What is your summer holiday budget versus household income?

[GreatWhiteWail]

DH and I are not aligned on what our holiday budget should be. Because of covid and having young children we haven't previously gone on a (scottish-) school-holiday-time family holiday to a resort. When it was just DH and I we did more city-break type holidays (and even though we went to nice hotels, it didn't cost that much). We have never done a 'week in the sun with a beach/pool' type holidays so have no frame of reference. I'm talking about just a European resort for 1 week plus flights for 4.

I know there will be outliers as some people have no mortgage or childcare costs etc and will spend a lot more than is typical. but I'd be interested to know what's normal for different family incomes.

Is £5k for a holiday for 2 adults and 2 children a 'reasonable' budget? We each earn approx £60k. DH says people earning this would spend much more than that. I am uncomfortable with £5k, as although we can afford it, it seems so much money to just spend (rather than save or spend on the house etc).

Apologies for the nosiness, I don't want to ask friends as although I really want to know if this is normal, it would be rude to ask what they earn!

our income is similar to yours @GreatWhiteWail and we pay around £5-£6 k on our summer holiday with 2 teen DC

Everyone cuts to their own cloth and has different priorities.

It’s likely (as always on Mumsnet) higher income folk would respond I would think.

Nothing wrong with a bit of camping or what have you, equally as enjoyable and memorable for kids.

About £4-5k a year for all holidays on a £90k household income. Sometimes a little more if we've managed to save elsewhere.
I like to split this between at least 2 breaks a year.

I would say though, for anything extra we earned above what we do now (any payrises etc) I'd expect 50% of that to go into our holiday budget. We'd spend more on holidays if we could, but £4-5k is generally all we have left after all other expenses and savings.

Family of 4, joint income is £125k, mortgage £1,400 and younger DC is still in paid childcare so that's another big regular cost.

We did a week self catering in Cornwall at Easter. Accommodation was £1,500 and with food and days out it probably came to about £2,000. We were lucky with the weather so most days just went to the beach rather than paying for activities. We did go to the Eden project, and paid for that partly with clubcard points.

We are going to the Netherlands for a week's Eurocamp holiday in August, and have paid £1,900 for accommodation and £600 for the ferry.

I'm retired, no mortgage, no kids. For a week's holiday I would expect to spend £1,200 including spending money but excluding travel insurance, which I tend to buy annually.

That's a nice low-cost hotel abroad, eating out at least once a day, travel there and back.

Income aside, if you can afford it with savings then go for it but what I have experienced is this:

1 week summer holiday for 4 (two teens) - all inclusive even with Easyjet was £3,500 and then topped up with transport to the airport this end and days out there - quite boring by a pool/beach all day long and no activities (sailing, paddleboarding for example).

DIY holiday 1 week in Europe, flights £1,200; accomodation £800, travel to and from the airport at both ends budget £4-500 (if early morning flight - that changes after you book! - taxi only)
then spending money there - eat in/picnics breakfast and most lunches and meals out in the evenings comes to quite a lot add on top of that acitivities same as above.
I would think max budget £5K was very reasonable. We looked at holidaying in the UK but it's prohibitively expensive and cannot rely on the weather!

We probably spend £20-25k annually on holidays and mini breaks, depending on the year.

That’s usually one long hot holiday at Easter or December (using points for flights and staying in lovely hotels), one summer European Ryanair type holiday (a mix of nice hotels and staying with friends) and then one skiing at half term, plus a few weekends away.

Thats about 5% of our income.

I think £5k is a good budget for a holiday in Scottish school holidays. I took 3 of us to Greece last year right at the start of the holidays for a week, £2.5k bed and breakfast, with another £1.5k for meals, treats and activities which included a days scuba diving. I could have got a decent AI for around £3k, but my kids don’t cope well with AI.

If you go at the end of June it’s slightly cheaper because English schools haven’t broken up yet. Sometimes it’s cheaper to fly from one of the northern English airports too.

We have a joint income around £90k and spend about £15k a year on holidays but our mortgage is only £500 a month and no childcare costs (we do have a 7 year old though). Holidays are very important to me so aim to have at least 4 a year (typically one nice one i.e. Florida / Thailand etc) and some UK hols or short week in Europe. I think family of 4 could do it for £5k but wouldn't necessarily be luxury (which wouldn't bother me but I woukd avoid all inclusive as for cheaper places it's the food that let's them down).

Hi op. Our income is £105k, but no mortgage, so similar to yours.

We spend about £5-7k on a week AI or cruise in Europe once every 2 years (in hol time) plus 1-2 UK cottage hols and city breaks per annum (again, in hol time) now the kids are late primary. These are not luxury places. Prices have definitely spiralled in recent years.

Threads that relate to income generally attract responses from the haves rather the have nots.

This is not a criticism but with the median wage being less than 40k then it is unlikely to be representative.

Exactly - nearly everyone on this thread with a 3 figure household income! Could also be absolute BS of course as who would know?!

Meanwhile, back in the real world.....

For people in their 40s the median income is £42,796.
With two people working that’s a household income roughly in line with many on this thread. There have really only been a handful of high outliers.

Household income £120k
Empty-nesters age 60
Total annual holiday budget £15k-ish

Something like this:

February - 9 nights Mexico £6k

June - a week in Greece £5k

September - take 2 adult kids plus their partners to Barcelona for 4 nights - mix of cultural stuff / beach. They’ll pay for their own flights and one meal out per couple. We’ll pay for the accommodation, cultural stuff and all the rest of the food. £4k

Just my personal income is just over £100k. I know my colleagues holiday bigger than me, but we barely do £2k on a big year in all our trips! I knew friends are spending much more than me, but had no idea people were comfortable spending such sums. The idea of £5k on a fortnight trip makes me wince .

Why? You must spend money on something? So it’s just different priorities surely.

Anything more than £500 is a real struggle for us!

Well no, most people are quoting £100/120k which is a considerable difference to £80k.

Income about 30k lone parent 1 teen DC Holiday budget about 3.2 k for three weeks sc somewhere sunny in school holidays which includes spending money .Have booked the cheapest good reviews and location but basic apartment and will get bread and cheese etc for lunches and eat out at night in a combination of cheap local places and nicer sea front restaurants..Did the same last year and had an amazing time with a few days trips included 😀

I agree with you both tbh but really agree with this! If you have the means to have some lovely holidays now while they’re younger then do. FWIW £5k for a week is about our budget if going abroad and we usually do half board as DH doesn’t drink. It does seem astronimical for one week of kids discos 🤣 but it’s great. We also similarly do UK trips that cost considerably less but we’d get a nice cabin or house for us all. Try and meet in the middle with DH somewhere!

Our holiday for next year is going to be about 6k all in, it is a 5* AI for a week but we literally don’t spend a penny while we are there. We’ve probably spent similar amounts in prior years, but that was with a slightly cheaper week abroad and then more UK weekends away.

We earn just over 100k, although probably closer to £110k for this year and next due to bonuses. We don’t have a car payment though, our childcare costs are about £250 a month and mortgage will increase shortly to £1,650 but still easily affordable, so we have a decent amount of disposable income.

Can you travel to an English airport? Go the first week or two of the school holidays.

It is much cheaper for us to fly from Manchester than a Scottish airport.

Bit of a pain but we are not close to an airport anyway so still a faff regardless.

We earn roughly the same, made up differently but the nuance is maybe disposable income may be different. 2 adults 2 kids

for way of contrast ours is probably about £2.5k a month (not including savings)

I guess it depends what you mean. I for instance wouldn’t spend £5k on a week European holiday. But my annual holiday budget is around £6k. But I make that stretch.

this year I’ll be holding back £1k to use toward nexts years holiday, we’re going to Florida.

but when I say I make it stretch, this £5k this year will buy us a long weekend in London, a week 5 AI in turkey (in school hols) and a week in Paris 2 nights at the centre parcs and then 4 nights at one of the 4 hotels in DLP.

next year, I’ll be looking at £7k for 2 weeks in wdw. But may go over budget and get a week in haven (we’ve never been ans I really want to go)

We have teens - they go in one room with their own bathroom and we have another next door. Also means I don’t have to look at the mess in their room 🫣. 2 bed apartments with 2 bathrooms will be limiting. All the rest is also in our criteria.

The wrong side of £1000 for me once I've paid for meals out etc while we are there. Week sharing Airbnb in a European city with friends. Flights on budget airline. Day trips and sensible meals out, with a few nights eating in. So I can see how that'd hit £5k for four pretty easily. I'm often a bit surprised at friends in fancy hotels popping up on social media because it's not how I grew up at all. I still struggle to spend much on a hotel; it seems such poor value for money.