holidaying in the school hols - what does it cost you?

[givemeaclue]

dcs start school in september, until now we've been able to take advantage of cheaper hols during term time.

I would like to know:
-what do you spend on a holiday in school hols and what do you get for that?
-are some hols cheaper than others e.g is half term cheaper than easter/summer?

thanks!

In my experience summer can actually be cheaper if you are self organising - easyjet flights plus villa/hotel. Because half term is so short they really jack up the prices at the beginning and end because everyone wants to fly at the same time.

Half term is cheaper for UK cottages, caravans etc... but the whether is a bit dodgy and you are still left w 6 weeks of summer to fill.

I highly recommend Airbnb for cheap organise it yourself appartment/house lets.

We do it ourselves usually - works out much cheaper than a package we find.

Last year as DC3 was under 2 we did package and for 2wks in corfu (from germany) it was about 2.5k

This year we've book an appartment in the south of france and it's costing us 1200euros. Obviously we need to get there - so may overnight it on the way down but will drive ourselves. This appartment is bigger than the one last year and much better equipped.

I used www.homelidays.co.uk to book direct with the owner.

We also looked at eurocamp type things and that was expensive too - similar to the package deal last year.

Villa in Sardinia and flights and car hire - approx £3k

I would check with your DC's new school before looking at in term and out of term holiday costs. It can be very depressing to see the difference for flights in particular just before/just after a recognised holiday period like Easter and then find that your school makes it a nightmare to take any time out. Personally we were lucky our junior school let us take the odd couple of days out with no fuss.

3 bed chalet on French campsite around £2400 including flexiplus crossing on tunnel. Obviously fuel/tolls/food are extra.

Two weeks Ibiza flights and apartment self catering, 2 adults 2 kids August £2500.

It costs significantly more to holiday in the school holiday times.

We like to go in February half term to get away from the winter here, but when looking for flight prices it is sooo obvious when the schools are out. I have to book well in advance for a filght to get anything near what I am prepared to pay. e.g. in Feb we went to Lanzarote - 3 flights cost £800 - which is not bad, but a darned sight more than if we had wanted to travel a week or so later/earlier. I did take DS out of school for two days prior to the end of term, which kept the cost down - but school doesn't like it at all.

In the summer we have a villa in France booked - it is costing £1300 per week plus of course the driving costs/eurotunnel etc. It will end up costing a good few K.

Some schools don't mind so much if you take the DC out for a few days either side of the holiday - in the very early years - but you should check first.

My DS is 14 - so in a couple of years we will be able to travel whenever we like - looking forward to the week away in Spain/Greece in May or June for £200 each which my parents always seem to find!

Being organised early is the key.

I always book flights and accommodation independently. Book your flights as soon as they come out (usually end of September with Easyjet). Then book your accomodation through www.owersdirect.co.uk or www.holidaylettings.co.uk.

To give you an example of cost. Flights to Nantes, France for this August cost £330 for four (booked last Sept). Then 2 weeks on a gite complex in Charente cost £695 per week. Car hire booked early cost 250 Euro for the 2 weeks. Then obviously spends on top.

It is cheaper to fly to France, but you will save money booking early wherever you go.

Another thing if you are prepared to go at the very end of the school hols it is often cheaper.

The second half of the summer holidays are normally a bit cheaper than the first half. Flying on a Tuesday , Wednesday or Thursday is often less expensive than the weekends.
Feb half term can be good value for long haul. Over the last few years I have taken my children to Cape Town , L.A and the Caribbean and the flights have cost no more than term time .
I found the May half term can be very expensive because pretty much all the schools get the same week of.
If you was thinking of a package holiday for summer 2013 you could even book now and take advantage of free child places.

Another thing about booking early is that you can actually find what you want rather than being stuck with the last turkey in the shop. This always comes as a surprise to my friends just entering school days as they have got used to being able to find something last minute outside of school holidays.

I booked this years August holiday last November.

We do it independently and are very picky about what we want, but this is what we normally do in the last 2 weeks of July:

3 flights to Menorca = £800 approx (we have to travel from a certain airport on a certain day, otherwise this would only be £500)
Villa (£700 per week) = £1400
Car hire = £ 350
Spending money = £1000

So all in all just over £3,500, but we get exactly what we want: a very rare 2 bed villa we love and know well with no near neighbours, local, daytime flights, car hire from a firm we trust. Perfect.

I always book everything the previous October. (Those flights are £1300 for the 3 of us at the moment )

Something to consider as well if you havent holidayed in the peak of the season before is just how much hotter end July/August can be compared to June or September. This is another thing which has caught out my new parent friends.

I think you are right diabolo. When you are paying out a lot of money you need to get it right for your family not an average family.

i agree that booking early is helpful and also is good for budgetting; last minute deals are available but often a compromise; that said we got a good deal at half term on a holiday cottage (UK) late because it was new to the market, and it was stunning. If you have strong views on where you want to go - book early. But, I am a big fan of the great variety the UK has to offer and love exploring a different area. My spend varies.

thanks everyone for taking the time to post, much appreciated and has given me a good idea - figures are not so bad as I thought and there are some really good tips there, thanks v much

In awe of all you people who book early. Vowing to do it next year!

this is the place we booked last minute for at half term www.eastcambusmoon.com , happy to reommend it if you are interested in Scotland as a destination

Tip: don't leave organising your Majorcan villa and Ryanair til mid June- like now . We sorted ours this morning and we're paying, for a family of 4, £650 for flights, Bournemouth/Palma rtn, £1400 for a week in a (nice) villa with its own pool inc a cheap hire car.

Due to our dithering, we saw the flights go from £420 to £650 overnight! And had to discount the second of our joint week's off altogether as that flight went from £550 to £850 overnight...!

There are tons of fab villas out there- get in early and get what you want, not what's left! We were 'fortunate' that we stumbled across this single villa that still had a vacancy for our week! That lastminute.com thing is a fading memory, and, the reality is, for 4 of you, say, you really are stuck with what no one else wants and often paying very much the same rates (cos of the flights going up, up, up) as the 'people next door' who chose that holiday and booked it 6 months ago.

We are newbies to the European summer holiday, really. We did Eurocamp in N. Brittany a few years ago which was expensive but good, but this is our first foray into The Med.

PS, we think we did our last 'taking the kids out of school for a week' this year, too, as DS1 is in Y8. We've done it most years and the school have been fine. You don't necessarily save a fortune in costs (the travel companies are wise to the private school 2 weeks in July, for instance) BUT, esp in the UK, it's far quieter. Canal hols taken in term time have been fab, but we've left marinas latish on Day One with over half the fleet still moored up.

Flippin heck. I don't think we will be going anywhere next Feb half term. I have just been browsing flights for the Canary Islands - Thomson and Easyjet - they are twice as expensive as I paid for this Feb.

Staycation it is!!!!

Oh, t'is an 'awakening'! Which is why you'll hear the chorus of dissent when the government discuss plans to ban all in-school time holiday leave!

If we go to the Canaries in Feb half term, we go with Iberia. Book as soon as they come out and it's much cheaper than charter airlines. Usually about £188 per person including luggage. Only problem is that you have to change in Madrid, but as a family of 5 we make a £500 saving so I'm willing to compromise!

I know it's not some people's idea of a holiday at all but we camp with our own kit and it makes it very affordable if you plan the travel well in advance, don't want all singing all dancing sites and enjoy the challenges of camp cooking for a fortnight. French campsites are a world away from English ones - check out the Cool Camping France book for some of the more luxurious ones. Dover-Calais/Dunkirk return crossing can be booked for under £60 (well in advance, using Camping & Caravaning show codes) or Eurotunnel paid for using Tesco clubcard vouchers. Sites during June half term using a discount card (ACSI/camping cheques), can cost as little as 12 euro a night plus 2 or 3 euros for each child and we just go as far as we can afford the petrol for. The weather isn't guaranteed of course although not booking in advance means that you can move to follow the sun. Sites become a lot more expensive (and booked up) during French/Dutch school holidays end July & first two weeks in August but become reasonable again from about 20/25 Aug. We prefer quieter sites and don't eat out (save the odd croque monseiur and ice cream) so we don't spend much more than we would at home. A two week holiday including crossing, petrol, tolls & spending money for less than one week's accommodation with one of the well known camping/mobile home operators (whose prices I just checked and nearly fell of my chair - £1200 for a caravan for 1 week!!!)

Just another recommendation to look at your school's holidays before making any plans. Some schools / local authorities have slight anomalies - we have 2 weeks at Whit half term for instance, so the vast majority of families have their "main" holiday then. We went to Northern Cyprus this year and to be honest the price wasn't any different to the summer holidays (Northern Cyprus is slightly odd) but I've been searching the internet for a holiday in France for next year's half term (2 weeks again) and the price is £1,000 cheaper than for the summer hols.

We also do villa holidays... They are just so peaceful. This time we got a great deal from James villas, flights, villa (looks amazing) and car hire £3k for 6 of us which s 4 adults and 2 kids. You need to book early, the prices just go up the closer you get to the holidays.