To think holidaying the UK will cost as much?

[hollyhollyday]

We are pricing up whether we can comfortably afford to go abroad this year. DH suggested instead that we go to the lakes or Cornwall for 4/5 nights. AIBU to think that by the time we’ve spent money in the UK on days out, restaurants / breakfasts, accommodation and fuel it will be a similar price to having gone abroad?

It depends what you do when you’re away, it’s not always comparing like with like. Whenever I’ve tried to find a cheap holiday abroad they’ve always been 5am flights from a non-local airport, self catering or repetitive buffet with suspect reviews. And it’s all of us in one room. And that’s without activities, for most sightseeing I’ve found that the UK has more free to enter places. We tend to have one uk and one non-uk holiday. In the UK we would have a 2 bed property in a good location with a garden all to ourselves. When we go abroad it’s a much smaller facility with a massive pool but can feel crowded with all the people piled in, and all the sunbeds being reserved. With the UK supermarket delivery you can get a load of snacks, cheese and ice cream and store them in the big fridge so that can work out cheaper. I like both but they are different things.

Not all hotel offer Buffet style. You CAN ORDER of a menu and if not you can go out of the hotel and to a different restaurant for your food. You can book a hotel just room only. The Oxford dictionary definition of self catering is "the action of going on a holiday or staying in accommodation with the equipment that is necessary to cook your own meals" I don't want to see a kitchen while i am holidays - i don't want to go to a supermarket to buy breakfast and prepare at where i am staying. There are hotels in the areas that you step outside the door you have the choice of 20 local restaurants or bars to go to. No tesco in spain or France ? they have other big supermarkets and i have just listened to my college yesterday who is driving to France at the weekend talk about stopping at the big supermarket on the outskirts of the town so she can do her shop before they arrive at their Self Catering apartment. I have stayed at hotels that don't even have a restaurant, they had a deal with the café next door if you wanted to go there or other hotels have uber eats drop off points where you could order takeaways.

I've a week booked in a caravan with haven for £254 think it's coz it's out of term time for England while we live in Scotland. It's the days out that's going to cost us. We eat at the van for dinner and take bag lunches with us.

The accommodation in France for example it’s so much nicer and so much cheaper than Cornwall, and the whole experience and the weather all so much better. I refused to holiday in the UK for exactly this reason. Weekends only.

Very much depends on the party, two adults with little need for paid entertainment. Maybe…. 2 adults 3+ kids needing entertainment and ice cream and snacks every 2 minutes all inclusive cheap end might be cheaper

Lake District is a cheap holiday for us as we self cater, take sandwiches out and mostly do walking etc which is free, not paid for activities or advertised “days out”. We do stay in a cottage which is the expensive bit but it’s half a tank of petrol to get there and half to get back which is a lot less than flights for 4 in the school holidays. We’ll probably have a couple of pub lunches out. But a lot less than going abroad in school holidays.

For a fully catered holiday, factoring in eating out the whole time, the UK gets a lot more expensive than self catering - not sure how much it’s offset by the travel costs though as we always self cater in uk.

We thought we'd try Cornwall once, when dc were little, so about 12 years ago.
Stayed in a caravan park, but a cheaper caravan from caravans4u or something.
It was August, but we had the full range of weather, so every trip to the windy beach and cold sea meant raincoats, costumes, towels.
We live at the other end of the country, so the trip home, + some traffic, took 9 hours.

Based on cost + travel time+ weather, we decided it would be back to going abroad. If I'm travelling 9+ hours, I at least want to end up somewhere hot.

Four nights in a "log cabin" on a farm in Cornwall is £400 a night.!

A week in a five star hotel in Budapest, with champagne breakfast, spa, jacuzzi and pool is £1400 including flights.

Cornwall would cost you £2800.

Yeah, we are being ripped off.

I don’t want to see a kitchen 🤣 pmsl. Doubt any of that is relevant to the OP

Indeed! For some years we've rented a cottage in Scotland - because the summer holiday dates are different to England, cottages are much cheaper if you book when the children are back in school.

No but relavant to self catering !!!

It would depend where abroad but lots of places are guaranteed better weather than the UK. The canaries for example

We were looking at Newquay for next week. £1000 for 3 nights!

Bizarre to post this and not clarify your budget and/or the foreign alternative

Do you go to beachy places in France? I’m looking for some inspiration.

last year we paid £3800 for a week in May half term abroad but that’s all inclusive and in a nice resort.

We spent
money buying clothes for hotter weather
travel sized toiletries
money on amusements, inflatables, a day trip
and not forgetting Ubers there and back and money at the airport. Our return flight was delayed and the snacks I thought would be enough quickly went so we spent a fortune at the airport. Expensive!

Only if actually seeing a (gasp) kitchen is enough to ruin your holiday

so what if it can ? everybody has different ideas of holidays mine is I don't want to see a kitchen where I am staying in my hols. sorry if that seems an alien concept to you !

Some of us like to bake in our self catering holiday kitchens! The horror!

If you enjoy doing that on your holiday thats fine - i wouldnt
As said People LKE DIFFERNT TYPE OF HOLIDAYS !

Well, a total derail is what has happened. But I was simply responding to the ridiculous assumption that setting eyes on a couple of utensils and a toaster means someone definitely cooks on holiday.

Anyway, none of it is relevant to the OP but they don’t seem to want to give a budget or an idea of what they like to do on holiday so 🤷🏽‍♀️

We all need to be responsible about flying if you’re planning to get a train from the UK to Europe , really easy and gives kids an idea of the journey etc , cool if not think about what your children inheriting,
don’t fly unless you have to