How last-minute is too last-minute?

[ThomasRichard]

I quite fancy booking some time off over Easter and taking the DC wherever comes up as a good deal a few days beforehand.

Can I leave it to the day before or will I end up either at home or in a cockroach-infested building site that looked good in the photos? Any experiences - good or bad?

My friend walked into Thomas Cook one day and went the next day-perfectly ordinary holiday in Greece was had.
I would have a serious think about what you want from a holiday -if you just want achange of scene and have easy going kids then go for it, if you have must haves eg hot weather or kids club then youmay not find anywhere at such late notice.

I'm not too fussed about location. I'd prefer somewhere warm enough for us to spend most of the day at a beach making sandcastles and somewhere I can take them to something 'improving' :o though.

I was thinking last-minute as all the places I'd really love to go are too expensive and I've spent hours looking for something low-budget. I think the snap decision of 'that will do' would help!

Easter can be dodgy for sunshine-i had a wet chilly Easter in Crete! Cheapest definite sun would be canaries. What are your dates, airport and budget?

And age of dc?

I was thinking Canaries too but it's out of budget sadly. The DC will be 6 and 3, I'd be looking to go on 23rd March for 5/7 days with a max budget of £1k, not including spending money. I can get Ryanair flights for about £600 but then I get stuck on the accommodation.

I use tripadvisor if you just want accommodation eg if it's Lanzarote you can get the 3rd best rated hotel (Nautilus) in puerto del carmen out of 91 for £400 for that week via booking.com-tripadvisor searches the accommodation agents.
The beaches can be a bit odd because they're volcanic but puerto del carmen was a nice big beach and only a bit grey!

my travel agent friends best bit of advice was "last minute holidays are the ones that no one else wants" could be because of the weather, political situation etc but have always found this to be true.

you can get cheaper but as others have said you wont get good and if you can make do that's fine. if you want nice pool, good location near a beach or kids club they will already have gone for Easter or be out of your budget. £1K for a family of 4 is only £250 a head or around £35 a night.

if you are going to do it then make sure you do your research first. look at sites like accuweather to see what the temps are going to be like. easter can be chilly and many places that claim to have a heated pool don't. pick 4 or 5 places/countries that are possibles. starting looking on line now to see what deals come up and remember to delete your cookies every time you go on line. look at non direct flights to places - long with kids but often a lot cheaper. make sure you have everything ready to go at a days notice like passports money etc. if you start doing your research now if/when a genuine bargain comes up you will spot it.

unfortunately the gove changes to holidays in term time have really hit the holiday market and prices in school hols have gone up. good luck. hope you find something.