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.

We paid £2300 last year but took our kids out of school for a week, first time we’d ever done it. We didn’t get fined but even if we had we saved around £2k by doing this. Went second week of July.
Last minute bookings to get cheap holidays isn’t really a thing anymore unless I’m looking in the wrong place.

We are a family of three (DS 17 so considered an adult) and we spent about £5k last year. S/C in a beach-side apartment for 10 days then 11 days in a 3 bed detached villa. Flights were about £1k each iirc. Of course our meals and spending money for trips out would add to that. We hire a car and travel around, eat out every day, but if we wanted to keep to a budget we'd do more cooking ourselves.

You can tailor your holiday to suit your needs, everyone's requirements are different. We would never go AI in a huge hotel, it's just not for us but suits other people perfectly.

Prior to DS, we used to go to Greece in the first two weeks of September, it was a lot cheaper to book last minute and go late in the season. Typically spent around £300pp including the flights, it was marvellous. Those were the days!

Holidays with kids in school holidays are at least double if not triple the price pp versus going in a random off peak week.

May half term is often deceptively expensive, as much as july/august because its always the same week everywhere and everything has to be sat - sat or sun-sun.

This is why many people have to accept that their holidays are more low key while they are paying for a family of four or five & school holiday prices - instead of a week AI in greece it might be eurocamps, dutch center parcs.

A huge number of people will book last minute deals to save, or will take kids out in term team, or will spend a massive amount of time researching holidays & hunting for deals, or go every 2-3 years to manage it.

If you are on social media, you will notice the 5 friends who've posted photos of portugal or turkey or cyprus, you won't notice the ones quietly camping in wales, and you just feel like "everyone" is on an 8 grand AI. They really aren't.

I don't think its necessarily about having more money and more about what people priorities spending their money on

For the past 3 years our holidays have cost between 4500 - 6000 for 8 nights AI 5 star in July school hols, 1 child 2 adults. Normally do book a 2 bedroom room. Next years hol has worked out at 5k for 10 nights same basis but they are definitely increasing. We find you get a lot more for your money on Turkey

Quick google to a holiday I’ve been on not to long ago.
Tenerife, £2000 self catering. You don’t have to spend a fortune while you’re out there.

Would it be cheaper to get an apartment so you have the rooms flights separate and food how you choose. Sometimes the all inclusive is too much because they are providing food and drinks, all day long.

5K for 4 in August last year.
Achieved through additional work.
I totally understand why people don't /can't

Yes but having to buy food and drinks throughout the holiday works out more expensive

Maybe shop around do you know anybody who has done this and can recommend somewhere.

Usually I'd budget 1k pp in the school holidays, I usually try and go in a half term instead, especially if there is a teacher day before/after half term.

We've just booked Zante for 3 adults, 3 teens, across 2 rooms. 5* AI for 7.5k, in August. More than I'd usually spend but it's for a wedding so location is limited

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but we’re doing 2 weeks in the Italian Lakes this summer for £900 accommodation and £500 flights, for 4 of us. It’s cheap because we’re camping: we’ve got ultralight tents, mats, sleeping bags, tables and chairs and we can fit it all into 1 suitcase. We’ve got a lakeside pitch on a Eurocamp-style site, with a big water park, restaurants & a supermarket. I’d rather stay in a private villa, but we can’t afford it, and this will
hopefully be better than camping in the uk!

Agree re Turkey, we usually go to Antalya as the resorts are much closer to the airport than some other areas

We are a family of 5 too and in the last couple of years I’ve struggled to find 10 days (school hols) for less than £6.5k last year and £7k this year. Not AI and not particularly luxury either. I too have been really shocked at how much ordinary holidays have just shot up in recent years..

Look into the eurocamp options. Accommodation is a lot cheaper but some of the mobile options are really good. They are also great with young kids. Yes they're not all inclusive but they are great affordable options. France, Spain, Italy, Croatia all have great sites in great locations

6-10k for a week all inclusive in Greece depending on the resort for 4.

I don't book AI hotels for the 4 of us, or any big resorts in August as its hell on earth. I tend to air bnb with pool at that time of year or mix in with booking.com a few nights in a hotel with pool. Flights will be about £1k for the 4 of us to a cheap airport (depending on what's local to you, we've been bilbao / northern spain and Amsterdam / NL last few summers.

I think we spend about £6k including car hire, food and activities. We eat out a lot of get lots of food snacks pool toys etc. We don't skimp. We like theme parks and cultural activities like art galleries, architecture, wineries, allsorts!

I spend about £5k on a may break to sit by a pool for 9 days.

At easter we go for a week air bnb for more culture and fun. Spend about £4.5k

I always think about costs including food. Itsno good saying the holiday is £5k but then spend another £1k on food.

I've booked a 4* AIl Inclusive in Turkey with a private beach and AIl inclusive beach bar. It's a suite with a separate bedroom along with a small kitchen area. It has a daily stocked mini bar, excellent flight times and the hotel has excellent reviews. 10 nights at the beginning of July. Me , DH and adult DD. £3.5K all in which I'm quite happy with.

Totally disagree with this. What a crock!

I follow someone on Instagram (thewhitepinesproject) and she does posts on how to get some decent holidays on a budget.

Adding it up we were about 5k last year for 2 weeks for 5 of us in Italy in the summer. Booked own flights, airbnb with pool, hire car. It did involve cooking but I enjoy it so it isn't a chore. Can't stand all inclusives so it is a trade off. The children are happy to play in the pool most of the time, but it's generally low key. We do a big supermarket shop at Lidl when we get there, stock up on snacks and ice creams. I take a cool bag and make up a picnic when we go to the beach. €2 bottles of wine for nights in to drink on the terrace once they're in bed.

I think cost wise it probably works in the same, I just hate the cabin fever and noise of a hotel so it's a trade off.

It's not cheap regardless of which way you do it, and I did see a big jump in prices when I was booking this year.

Not sure how helpful this is but we had almost 4wks in Vietnam for £5k (flights, 2bedroom accommodation, all food, all activities, internal flights/transfers etc). For 3 of us. Could you go long haul? (Flights cost more but good value food and accommodation when you arrive?)

Much cheaper to go self catering, noting that doesn't mean you eat all your meals in the apartment. Have 2 meals a day at home (incl breakfast which is normally cheap and easy) and go out somewhere nice for dinner or lunch. It's all the facilities that hotels offer that cost a lot.

Also consider if AI is really worth it for you. Yes it's convenient but if it includes alcohol does that represent good value for you? It may well do if you like a drink, but we don't drink much so we don't feel like we get great value out of it. Would be cheaper to buy the odd beer/glass of wine than do AI. Similarly if you have young kids are they really eating that much? The AI hotels charge a lot per child (especially when you compare the AI cost versus non-AI cost) and it's not really worth it with little ones.

You could also look at half board / B&B type places if you want a mix, and/or hotels which offer some facilities but not necessarily the whole AI shebang of waterslides, kids clubs, spa, golf etc etc

Another suggestion is to look at Austria - just booked a lovely AI holiday there for cheaper than a Med holiday. Food looks very high quality and it has a spa, kids club, playground etc. Loads for the kids to do in the general area (kid-friendly trails , playgrounds, cable cars, zip lines etc) and a lot of hotels are very family friendly, we found loads with 2 bedrooms or separate sleeping areas for the kids. I think our total cost is around £6k for 11 nights, 2 adults and 2 kids (of which 8 nights are AI). And we definitely could have found cheaper (but still nice) accommodation.

My children are lucky and get two weeks for October half term and we have been to Thailand the past two years for two weeks for around £3k for two adults and two children staying in a really nice hotel - in one room with a divider (I think 4 or 5 star). It can be a bit rainy but still warm and tropical. We flew indirectly to which makes the flights less and it is very cheap when you get there and the food is amazing!

Yes that’s what it costs (at least), family of 5 here too.
Personally I no longer feel it’s worth it just for a rest in the sun, not cooking for a week, a lot of swimming and beach time and not seeing much of the local area. As nice as a rest is, I’d rather pay similar or a bit more and have an actual adventure and see a bit of the world.
But my DC are older - 13, 11, 6. When they were very young we just wanted a break and some nice memories together, and paid Neilsons prices. It doesn’t seem worth it to me now.

We have Greece booked in July, family of four, 2 weeks, around £12,000.

We are also looking at Thailand in March/ April for two weeks and I’d expect that to be around the same. Flights are around £6,000.