booking holiday last minute? How cheap does it get?

[Piddypigeon]

I haven't been on holiday with the DC but I promised to take them somewhere this year. They are absolutely desperate to go somewhere in the sun.

I have a teeny tiny budget only (max 1.5k for the three of us, DC are teenagers if that makes a price difference) and couldn't find anything now for the Summer.

Is booking last minute an option to get something really cheap in the school hols? I am thinking of booking a week of annual leave and then try to find something at short notice for very little money?

Both have disabilities, and camping is out of question. We need a hotel.

Is it just yourself and 2 teens? Look on TUI or similar for childfree. I took my teens on two holidays in the past couple of years using the tui childre free, and they also offer discount as a loan adult traveller on top. Holidays have become much more expensive recently, but there are some deals out these still.

I went to all inclusive in Spain, July for 6 people, 10 days, 2800. It's doable.

@BeansGreens july isn't school holidays

If you went to Sunny Beach in Bulgaria and stayed AirBnB you could defo do it.

Lots of options for Turkey on Love Holidays well within your budget in August. They will typically be self catering though.

That's ok. We would need in the UK too so fine with that as long as it covers plane and hotel :)

I’m fairly sure this isn’t a thing anymore, sadly, so if you’re going to try, I’d try and do it in a way that doesn’t cause stress to the children if it doesn’t happen…

The link I posted has the same hotel. All inclusive, a week. August. £550pp

@Piddypigeon remember it's cheaper to feed yourself at home with a full kitchen and all store cupboard essentials. When away that will probably mean eating out a lot or eating a restricted diet.

You can definitely get a self catering package to Tunisia/Bulgaria/spain on that budget.

And my kids break up July 11th in 2025.

That won't be including baggage though so will be prob be more

Last year we got a good prices with last minute. com
this year we used travel republic.
£1800 Spain late August (still deffo in school holidays) an hour from Barcelona.
the money includes 2 rooms - half board. You may only need one room. The price also includes airport transfer. We could have saved around 120 by getting public transport to transfer.

With these online deals you can put the price up a lot or down a bit by changing options. For example we only have 10kg luggage which suits us.
We may or may not book specific seats on the plane if we do that will be £££ more. For the deal we chose, half board wasn’t much more than breakfast. Our flight times are nice but probably could have got it down a bit with very late or early flights. We made this mistake once and in effect lost 2 nights of a 10 day holidays. Arrived at 3 am and had to leave at 3 am so not much of a bargain only getting 8 nights sleep.

In the area we go to kettles aren’t standard in hotel rooms (bizarrely there we’re moaning reviews about this!) so take your own if this is vital for you!

What age are the kids? Would you be happy all sharing one room?

Sorry meant to add when I refer to school holidays my dc is off from late July to around 3rd September. Other areas are different.

For 6 of us we booked 2 bags and the kids just used their hand luggage.

Tshirts, shorts, swimming stuff. You Dobt need a lot for just a week.

Especially if you're just eating inside the hotel.

@BeansGreens
thats near where we have been and we liked it. Good train network to Barcelona and other beaches etc

14/16. One has very complex needs and needs to stay with me in any case. The other has milder SN and wouldn't be able to cope alone either. So sharing is a must actually!

Adding on a couple of bags isn't going to be as expensive as buying food for a week.

What about booking flights ad accommodation seperately? I've been looking and it's soooo much cheaper even with car hire, and can get a villa or apartment so not paying single room supp
Fingers crossed for your hols!

One room will be even better price wise of course so this is good news.
We found on the option we chose that half board was cheaper than trying to sort dinner each night.

In which case I would consider upping your budget to look at all Inc or full board.
In my experience cheaper than self catering/eating out all the time.

Tunisia is probably cheapest but I have never been and it will be very hot in August.

You could book flights and hotel separately and independently.
We stayed at a basic AI hotel in majorca. It was a package and we booked fairly late (6-8weeks) but I know you can book direct and get better deals (club mac) so then you could book the cheap flight combination you can and then find a hotel.

Fair enough.I don't pack light 😂

Try putting one of your kids as an adult on the search - it's sometimes cheaper

I just looked on Jet2 and there's quite a few in your budget. Self catering, bed and breakfast, wven some half board ones in Sunny Beach / Turkey

It's definitely doable. We are same location and booked last Friday, fly this Sat. Look at Jet2, I found they had the cheapest options as long as you could be a bit flexible on flight times. Just found this one on a very quick search so you could even book something sooner if you get your leave confirmed.

Portugal? I’m not sure what airport but this is super cheap! https://www.onthebeach.co.uk/holiday/15996/b8e0f1cd688932f32fb5c2c3515e8cbe?departureDate=2025-07-31&childAges%5B0%5D=7&childAges%5B1%5D=10&bags=0&adults=1&children=2&infants=0&nights=7&rooms=1&location_ids=166&hotelId=276160&roomName=One%20Bedroom%20Apartment%204&boardCode=SC&search_id=1268848081&departureAirports=LGW%2CLHR%2CLTN%2CSEN%2CSTN&priceFormat=PER_PERSON_PRICE