How the fuck can people afford to go on holiday?

[Figuringitout]

I’m wondering if I am just super naive about how much everything costs. I earn an okish amount, have a small mortgage and don’t feel like we live extravagantly. I have 3 kids who I’d like to take on holiday. My husband earns seasonally (and is trying to increase that) but at the moment his main contribution to our budget is in looking after kids so we don’t have to pay for childcare.
Back to holidays, I cannot find anything somewhere hot for less that £4k and even France we’re talking about £2.5k.
So, do people have holiday funds that they pay into each month? Please tell me how everyone seems to be affording to go abroad once a year.

I've paid just under £2500 for 6 adult airfares and 4 hotel rooms b&b for 5 nights in late august. Ok not a traditional holiday destination as that's not the primary reason for going but shows you that if you want to go overseas by plane it is possible .

I highly recommend driving to Germany and booking a campsite either bringing your own tent or renting a lodge, I did this a lot when my dc were school age

We are going to Cornwall in a couple of weeks. It's expensive yes but still cheaper than abroad.

I'm taking my 2 DC to Frankfurt for 6 nights for £500. We did Bournemouth for a week last year which was about £800.

Holiday in the UK, then you dont have the cost of flights

Bring down your expectations of what you want, a camping holiday in the UK will be just as much fun and a good experience for you all as a family but wont cost into the thousands

Or bog standard airbnb abroad with cheap flights (thats what we do)

Or holiday cottage or holiday caravan in the UK

Cheaper (not cheap) holidays are there to be found, for those that can be flexible and creative about where they go

I dont have sympathy with people moaning they cant afford France this, Spain that, Italy this, when there are cheaper options if you want them.

@squashedsandwich or they are more creative and canny about what about holiday means and what to do and where to go.

We cannot afford long haul at all but we've been too and stayed in pretty nice places over the years all Europe based.

With 3 children, 1 ‘ok-ish’ wage and sporadic income for your partner, I can see why you’re struggling to afford to go abroad.

I don’t know many people who would be able to afford it in those circumstances. Have you explored what your income/expenditure would be like if your partner took a full time job and you used wraparound care etc instead?

UK hols are often as expensive. Holiday cottages are more than 1k a week in summer

We just didn't go abroad, did self catering holidays around the UK and always enjoyed them. Not fussed about it being hot, we liked visiting castles, National Trust places (they usually had kids' holiday activities) and museums and playing on the beach/in the sea or we splashed out on an activity centre.

We don’t go abroad over the summer holidays, as it’s always been more expensive. We tend to go May or October half term, both if we are feeling flush (so not recently!). May half term, 3 of us all inclusive in a nice hotel in Rhodes £2,300. We do UK based trips in the summer hols, currently in a lovely hotel down south that DH found during some January sale event doing day trips to explore.

Also try May half term. Tends to be a bit cheaper than summer and the temperature is more bearable but still pleasant (e.g. Greece). We usually go abroad then and have a much cheaper UK holiday in the summer.

Evening jobs soon pay for a holiday. Could your husband work nights on his quiet time

Shop around, book in advance to pay up. Also checking nearby areas that may have differing peak seasons eg I'm in Scotland but we regularly fly from Manchester, Liverpool or Newcastle as our school holidays are different times to English hols

Are you staying somewhere quite luxury?

There are deals to be had, I like lots of travel agents on Facebook who post deals. We did book it 2 years in advance but just came back from a 14 night Mediterranean cruise that cost just over £3.5k for my family of 5 including all food. We put £300 into a regular saver each month.

We mostly use DHs annual bonus for family holidays. Then we save separately for holidays we take with our friends.

We never use credit for holidays. Normally book for the next years accommodation using Booking.com where it's pay at the hotel/accommodation.

@soupfiend I agree..

People seemed programed into buying package deals with tui. It's like thinking all campsites are euro camps when actually the company euro camp rents a teeny bit of land and usually euro camp are really crammed in and not that great etc.

I was looking at the Canary Islands for October but it still seems really expensive! £3,500 for 4 for a week AI

Or they just take cheaper holidays. Our holiday is £500 this year (flights, transfers and hotel), last year it was £800 (train and hotel.) I don't earn a lot, never get into debt for holidays and have 2 DC. I don't go abroad for holidays every year although our abroad holiday is cheaper than last year's UK holiday.

We stay in gites in France and drive there. Had some great holidays, and we save money each month.

We are a family of 4, 2 adults 2 kids. We went to Marmaris last year and we are going to Alcudia this year. The Turkey trip was booked through loveholidays a year in advance and they allow you to pay monthly interest free. This year we have booked through sunshine holidays and have done the same. When we get back we are going to book Greece in exactly the same way for 2026. They are so reasonable in price, much more so than TUI, First Choice etc. Also, they take the money automatically from your account like a direct debit so you can't fall behind or forget.

We do a lovely all inclusive 2 week holiday every other year which costs about £7k. Then we've got two years to save for the next one. The year we don't go away we focus more on day trips away to beaches or theme parks.

We can't afford to go away every year but do like luxury hot destinations, so that's how we compromise.

I agree with a previous poster. Holidays are a priority for some families including ours. We value our holidays hugely and so sacrifice other things in order to ensure we get a very good one every year.

Of course some families will not have the luxury of choosing what to prioritise but for most families we know (middle class suburb just outside London) some families choose camping in France but spend their money on branded clothing, restaurants and nicer cars.

We choose holidays.

It's what I prioritise my earnings for. (After the obvious stuff mortgage, bills, savings etc)

Holidays are my #1 favourite thing. I will therefore gladly go without other things that some won't to fund them.

Two decent salaries, and an annual bonus that we mostly use for holidays. Also book a year in advance so have ages to pay it off.

@Figuringitout

In my experience (I love researching and booking holidays and also doing it for friends and family!) most people will spend a couple of hours browsing and throw their hands in the air and say omg holidays are too expensive it's not possible! If you devote some time to it then you will easily find a week away for £3k somewhere hot including food and drinks.