To be shocked at the cost of holidays?

[Fourpawsblack]

We haven’t been able to go away for years (pre DC!) due to finances. A falling down house, part time work due to childcare and the cost of living has made for a rough time.

Just started to look at a week away for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 DC under 6) in Spain for August 2026…£4k was the cheapest I found and that was not a great hotel. It was more like £6k for somewhere with half decent reviews. AIBU to think this is crazy? Is this just what I am looking at?
It would mean saving at least £400 a month for a year to be able to do it which would be very rough.

How are almost all of the kids in my DC classes on holiday every year. Maybe I’m missing a trick. I feel sad for my DC that they should be able to experience going on holiday and can’t. I know it’s a first world problem.

Before anyone brings it up, there’s 0 way we can go at a time not in the school holidays so we are stuck with over inflated pricing. The joys of teaching.

Because they are going to an apartment not a hotel, or camping, or going to a home owned by a family member or many other reasons.

As always with these threads - it could also be that they just have more money than you. Or are spending on different things.

It's just what it is. My DC are teens and never have been on a proper holiday due to cost. I am more astonished by all the families who can afford it esp in the COL crisis.

Sadly I think that is what you are looking at in terms of price :-( I agree though it’s a real shock when you have not been away for a few years. I would say the prices have basically doubled.
I also can’t understand how everyone is affording it. I assume they just all earn more than us so have money to spare!

October half term can be cheaper? My teacher friend and her 3 kids go then instead.

As an aside have you looked at Euro camp? Or a UK break? Cutting out the flights helps you to save massively. Can still feel like a real break, and can still involve beach etc if you go in the summer

In 20 years we took our DC on holiday abroad twice - both times we got free accommodation from acquaintances. I think lots of families don't go on holiday abroad.

Now they're older they can go abroad without us, they've had a happy childhood. I can't get on board with the idea they've been disadvantaged.

When my dcs were that age we did a lot of self catering which I preferred as we had more space. We went to the Netherlands a few times as school started back earlier and prices were decent. Weather was not super sunny, but we had a good time with lots of interesting day trips.

Use Skyscanner and search for everywhere on chosen dates and I check multiple dates.
search from multiple departure airports.
Go at the very start or very end of holidays.
Use Airbnb/VRBO/Booking.com etc and we tend to do apartment rather than hotel
Go at Easter or half terms rather than summer

Last Summer we got flights to Southern France for £20 each flying from Bournemouth as our county school holiday started 2 days before theirs. Had never heard of the location but did some research and found loads of lovely things!

We also do ferries instead of planes some years.

good luck! I am keen to learn other tips.

Have you tried looking at somewhere outside of the resorts? I find if you're prepared to self cater and drive while abroad, you can get go away for much less. We were recently looking at cottages in the Ardennes and they were a lot cheaper than I expected. The ferry can be a cheaper way to get to mainland Europe.

Could you set a budget and then ask in the travel section for help with an itinerary?

What about Eurocamp type holidays in France?

We used this company for the netherlands
https://www.roompot.nl/
and also centre park type places in Germany were cheaper than the uk.

Or they don't have three kids? We have one, and go away every summer and usually something in the other school holidays too

Agree going in Spring or Oct HT cheaper. Or an apartment rather than hotel.

That is what it costs though. People prioritise different things. I drive a twelve year old small car, and my house hasn’t been decorated or had any real upkeep for seven years. We never have takeaways and I don’t drink alcohol.

I spend about £10k on holidays each year.

That’s what I mean! They are affording it as they post it on social media but how.

My eldest DC definatley feels hard done by about it. He’s always complaing that X or Y has been on a plane again. I’ve gone through why a million times but he doesn’t grasp it.

October is a good shout, I’ll have a look for that.

Holiday prices have gone up massively since Covid.

I went to Greece in 2019 and really liked the place so looked at booking to go back. The price has more than doubled in 6 years! And I went in the school holidays back then, now I’m looking at mid June - I date not even look
at what it would cost in August.

Eurocamp or Pierre et vacances are more affordable, you can also sometimes get a better deal by booking flights and accommodation separately finally we always drove, west coast of France isn’t so far, good holiday parks, for Spain there’s the long ferry to Santander though I drive through France usually and I also did northern Italy by car

We didn’t aim to have so many. Wanted two and got 3 😄

Most of the families I know have 2-3 though.

Another fan of Eurocamp here, lots of fun and won’t break the bank.

Its always expensive to go away in the school holidays. I say this as someone who was a single parent with 3 children in 2004. We had to settle for UK self catering holidays for the best part of 10/15 years - going abroad was not an option and I was a high earner at the time.

Holidays are expensive but we prioritise them, I’m also pretty good at getting a good deal but this year they’re pretty pricey.

As someone suggested Key camps is great with a ferry across the channel.
Centre Parcs in Holland is also way cheaper than here so that’s also worth looking at.

Are you looking at tui and jet2? If so then sack them off theyre far too pricy. I have never spent that much on a holiday.

this year, 4 adults in two rooms all inclusive in Crete for the first week of September £2500.

when the DC were a lot younger we did Corsica for under £1000 including car hire. If you’re not massively fussy about hotel rooms and happy to put up with clean and functional but not fancy then you can definitely have a lovely holiday for a lot less.

I’m surprised at your findings, I just did a quick search and found lots of nice one week holidays in the six week school holidays with breakfast and dinner for around 2k for one week for a family of 5.

We’ve looked at this but we are very north so it would take us around 7-8 hours to get to the ferry 😨 don’t think I could face it!

We also fancied the Isle of Wight but same issue.

First mistake is august. We never go abroad then. Far too expensive. Go in whit or Easter or October holidays. Much cheaper.
Book separates rather than a package and utilise inset days where possible or come back or leave a day or 2 before the holidays start/end.
See if your holiday dates differ from other regions. Our Easter dates are a week earlier than most other areas this year and our October dates were a week behind most of the country last year. Makes holidays cheaper that way. There are plenty of deals to be had.
If it HAS to be august then look at eurocamp or similar