AIBU to ask where the hell can I take seven people on holiday without bankrupting myself?!

[Whysomany]

Not really an AiBU but posting for traffic after weeks of research and coming up blank.

Promised the kids a holiday, specifically abroad, as they've never been. August 2024. Made the mistake of promising before fully researching and quite frankly I feel a bit fucked now.

I think they'd all like to travel by plane having never done so before and probably unlikely to again but blimey, flights for seven people. I severely under estimated. Looking at driving instead. This we can do but DH doesn't want to drive too far because his car is old and crap, basically.

Originally looking at South of France, Italy, Spain, etc. They all seem out now because of flights and hire car costs. And I don't think I could persuade DH to take his car that far. I have since looked at pretty much every destination in Europe...

All I've got at this point is a week in the Netherlands but honestly at this point, that feels a little disappointing after dreaming of a hot destination and somewhere a bit further away to the UK.

Am I doing something wrong or basically I'm right and it's just not doable? We were looking at Eurocamp and the equivalents.

No set budget. Originally looking at 2.5 - 3k plus food, days out, etc. Might be able to go a bit higher.

@Whysomany I’d be tempted to book an overnight ferry to northern Spain. That way you have your car and almost guaranteed hot weather. You’ve got a lot of options in Spain and France from there that would be quick to get to. Lots of bookings aren’t open yet for campsites and private accommodation but the ferry costs will go up massively from where they are now. It’s super expensive already at about £1600 return with cabin/ seats but will save you the car hire costs.
Look on Gites de France for accommodation.

Your best bet will be flying to Italy and getting a transfer to a eurocamp type place with a caravan big enough for all of you. You can do this for under £3k (flights transfers and accommodation but you will need spending money out there, although self catered is within your control. I recommend flying to Venice with easyjet and staying on the Lido di Jesolo which has amazing sites but is also competitively priced

How about October? The prices are a fraction of the price and it’s still warm.

We are just on our way home from France where we have had 10 days in Brittany 2 adults, 5 kids. Booked a beautiful 5 bedroom cottage with pool for £2000 and then used clubcard vouchers towards euro tunnel. We went through air bnb. Also have an older car so spent about £120 on European breakdown just in case. Just a word of warning food is expensive though. Don’t worry, it is doable!

I was looking at abroad a few years back, there's a caravan park just out side Paris. Was thinking about taking the car on the eurostar and exploring from there. If the prices are OK.

I’ve not read through your replies, but on your budget I’d look at possibly villa hire in France. We’ve used Vrbo several times now - just read reviews first. You can drive across with eurotunnel for about £160 return, even in August as we did it last year. Driving in France is lovely compared to the Uk if you pay to use the toll roads, they’re much clearer and have great rest stops.
We drove to the south last year but stopped on the outskirts of Paris for a night on the way to break up the journey - £75 for 4 of us including breakfast on a golf resort!
Have you looked at something like Eurocamp? I think their prices are pretty reasonable and the kids would love it!

something like eurocamp

We went on April to the canaries quite cheaply a few years ago. 6 of us in a villa.

Have a look at Coin Secrets for France. I’m not sure about costs for August but went late June a couple of years ago and reasonable costs for places that sleep 6 upwards. Eurostar to Avignon or Paris depending on location and hire a car when you’re there

Yelloh! Villages in Brittany are great. Well run, good facilities, clean and reasonably priced. Great for all ages with lots of activities and fantastic swimming pools. Cheap(ish) ferry crossings from Plymouth or Poole.

Is 27 August too late to go? We went here (2013 so it might have changed) and it was absolutely lovely - the kids really enjoyed it and there was plenty to do. The weather was mostly good, and it was a long but reasonable drive from Calais - you could go to St Malo which is a longer ferry but much shorter drive.
https://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/france/brittany/domaine-des-ormes-campsite

Have you looked at center parcs in France/Netherlands/Belgium? Much cheaper than here and you can get the train or ferry over.

Hire a minibus, drive to South of France?

You really cut down on costs by avoiding flights for so many people.

Tip - don't go to Languedoc-Roussillon, it's essentially a set of shanty towns on the south coast. The Core d'Azur is lovely though, and very hot. You can get a one night Airbnb on the way down to cut the journey in two. Stay somewhere like Clermont Ferrand which is quite fun in itself.

A road trip is fun in itself.

It's not cheap exactly, but saves on hotel costs and flights, and is very exciting.

Have a look at North Macedonia! It’s got beautiful lakes and it’s up and coming as a tourist destination from the U.K.…you should be able to hire a large apartment fairly cheaply there and flights are reasonable!

I went to the Netherlands to a ‘campsite’ called Camping Geversduin, a few years ago I paid £440 for 8 nights staying in a ‘treehouse’ which slept 6. They had other accommodations for different amounts of people and the flights were only around £80pp. It was really kid friendly, with kids shows every night, the train was close by and cheap. There was a little town with a pub that was cheap, a leisure centre nearby. The house had cooking facilities and there was a ‘supermarket’ nearby too! I went at the beginning of September and the weather was lovely. I plan on going back and taking my child! :)

Marrakech towards end of holidays nothing fancy maybe 5 days. That should be around budget. Try love holidays

Ireland
Isle of wight
Newcastle

Hey if you give me how many adults/kids, dates/months you can go, if you want to be self catering and airports you can fly from I don’t mind having a look for you. I’m quite good at finding cheapest deals x

Are you able to drive there? If so my SIL used to rave about caravanning in France with ger DH and 4 kids.

I think you'll find something in budget.

https://www.canvasholidays.co.uk/camping-in-france/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8symBhAqEiwAaTA__GTLXJHio9P1cV6OPySa3F0Oq9U4UutBQjzq58FBg1tnXCVuAphIrRoCI0cQAvD_BwE

Our week long holiday to Spain this year for 2 adults and 2 kids cost us just over €1000 for flights and accommodation, and accommodation was a friend's apartment that we got at mates rates. We flew Ryanair with family plus. Last year was a package holiday to Bulgaria for €1200. Try booking the accommodation directly and booking your own flights. Take a bus as your transfer from the airport. Sign up to the Ryanair newsletter to get alerted when they have their sales. It will be a hard ask during the summer holidays though. Maybe try end of the school year?

I used to take my lads to Brittany on the ferry to eurocamp Plymouth to Roscoff. You can get last minute deals. You can drive further south. Wasn’t too expensive - holiday clubs for children, disco for teenagers (on some sites) and great food for adults.
My favourite site was Carnac.

Try Cyprus, weather nice from Easter onwards. Try “ Mercury holidays” very reasonable and a great co. Will do flights and hotel. If you go to Paphos only 20mins or so from airport. Large Taxi probably cheaper than holiday transfers.
Could also try Malta, very reasonable.

I live in North Eastern Poland (Mazury lakes). It's not a traditional tourist destination for Brits but it is for Poles, Lithuanians, Germans. It's the lake district of Poland and it's beautiful and it's normally hot (high 20s/low 30s) in the summer. You could definitely get an apartment or house for that much here and food etc is much cheaper than the UK.

Oh yes, the Mazurian lakes are fabulous. Also the Polish coast - Sopot, Hel. You could get cheap flights to Gdańsk and an AirbBnB? (Used to live in Poland in the 80s/90s and go back regularly.)

Have a look at owners direct for villas. The other idea that might be a bit out there is looking at whether you could get some large or private rooms at youth hostels. I’ve not done it for many years but I remember staying in some genuinely nice places in groups as a student (and obviously some dire ones too so you have to be careful!) I bet you could find some hostels with rooms of 8 near some beach locations.