Anyone of you who has booked a cheap villa ...

[Anonymo]

... where did you find it?

Am looking for the holy grail of a cheap (max £500 for the week but the cheaper the better!) villa. DH (for a variety of reasons!) does not want Spain...

It needs 2 bedrooms (just dh, me and our 3 year old) and has to have a gated pool. Would be nice to be within walking distance to restaurants, beach but not essential (bbq would be if not).

The only weeks DH can get off this year are 4th - 19th August.

Can anyone help? (Oh, and the beds have to be comfortable as DH has a back condition)

Thanks in advance ...

Sorry but for £500 in the middle of august with a pool? You'll be lucky to get a tent.

Owners Direct? We've booked several through them, often for less than £500 a week and often with a pool.

it depends where you want to go? Are you flying or driving?

We have a big fancy house booked for August - and nothing came close to the figure you want. But we needed at least 4 beds, and a private pool and garden etc. We want it all!

However there are some gites around, but you would hav eto share a pool with other gite renters. You may get a 2 bed for around the £500 or just over.

Over the years I have used owners direct, chez nous and homeawayholidayrentals.

Oh, we had a villa with pool in Lanzarote in Feb from owners direct which was £450 for the week - 2 bed 2 bath, very private. The flights will increase your holiday price significantly though.

You could also try Homelidays but for your budget you may need to compromise, perhaps look at apartments too?

We often book here:
www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/

but I agree, £500 is not a lot and you may need to compromise or look at an apartment with a shared pool. I think we always paid around £500 for a week in May/June for a 2-bed-villa with a shared pool in Majorca.

It is a tight budget.

Search on www.ownersdirect.co.uk for your dates.

I found one as an example which may suit in Lagos, Algarve (a lovely town). Its on owners direct prop ref 12181.

Hope you find something suitable.

Thanks all.

frenchfancy - I know, that's what I always think and we always shell out a fortune on an expensive hotel but we can't really afford that this year.

Nice to think there might be something around out there for us! Off to take a look at the sites mentioned ...

well you'd get a villa in Florida for that with a private pool but if you want somewhere closer to home you'd be lucky.

I'd second the suggestion for Owners Direct, we advertise our villa there and have just booked another villa for Easter on there.

I use Owners Direct too. The 2 bed villa with private pool I use is £600 per week in high season - the only things cheaper are apartments with shared pools. The reason the villa we rent is so cheap is that it is in the middle of nowhere, so a car is required to get anywhere. It gets booked up over a year in advance. It is in Menorca.

You might find something cheaper in Greece or Turkey but I think you are asking a lot for that money.

try portugal. on owners direct some areas of spain, france and greece seem really expensive. the ones advertised in euros seem to be a bit cheaper than pounds. if i did this i'd take out insurance though, as i'd be nervous about legal situation if anything went wrong. Or consider 1 bed with sofabed in lounge?

They can be found but the best bargains are in Spain so don't dismiss it entirely. The villa we rent in Corfu (3 bed with private pool) is £800pw, but we have a villa in SPain in August (3 bed with shared pool) is only £450pw.

Try www.ownersrentals.com they have loads under £500 with private pools. 100s in villas to rent in Florida Orlando. I would say that your get more for your money there, i think its $1.65 to the pound at the moment. We booked a villa there with www.ownersrentals.com last year for £ 465 a week, the owners were asking £665 but they gave us discount as we booked 2 weeks. Heres were we found our villa in florida www.ownersrentals.com/search/NorthAmerica/United_States/Florida_Orlando-Disney.html
Good Luck Holly