui.co.uk/destinations/bookaccommodation?productCode=051726&tab=overview&noOfAdults=2&noOfChildren=1&childrenAge=2&duration=7&flexibleDays=7&airports%5B%5D=LGW&flexibility=true&noOfSeniors=0&when=14-09-2022&pkg=3454956/3/256/7&tra_o=1173007124/3334987&tra_i=1173007184/3334988&units%5B%5D=001443:REGION&packageId=051726CYPH000116631136000001663113600000TOM435216637184000001663804800000TOM4353F0B013454956/3/256/7&index=2&multiSelect=true&brandType=T&bb=AI&room=1|2|0|1|0|2&isVilla=false&searchType=search&durationCode=7115&rmpc=1|2|0|1|0|2&rmtp=F0B01&rmbb=AI&fc=n&greatDealDiscount=24&bb=AI&price=pp#page

Considering it's about £2500 for a weekend at centerparcs that's not too bad for a family holiday!

I've never spent anything like that on a holiday OP. We go abroad at least once, often twice a year. Self catering apartment through an agency like VRBO, Holiday Lettings or AirB&B and budget flights . We also normally hire a car . Whilst your child is 18 months then an apartment will give you more freedom as you can eat when and where you chose or self cater . You can often hire a car for the price of your airport transport taxi (assuming you are more than 15 mins away!) and means you can drive to the nearest Aldi rather than the expensive mini mart in the resort . We've always had an apartment in a block with a pool. A small child will be happy to play on the beach and often there will be children's playgrounds on the beach too. With school age children it can be cheaper to travel Easter/spring bank or October half term and the weather is normally 'pleasant' rather than over hot.

Having been to a couple of those places they do take all inclusive to another level. The food is absolutely outstanding, there are wine lists of several hundred wines included, it includes room service and mini bars and it’s absolutely indulgent.

we do a combination but we do spend up to about 7-10k occasionally for 4 of us. It’s when I want to do absolutely nothing whatsoever.

for us, there’s a time and a place for self catering and a time for a city break in an Airbnb or more basic hotel and we love those holidays too but these kind of AI ones are seriously good. And you’re not tied to staying in resort. The Ikos resorts have arrangements with local restaurants to support the local economy’s and you can eat there on AI plus they include complementary use of their many onsite minis too and provide you with picnics to take with you

Our last family holiday was a fortnight in Corsica. Self catering apartment. Tended to have one restaurant meal a day and fixed our own meals the rest of the time. Whole holiday (including spending money) came in at about 5k.

Holidays are pricey these days. We tend to go abroad every other year and try and do something cheaper (eg camping in U.K.) on the other years.

@Grumpybutfunny is that the jaz mirabel , beach, park or club because they are 3 completely different hotels within one complex and might look cheap but am guessing that would be for the park with limited options, with club being the middle one and beach being the top one, they show pictures of them all and loads of people when we went who were staying in the park were very upset the did not have access to all of the club or beach hotel facilities as were people in the club, also did not have full access to the beach facilities so jsut check before you book

That does sounds rather lovey. Maybe someday, as a big treat….

We have a third hand car, live in a small flat and buy most of our clothes from H&M and Uniqlo

ok so you’re wealthy and just choose to live like this. So I assume you’ve the same views about folks who privately educate their kids, drive expensive cars and live in houses and have gardens, and who wear more expensive clothes etc?

we are all different and live our lives to suit us and as best as we can. If frugality is your thing fair play

I think it totally depends on your earnings and your expectations and what you want. We haven’t been on holiday with DS 20 months yet. The last couple holiday we went on pre pandemic was in the Caribbean and set us back £9000 but that was 5 star with butler service, upgraded flights etc. We used to do that once a year!
Now, just due to full time child care costs and another DC on the way in a few weeks, I wouldn’t want to spend that much on a holiday! Plus, I just wouldn’t want that type of holiday with children as I don’t think it would be that fun and I would want to send them to kids clubs yet! I think our first holiday will be somewhere in Uk after baby is born and I would envisage spending more than around £1500 for a few days away including a decent hotel ans some activities for toddler and some nice meals.
We’ll probably do a European holiday in a couple of years and certainly wouldn’t do all inclusive but I’d still expect it to cost around £5000 for us as we’d want either a decent hotel or a gîte/villa and would eat in local restaurants/cafés etc, again with activities factored in for the kids.