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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

How do you find an affordable holiday in the summer holidays?

51 replies

mancmum · 26/03/2006 15:42

For the first time ever, I am stumped on holidays this year guess it is first time we are limited by having to go during school holidays... we have looked at keycamp but driving is a bit offputting... but all the other options reasonable hotel or room somewhere suitable for the kids seem to cost ££££££ so does any one have any ideas where to look for a summer holiday .. 1/2 board or SC.... near a decent beach... that is not going to cost me over £5?

Mark Warner best quote from them was £7K for 2 weeks WTF!!!!

Would appreciate any advice from anyone who manages to go on holidays with kids and does not lose their house to achieve it!

OP posts:
SecondhandRose · 26/03/2006 16:53

Why not join the NCT house swap register run by my goodself. Go to www.nct.org.uk/fundraising to print off an application form. It only costs £29.99 for the year and you don't have to be an NCT member to join. Our next register comes out in May but you can join at any time.

We have lots of British members, one in Dubai and one in France and Italy.

thirtysomething · 26/03/2006 18:15

Have you checked out speedferries.com? You can get a crossing to France for little over £50 in the school hols, then you could rent a cottage in Normandy or Brittany for around £400-500 a week, and it wouldn't be too far to drive plus fab beaches for the kids. This is the sort of holiday we book and never end up paying much more than £1100 for everything (except food) for two weeks (4 of us) in August. Some good websites to try for holiday accomodation are www.holidaylettins.co.uk, www.cheznous.co.uk (expensive-ish), www.frenchconnections.co.uk, www.abritel.com, www.homelidays.com. Alternatively you can book direct with some indpendent campsites in France and save a fortune (find the ones you like in the Eurocamp or Haven brochures then do a Google search for the names to find their own sites and book direct!) That way you get the same facilities at a fraction of the cost!

bubblerock · 26/03/2006 19:34

Majorca - Under £2000 all inclusive?
Flights
Manchester - PMI (day flights)
20th July - 3rd August 2ads/2ch £530.76
Hotels
\link{http://www.medhotels.com/book/hotel_desc.asp?HID=20041229122931193517&Lang=EN\Sa Coma} SC £1,693.58
\link{http://www.medhotels.com/book/hotel_desc.asp?HID=20020525114513354371&Lang=EN\Calas De Mallorca} AI £1,210.36
\link{http://www.medhotels.com/book/hotel_desc.asp?HID=20031125151349201249&Lang=EN\Alcudia} HB £1,363.18

Add on Car Hire/Transfers and it's still a lot cheaper than package hols!

alicemama · 26/03/2006 19:38

we're off to florida for 2 weeks in May,
2 adults & 2 children, 4 bed villa with own pool, flights and 2 weeks car hire for £1400.
We've used an independant travel agent saved us a fortune,

cod · 26/03/2006 19:43

think the deal was "Int he summer hols though"

cod · 26/03/2006 19:44

all those hu ge hotels bubbel found make me feel ill

adn also oyu are often all shoved into very tiny rooms

bubblerock · 26/03/2006 19:45

I also prefer small places but the big ones have better kids facilities. Smile

cod · 26/03/2006 19:46

hmm but not the case in our hhugley ££ "simply" place

bubblerock · 26/03/2006 20:15

\link{http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Spain/Majorca-Mallorca/holiday-villa-Pollensa-Pollenca/p12190.htm\3 bed villa} 2 bathrooms, pool, close beach £2,084

\link{http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Spain/Majorca-Mallorca/holiday-villa-Santa-Margalida/p60647.htm\3 bed finca} C'an Picafort £2,084

bubblerock · 26/03/2006 20:56

Was just looking at gites and found \link{http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/France/holiday-barn-cottage-Gironde/p9486.htm?uni_id=25980\this} Looks ideal for you Cod! Smile

aelita · 26/03/2006 23:16

At a push I'd say try to find an area at home or abroad that's not well-known or enormously popular (this doesn't mean it has to be horrible!), stick to self-catering & arrange your own travel. You could even go on craigslist.com and advertise or look for a house-swap to get free accomodation just about anywhere in the world...

Original poster
mancmum · 27/03/2006 08:59

WOW this is fantastic will read all this later today and see what I can find -- this is great... thanks!!

OP posts:
cod · 27/03/2006 09:27

doesnt it bubble!

ToujoursMarine · 27/03/2006 09:44

mancmum, we go to gites in not very fashionable, but very underrated, Northern and NW France, and book early with SpeedFerries to get a good deal.
As it happens our main hol is in Devon with rellies this year but we are doing a gite in N France for a week in the Spring half-term and the property and ferry are costing us £250. The gite has two bathrooms, a dishwasher and a washing machine, a large nice looking walled garden with wendy-house, swings etc and looks very nice. The same gite or an equivalent closer to the Baie de la Somme would cost us about £600 for a fortnight in July/August. Which does leave a bit of leeway for meals out, treat outings as well as cheapo days lurking on the Channel mudflats Wink
I think we are easily pleased. Very hot weather, long flights, Mark Warner-type hols etc don't suit us as a family. Just as well really!
There was an article in the Sat Travel section of the Telegraph recently which rated N & NW France, very out of fashion with Brits currently, as an excellent way to get an affordable family holiday on the beach in the summer.

cod · 27/03/2006 09:45

just bloody cold and wet normally

ernest · 27/03/2006 10:10

we've just booked into this campsite, renting mobile home, works out at £829 for 5 people for 2 weeks. And there's a kids club from age 2 every day.

Caligula · 27/03/2006 10:22

Hey Toujoursmarine do you have a link for your holiday?

ToujoursMarine · 27/03/2006 13:52

Bit hard to link to the gite itself caligula. But if you go \link{http://www.gites-de-france.fr/eng\here}, select self-catering gites then "choose a destination in France", choose Nord from the department list and then type 4186 in the "Vous connaissez la reference du gite rural" box it will show you. This one is a distance from the sea, but if you pick Somme from the department list, or Pas-de-Calais, and make sure you specify 3 epis or more, there are lots of well-equipped, modestly priced gites really quite close to nice resorts like Wimereux and Hardelot. All within 2 hours of Dover.
We had glorious weather last year cod - just not too hot. We all burn like crazy and have found the Charente Maritime and even la belle Corse too hot for us in the past. So somewhere desirable like Crete or Provence would be purgatory.

Surfermum · 27/03/2006 13:56

We've had lovely holidays in Cornwall, and now that dsd's mum will allow us to go abroad, we go to France. This year it's a caravan in the Vendee and it's cost us under £700.

Mfer · 27/03/2006 16:17

Probbaly too late for this summer but shop online or at Tescos - get every points code going and save like mad - our whole disney trip this year is with tradewinds courtesy of TESCO deals!! really- I have also used them for caravans in Dorset, Devom and cornwall £200 of Tesco clubcard vouchers will get you £800 worth of holiday tokens - loads to choose from.
another option is to book direct with holiday home owners have a look at\link{http://holidayrentals.co.uk\this}. We got an apartment in Denia spain on a really nice complex with 3 beds for £400pw cheap flights through the usual suspects.

ssd · 03/04/2006 08:22

secondhandrose, I looked at your website and I really like the idea of swapping with another family. But my house is small in a suburban estate, would anyone swap with me do you think? Is there any way you can access the site to see the sorts of property available before you pay the £29.99?

Thanks!

bumpsy · 03/04/2006 13:56

Ernest where have you booked for 5 for £829 sounds like a good deal.I am desperately trying to convince my dh that we should go abroad this year with our 3 children age 1,2 & 6 but I can't convince him it will be cheaper and less hassle than UK.We are in the North of England and don't relish the thought of driving for miles in England in search of a glimmer of sunshine!

Lucycat · 03/04/2006 14:17

mancmum, if you can face the drive to the tunnel the financially there is a huge difference. the ferry from Portsmouth (our most direct port) to Caen, with a basic cabin would cost us nearly £500 in August!

The tunnel costs £100 tops, and even with an overnight stop near Boulogne, say, at a Campanile type hotel you are going to be quids in!

Buy a tent - it's the only way to go! Grin

MaggieW · 04/04/2006 13:00

We always book flights and accomm independently. Last year we flew to Italy (Ryanair flights £130 for four of us) and stayed in an apartment which was a two minute walk from the beach. It was around £350 for the week. Car hire was further £120 approx. Obviously food and entertainment on top of that, but it works out much cheaper than a package. Before that we went to Sardinia and it came in at around £750 for the four of us, everything included. I tend to look at where low-cost airlines fly and then research a good place to go nearby. Hasn't failed so far. Did the same in Dubai recently on a stop over from NZ and our hotel was a fraction of the cost which travel agents, airlines etc were charging. Went direct to the hotel to book. When we arrived they allowed us to check in at 6am (instead of 2pm) for free and allowed us to check out at 8pm (instead of 12 noon) for a minimal fee, which I was v impressed with. We checked in with some package hol people and they didn't get an early check in. So lots of benefits to booking independently!

ja9 · 04/04/2006 23:45

i really recommend this website: \link{www.mytravel.com\my travel}

i've done lots of research and found them to be hugely competitive. used them last year and was really pleased with the whole package so have used them again this year.

use in conjunction with \link{http://www.holidays-uncovered.co.uk/\this} and you can't go wrong....

keep us posted!