Pulling my hair out here!

[PercyPigPie]

It's been so long since I have had to book a decent holiday. While the children have been little we have been sticking to the UK, but this year want to go to France/Spain (maybe Corsica) or Sardinia. We'd rather fly and would like to keep it under £2K including spending money. Is that going to be impossible? The only things I have found so far have been in massive hotels in Spain which look pretty horrible.

I don't even know how start to book something independently without a travel agent (which I fear may be our only options). Does anyone have any tips?

Many thanks.

if you are looking to travel in school hols i would give up now. flights alone for 4 of you to travel to most places will be around 800-1300 in school hols. france in a mobile home (admittedly a big one with a dishwasher and expensive crossing) was around the 2k mark from what i remember a few years ago - or it might even have been 3????.

i would decide which airport you want to travel from and go online and get some idea of flights and look at owners direct and have a look at the property. it can vary quite surprisingly amongst different islands in a country.

good luck. i guess you could try a last minute one thats been reduced?

spain (espec mainland) seems to be cheaper than france, but i get the impression that corsica/sardinia are expensive - maybe from TV programmes.

Thanks Dreaming . Thought I was being a bit ambitious.

camping first week in sept i think is quite cheap in france? one of the pre constructed tents? sometimes you can use tesco clubcard points for the tunnel. i think you are going to have to be flexible and imaginative.

Thanks again.

Does it have to be France or Spain?

I ask because Greece and the Greek Islands are much cheaper once you are there.

Afitos in Halkidiki is lovely. Traditional greek village with a preservation order on it (so no high rises, in fact nothing over 3 stories max). Last year, we got flights with BA to Thessaloniki and stayed B&B in a hotel for £1700 total, for the first two weeks of August. Obviously, we had spending money on top of that.

I would recommend looking at BA & Monarch, as well as Easyjet (who aren't always the cheapest). Try Skyscanner or Kayak flight search engines.

For accommodation: once you have decided on a destination just google accommodation in that town. Often the tourist areas have their own sites with links to accommodation. It has always been the cheapest way to put our holidays together.

If you only want a week, then Ryanair flights to Alghero, Sardinia are about £750 for 4 in August. You could rent an apartement close to the beach for between £500 and £800 per week.

Alternatively - flights to Seville come in at about £600 and Holiday rentals have some seaside apartments on the Costa de la Luz for under £500 a week.

Thanks Tulpe and Portofino - will look into those.