best low cost ways to book a holiday.

[piratecat]

me and dd, better to book hotel and flight separately? what companies do you use?

have family in spain and fancied one week with them, one in a hotel, so am guessing separate flights would be the way to go with that scenario.

If i decide to go somewhere else though, what's the best way to so it.

I havent had a proper abroad hol for yrs, booked in the trad way and am astounded by the prices, even for SC!!

remembering teletexts hols rather fondly here!

thanks for any ideas. dd will be 12. want to go 4th aug onwards.

we do it ourselves and use flightchecker type sites to work out who flies there the cheapest. however august? firstly you might struggle to find a flight as every where this year is booking way earlier and secondly it is the peak of peak season. if you don't care then get a bucket flight to somewhere in spain and look at getting a bus the other end. or book a coach trip but it is long and dull but cheap.

i know, august is the pits but it has to be then. school, other commitments.

i have found that waiting until nearer the time can produce price drops flightwise, flight checker, is that a site? They often go back up again within hours, so you have to get in there.

We are tied to school hols too.
I now generally book low cost flights first (I've now learnt that they are cheapest as soon as they are released) and then book accommodation and transfers either directly or through Travel Republic. I don't know what your budget is, but we generally spend around £2000 for 4 of us (kids over 12) for flights, transfer and accommodation.

If you don't mind mid-sized-busy resorts, Mytravel usually do some cheap packages. We prefer smaller resorts though.