A weekend away - where are the deals?

[Rathkelter]

A friend and I would like two nights either in Europe or UK. I don't know where to begin: swamped by Secret Escapes, Booking.com, Sawdays but can't seem to find anything vaguely reasonable for July. I'm so exhausted by it that I'm going to give up! Do you have a system for this kind of thing? Book a flight and then find a hotel? What about nice hotels in the UK in case a Europe flight seems too much? Thanks

Flights seem to be really expensive this year. I'm looking for something a bit later in the year and thought I'd be able to get to Majorca for £100ish, not a chance.

Have you tried
Easy jet holidays
Jet2
Expedia
Holiday pirates

travel supermarket? momondo for cheaper flights?

trivago can be quite good for finding deals.

you really need first to pick the place you want to go and then search on that or it just becomes far to difficult to sort through.

also, the last minute bargains idea for July doesn't really exist any more. if you went in June you would be outside of the private schools, Scotland and Ireland school holidays and will have more luck finding something.

Thanks all. You're right I'm a bit late and it doesn't help that I can't decide on a location. Can anyone recommend a site for UK hotel breaks, ideally Peak District?

itison is a scottish site for all sorts of grouponish things....covering Edin, Glasgow, Perth, Borders so that might be worth a look for hotels if you rule out a Euro jaunt.

They do range from camping pods to the Abu dhabi Grand Prix experience with iffy cocktail classes inbetween so be prepared for some rummaging! :o

Anywhere in the jet2 city break deal finder

Or I would use skyscanner, travel republic or the airline websites (Ryanair, Easyjet or Jet2) to look for any bargain flights and then booking.com to look for accomodation, but I always have a vague list in mind of places I want to go (currently Lisbon, Spanish cities like Granada, Seville or Alicante, perhaps Paris, Brussels/Bruges).

A couple of years ago we got Mallorca for about £400 for 3 nights flights and hotels at under a week's notice at the end of June into early July.

I would look for the flights, have a quick look to see if there is some vaguely suitable looking accomodation available on the right dates in the right place, book the flights and then do the accomodation, because flights seem more likely to go up in price than hotels.

Thats £400 for two, £200 pp for the flight and hotel. We stayed in a small resort outside Palma, but Palma would be a great place for a city break.

We've booked through Easyjet holidays and Expedia, both at very competitive prices.

For both Jet2 and Easyjet city break packages, you'll probably find it is cheaper than booking separately.

Or somewhere like Edinburgh, Belfast or Dublin if you want something a bit closer to home.

I would look at skyscanner and leave destination box blank. Then see which destinations are interesting and reasonable. Often better to then go direct to that airlines site and book. Then look at trivago for hotels or air bnb or Sawdays.

I have access to the same system as booking com/trivago etc if you'd like me to have a look for you - I just saved £100 on our holiday for next month ❤

Travelzoo?

Thank you. Looks like easyjet and Jet2 are favourites. You are right. Maybe I need to stick a pin the map and start from there. Thank you for your very kind offer @Corby I think I need to narrow my search and get back to you! Great that you saved £100 ;-)