Really good last last last minute holidays - do they exist ....

[nocluemum]

We would like to go away for a week in the school holidays. Not fussed where we go as long as there is sun and sea and don't mind AI or self catering or anything in between. Am I being realistic thinking I can leave it til 2 days before and get a good deal. Has anyone done this and been pleased with what they've got.

We always do this because I am too cheap to book a holiday as they always go down in price. Actually they don't but hotels do and as long as you don't fly, travel does too.

DS and I did a cruise last minute which was super cheap for a cruise but was £800 for the two of us.This is not actually cheap but was amazing value for what you get including food, drink kids club and seeing a different beach every day (we didn't pay for excursions and did our own for a few euro's)).

So we didn't book a cheap 3 night break in Rome (£159 per person) but we did book a £59 return Eurotunnel (cheaper than 3 flights to Rome) - 3 nights in a Rome apartment (£370) and then spent more on 2 hotels driving down (which were half price) and 3 driving up. Basically we spent more but the holiday would have cost twice as much if we hadn't booked it the week we went.

Generally I would say that that only the really grotty package deals are left if you book last week late .

If you go independent you get outstanding deals but it costs more in the long run in terms of organisation and all those extras.

The only problem is if you are flying the cost of flights rises, the hotels go down so unless you book a package then it is unlikely it will be any cheaper than early booking with discounts.

It used to be the case you could get really good deals but the flights get cut back now so there is less choice and it forces the prices up.

Our flights to Corfu last year went up by about £100 each in the space of a couple of weeks and yesterday a flights to Zante went up £70 in an hour! (Disabling cookies can help as the prices go up everytime you show an interest)

Whatever - the cruise sounds fab. Would never have thought of that.

We do. In the last year we have been to Venice ( 4 days £140 per person including flights and hotel/ breakfast etc), Paris ( 3 days, £110 each including Eurostar and hotel/ breakfast), nice ( 1 week, flights for 2 adults/ 2 children, half board Hotel suite- £650 total).

All booked 1 week max before and at least 4star hotel.

Blimey forever you are good at this. Do you book online? Do you book packages?

Forever - Nice sounds amazing. Any handy hints to get such a good deal....

We do a mixture of groupon or booking seperatley or packages. A mixture really.

We have pre booked for Croatia in the summer and have saved loads by booking seperatley. Ie same hotel/ times etc Thompson offer but we booked hotel/ car hire/ flights seperatley

was once told by a lady in the tourist information centre in wales that last minute holidays are in fact the ones no one else wants. this has stuck with me i am dull and like to have it all sorted as far ahead as poss so i get what i want when i want it. hols are so precious/important and so few and far between for us that i would hate to end up in a hole.

See the holidays week had been on aren't the ones no one wants. Usually they are last min cancellations. We went to kos a few years ago, we had tried to book holiday 10 months before to be told it was fully booked. Then 10 days before we managed to book as a couple had cancelled due to ill health. It was fantastic ( adult only resort/ 5 star/ private jacuzzi and pool on terrace/all inclusive). On return we tried to book for the next year but it was already fully booked. Apparently a 18 month-2 year waiting list, due to it being small but incredibly popular.

We have had quite a few last minute deals, but have found that they are getting harder and harder to find due to flight prices rising.

This year we booked a full year in advance and got an amazing deal - I spent at least 10 hours searching the net for it though. My brain was fried and I felt like I was going round in circles but it was worth it (2 weeks in Alcudia for 3 of us including flights, self catering apartment, in school hols for £1700).

I tend to use lowcostholidays.com or teletextholidays.com. You can choose the cheapest flights, then add on accomodation to suit your budget, but it's all based around the flights. It's good to look at these sites over a period of a few weeks to get a feel for if the flights are going up or down.

It's a bit of a hobby for me tbh - I found a work colleague a honeymoon last year

I always book as soon as the flights open up which is around 11 months in advance. In fact I often scan the airline websites every evening to check as sometimes in a space of a day they can go up by £100 each. Then I spend hours like happycamper trawling for the right accomodation.

I like it too happycamper - am disappointed when not planning a holiday!