Cheap holiday involving a plane in school summer holidays, possible?

[FoofFoof]

OK, so DS, 11, really wants to go on a plane and really wants a holiday abroad as he hasn't done either of those things. We have to go in the school holidays. We have to book well in advance. We would not want to be anywhere massively touristy (we go to the quiet bits of the UK) or ridiculously hot. We do not want to be in a tent or caravan. Being nearish to the coast is essential in the UK but we may need to trade that for being abroad. We spend £700 for holiday cottage hire in the UK plus approximately another £300 on travel, food, activities etc and budget is not going to be bigger.
Does any such holiday exist?

For the plane bit, use skyscanner.co.uk, set your local airport with destination 'everywhere' and dates 'flexible' and start from wherever is cheapest. You might be better going for a long weekend if cost is an issue.

Difficult, but I bet it's doable.

When exactly do you want to go? By school holidays so you mean next summer, or are you including Easter / half terms as well?

And what DO you want? I know it's not always possible to find everything you want, but you've mentioned what you don't want so it would be helpful to have a wishlist!

I love planning holidays, can you tell?!

If it's the 'going on a plane' bit that he's really interested in rather than a sunny holiday, how about somewhere like the Isle of Man or Northern Ireland as a first step?

You won't need passports, which is a big expense with 'proper' abroad (as long as you don't go on Ryanair - they only accept passports for ID even if not technically necessary).

Or if you are looking for a sunny foreign holiday, Spain or Portugal is often cheapest. How many adults are going? If it's just you and DS, it might be doable, but passports will be a big expense if you don't have them.

It's not in the summer, and you'll go right up to your budget to pay for trips and food because it is not a cheap place to visit, but my youngest was 11 when we did this and it was 'the best trip ever':
Iceland short break feb half term

I love planning holidays too!
Which airport would be handiest for you to fly out of?

Is there anywhere DS or you would particularly like to go?

Is there the two of you or more?

Or Billund in Denmark. You can fly cheaply from Stansted with Ryanair and a couple of miles from the airport you have the original Legoland and Lalandia, a Center Parcs style complex with pool and other activities.

There's also accomodation or you could try air bnb etc. Eating out is quite expensive but you might be able to self cater affordably.

Thank you, and sorry, should have said it would be for 2 adults and one child. Passports would be needed for 1 adult and the child, but they are a longer term investment so wouldn't have to be included in the budget.
Easiest airports would be Luton, Birmingham or the London ones. Yes, would be summer as cannot both get time off in other holidays.
Have thought about Ireland/Isle of Man before but concerned it will be too cold/wet for swimming at the beach - DS really loves this and as we only have one holiday we do want to provide it. However, as I said maybe we can't do it all.
Love the idea of Denmark myself. We (adults) would choose somewhere in Northern Europe that is interesting/pretty. I hate sitting by a pool.

I got cheap flights to Poland this summer. I took ds1 to Krakow for a few days. Everything was really affordable. Flights were cheap, accomodation was much cheaper than in most other cities I looked at, and eating out was dead cheap (and delicious)
I bet outside Krakow it would be even cheaper, although I dont know much about Polish beaches, I believe they do have them

Of course you can do it but you need to work in advance, as soon as flights get released. It is perfectly possible to get 3 flights to e.g. the costa del sol and then hire a car or take the train further out/inland.

You often hear people say 'oh it's cheaper to go abroad' but I wonder if that only applies to Spain or similar which we'd hate in the summer.

Another way of cutting costs is to go in the May half term of course. Its usually a lot cheaper, or in the october holiday if you go further south

I find if you can get flights on a Tuesday and fly back then it's tonnes cheaper. Sat flights are most expensive. Sundays usually ok.

Barcelona is fab. Lots to do and a warm sea for swimming. Flights are cheap and plentiful and public transport easy.

Flights to Belfast with EasyJet are £180" for a family of 4 at Easter

Ah OK just saw summer and beach. I do not think is feasible for £1k in summer hols

By which I mean £1k for flights, accommodation, food spending money for 3 people

Fly to Newquay or Exeter and then get the 19 seater Skybus to St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Beautiful beaches and clear blue sea. Gorgeous.

How about the Channel Islands? Lovely beaches, EasyJet flights for three wouldn't break the bank and no passports required.

You won't need passports, which is a big expense with 'proper' abroad (as long as you don't go on Ryanair - they only accept passports for ID even if not technically necessary)

BA is the only airline which flies from Heathrow which doesn't require photographic ID on domestic flights. Ryanair does accept any government-issued photographic ID on its domestic flights.

We went to Porto a few years ago at the end of July. It was a pretty cheap deal (booked through Expedia) and eating out was cheap once we got there.

How about the Alps? France, Austria, Italy or Switzerland? ..

If you want to go to Ireland you will need passports as Ireland does check passports even if you are flying from the UK (for security purposes).

Last May when went to France.
5 of us, we flew to Paris (and parked car at Gatwick) spent the night in Paris and then got a overnight sleeper train to the south of France, hired a car and stayed in a eurocamp in a mobile home for 6 nights and then flew back from
nice.
Total cost was £1300 for everything not including spending money.
Was loads to do, could go down the beach 4-7pm and it still be warm enough to swim etc. Loads of gorgeous places to visit.

We've done Spain, Sweden, France, Ireland and others never spending more than £1,000 for two weeks - self catering, cottage, flights and car hire.

choose carefully where you fly from and when you go.

ie for sweden we went the last two weeks in august which was the end of the swedish school holidays.

ie for spain flew from scotland last two weeks of august.

never use travel agents and book as directly as you can and its very doable

family of 4 - 2 adults / 2 children

No passports required for Isles of Scilly - just photo ID

You can fly to Dinard with Ryanair pretty cheaply. Which is a lovely town itself with holiday flats overlooking the, very French, beach. But, you can also stay away from the coast to get somewhere cheaper. Brittany is lovely - it is touristy in parts but nicely touristy. And there's lakes with lovely made beaches as well. You'd need a car though.