to ask how much you spend on a summer holiday abroad?

[chickpea1982]

We haven't had a proper summer holiday abroad for a few years, before our third child (now 2) came along. I've just been looking into it and am shocked by the cost! It looks like it would cost at least £4,500 for a holiday in an all inclusive resort in Europe, including flights - and that's the lower end! Granted I'm looking for somewhere with two bedrooms, rather than just one room for the 5 of us, but still. Is this normal? Does everyone just pay this as a matter of course? I'd be interested to hear what people usually budget for a summer holiday with kids so I can reassure myself I'm not just throwing money away.

Is that for one week? That's £900pp, for flights, accommodation and all food and drink. I can't imagine how you'd think you could get a holiday for less than that.

We don't have children and generally spend at least 1.5k pp per week for a European holiday. Anything less, it's nicer being at home.

We have 3 kids, it will cost more to have to have more bedrooms I'm afraid!

Having said that, I can't bloody stand a "holiday" where I am sharing a room with my kids so we generally don't go for those all inclusive type of holiday anymore, especially now 2 are teenagers.

We have done Italy at Eurocamp for around 3k with flights and last year started to try out French Centre Parcs and drove to them - going again this year, is under 2k for the house and the travel will be via channel tunnel so only a few hundred pounds. You have to be a bit more creative about how you put it all together if you want to save some money.

Yes for 7 nights. I suppose I am being a bit naive!

Yes I feel the same! I'm looking at Eurocamp now actually - it's a bit cheaper, and I'm not really all that fussed about all inclusive anyway.

3 kids 2 adults. 2 rooms in a hotel - 5.3k last October.
I budget about £1k a head. But that was AI last minute and I was flexible about where we flew m.

Yes that's normal. We spend around 5k for our family of 4.

I think for a family of 5 thats really good make sure you check TripAdvisor before booking anything

For an all inclusive week on 3/4 star accommodation in school hols for me and my son its about £2,300
Expensive.

You ask; Does everyone else just pay this as a matter of course?

well, no. It is a fairly recent idea to think this is a normal basic life thing to expect

we holidayed a bit more before we had kids, once we had kids and were on less money (1,5 job between us as we did all child care etc ourselves) we did very different holidays, mostly UK holidays or visiting family/friends or a house swap with friends

We did a villa in the sun holiday twice and loved it, but it was not our every year “normal”

i don’t know if other people maybe just have more money than us though 🤷‍♀️

Yep. We spent £3500 for Spain in 2024 and £4000 for Greece last year. Family of 4. Spain was all inclusive, accommodation of 2 rooms. Greece was self catering villa, 3 rooms.

Is everyone having these holidays? Of course not. It’s eye-wateringly expensive for the average family.

Book the time of work and book last minute.
I’ve done this a few times and have got , all inclusive, 4 star in Greece for £600pp.

Why summer op? Always most expensive time

I find it cheaper may half term or Easter tbh

we away at Christmas sometimes (Thailand next year) it’s cheap once you get there but flights are mega 😬

weather decent here in summer so we tend to go camping either in uk or France - much more affordable - we have an amazing tent and great gear

kids love it.

i wouldn’t waste my money on an all inclusive in Europe I hate those holidays and being stuck in the resort.

what sort of holidays do you usually like

That's amazing! I'm not sure I have the stomach for it though. :)

It's just the 2 of us and I would say 6k easy, though we have had much more expensive ones too, 6k would be on the lower end.

£128 each a day sounds a decent price for travel, accommodation, entertainment, food and drink.

We paid £12k for ours last summer. 2 adults, 2 teens, 2 bedrooms and a private pool at a 5 star AI in Greece for 2 weeks. It’s a huge amount of money (obviously), but it’s our only holiday of the year and we all look forward to it. I’ve not started looking for this summer, I usually wait until I get my annual bonus which determines the budget. Holidays have become ridiculously expensive. I think we might look at villas for this year, but we do like the AI facilities and I think we’d miss them. I don’t especially want to be dealing with shopping and making food if I can avoid it.

For 5 folk that’s cheap. When in summer are you looking at as I’m more than that for 1 child in June - before schools break up.

At least £1k per person, probably more like 1.5, and we never do AI. B&B, then eat out. I can’t cope with buffets for a whole week. It’s a lot of money.

Wow where’s that for as that is a great deal!!

We’re going in August 4 star all inclusive was £6k for 2 adults and 3 kids. However if you can go out of school holidays it’s much cheaper. We’ve got a week in Europe in May for half the price in a 5 star

Think it depends on what you want from the holiday. We won’t go less than 4 star and I think last year for 8-9 nights (can’t remember now) in June half term it was around 6k. All inclusive because the not cooking and thinking/planning/tidying food is what makes it a holiday for me. Also not needing to leave the resort much - so having access to pools and beaches.

it has to be worth it. We don’t go every year because of the cost - so I’d rather go less often but spend more.

others prefer more holidays but cheaper.

what’s the most important for you? Food? Sun? Luxury/cleanliness? Kids stuff? Location to outside things to do…

With a bit of research, you could possibly do a 2 bed private rental apartment or even a villa and flights for this. However this will involve a supermarket shop and cooking which not everyone wants to do on holiday.

We love Eurocamp for this reason. We get a 3 bed caravan so each DC can have their own room (one has ASD and really needs his own space). You could easily get a week on a nice site with good pools for around half of what you’ve just found (potentially longer, depending on the site and what kind of caravan you want).

I think most people have more money than us where we live, as we just could not afford £4k a year for a week’s holiday.

Personally, I think May half term is more expensive, or at least as expensive, if flights are a factor and you’re sticking with school term dates, as all schools get the same week, whereas February and October half terms can be more variable. I know a lot of people take their DCs out a few days before to get better prices, which I completely understand.

Last year we spent just over £7k on two weeks in the dordogne for six of us. Two adults, two teens and two under 5’s. That was flights, basic hire car, gite with pool and spending money. We bbq’d a few times and did lots of sightseeing and did usually eat out once a day. Was absolutely fantastic but this year we’re looking at a small Greek resort with a pool and tavernas to walk to. Teens aren’t coming with us as we’re taking them on a European city break instead. So our budget this year is more like £5k in total but that should be doable for two weeks in August. AI is not for us.