Is it possible to do a summer holiday somewhere in Europe for under £1500?

[Thisismynewname123]

We had an expensive holiday already this year, so we weren't planning to go away in the summer. Now we're here, and dreading the thought of nothing to see us through to next year, so want to try to get away, but really on a small budget, up to about £1500 for up to a week. 2 adults & 2 children. Beach would be nice, or lakes somewhere. Things to do and eating choices. Happy to drive to France, but I don't think the children would cope with 10 hours in the car when we get off the ferry. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I don't know where to start on this kind of budget.

Fly to Majorca on a budget airline. Stay in a 3 star somewhere nice.

We stayed in the Hotel D’or in Cala Dor. Was nice/basic. Had a decent pool and snack bar. Cala D’Or is lovely though.

I just looked on Travel Republic for a mid-August 1-week hol (Sat-Sat) for 4, staying at a hotel called Club Martha’s (great reviews) - 1800. With some tweaks should be able to shave some off...

Majorca is gorgeous, but pricy to eat out.. Try mainland Spain or Portugal. Look at Jet2 or Ryanair for flights, then homeaway or booking.com for an aoartment. You could get gorgeous pastries for breakfast, make nice salads, rolls for lunch and eat out somewhere lovely every evening. If you can get an apartment with a fridge, do a shop on the first day and stick up on icecreams, cold drinks and goodies. We've just been to the Costa Brava and a nice 2 or 3 course meal for 2 adults , 2 kids with soft drinks, water and a bottle of wine ranged from €50 to €80.
For example 18th-24th August Jet2 flights to Stansted. £750. 2 bed apartment with terrace and pool 2 minutes from the beach in Estartit €642. Lovely resort 40 minutes from the airport. Loads of activities on the beach, water sports, snorkelling, boat trips, etc. Lovely restaurants and several supermarkets in the town. God I want to go back now!

Sorry Jet2 Stansted to Girona.

You might struggle now with it being such short notice. It may be worthwhile looking at the major tour operators for last minute deals but they're not as good as they use to be. Even week long caravan holidays on the south coast are around £1000 per week for August.

Could you do October half term instead? It may be a bit cheaper.

Lots still on Holiday Lettings for France.

Look at this tree house!

If you fly somewhere not necessarily popular with families- like a city break- it’s doable.

My suggestions would be Budapest- excellent outdoor pools, open spaces, great food, plenty of Airbnb flats, loads of sites. It’s really gorgeous and great for kids / teens. Lots of history etc. Budapest comes into its own in summer and it feels relaxing for a city.

Somewhere in Italy like Naples might be possible- or elsewhere in the south if you do your homework. Pick somewhere popular with Italians to get the best prices. You will enjoy an authentic experience with good food at a great price! We’ve done this many times to save money and have had a better experience because of it. Somewhere like Lecce, Naples and surrounding beach towns, Bari.

I read recently that Majorca is 40% cheaper this year as competition from Turkey etc has hit it. You could try last min hotel offer?

That's a very tight budget for four people - in July/August you could blow that just on flights!

I guess though that there are a few things you could do:

1. Lastminute.com or similar and see what they've got in terms of packages.
2. Northern half of France/Belgium/Holland see what you can find in terms of apartment on the beach and then Eurotunnel and drive.
3. Go to skyscanner. net and see where you can fly really cheaply and then look for an AirBnB apartment in that location.

And don't be put off by places you've never heard of - you might find a lovely apartment in the mountains of Slovenia, or by the beach in Montenegro, etc. Going off the beaten track is probably your best bet.

Thanks for all the ideas. I prefer being away from the big resorts anyway, so I'm going to look into some of the less obvious ideas.
BlueKittens - I've been to Budapest pre-children. Wouldn't necessarily have considered it with them, but nice idea and I'll look into it. Same with Italy - really, Italy would be a first choice, but I had pretty much written it off as unaffordable on this budget.
I think I might just see what reasonable flights I can find with EasyJet and then go from there with hotels. The thought of a big resort in Majorca with all the other Brits is really not our thing.
Thanks for all the ideas. I'm going to work my way through all of them to see what I can come up with!

And use incognito browsing. If you don't, by the time you go to book the prices will have gone up as the websites store cookies and keep track of what you're looking up and when and then jack the price up accordingly!

I have another idea if you like Italy

Milan flights are less than £70 return with Ryanair. Lots of accommodation including apartments in the city or close by for less than £400. Milan is within easy reach of lots of lovely places by train, which you could visit for the day. Train tickets are fairly affordable and you can buy a group ticket.

So far that’s less than £700, which leaves £800 for food, drinks and train fares. Eat pizza, pasta, fill up at lunch rather than dinner. Eat for the price of a drink at Aperitivo in most bars/ restaurants (6-8 so fine with kids) for which Milan is well known. Followed by a takeaway ice cream and passiegata. You will have a fabulous full week on £1500! As long as you think you’ll be eating steaks! You could even do a two centre holiday- Milan and Verona?

Day trips include Lake Como, Bergamo, Pavia, Lugano, Genoa, Turin, Verona. Day trips don’t need to be costly- we tend to get a deli to make a sandwich up for us at breakfast- buy supplies from the supermarket the night before. Spend out on ice cream and walk everywhere! We have a buggy which helps with lugging all the supplies!

That should say- as long as you don’t think you’ll be eating steaks!

There's very few Brits in Paguera in Mallorca, which is a lovely family resort with nice beaches. All the tourists there are German, but there are still lots of Spanish restaurants.

The Costa Brava/Girona/Estatit suggestion is a good one as there are some cheap flights with Jet2 and Ryanair at least. If you go as late as possible in August, that will reduce the cost a little.

Maybe worth having a look at Brittany Ferries holidays? They’ve got a fair few available for 4+ people for £600 (or more if you want somewhere fancier) including the ferry journey. they usually do longer ferry journeys as well, so you start off further down France - but you might struggle to get a cabin and it would add to the cost. The proper restaurants on their ships are usually pretty decent as well.

Another shout for Brittany ferries holidays.
Get a gite for a week and it makes the ferry crossing massively discounted. We did this a few years ago and got one within an hour of St Malo in Brittany. It was very rural but lovely.

I looked into flight to Majorca recently- it would be about £300 each for flights only at this late stage unless you get very lucky.

Turkey and Bulgaria are the cheapest holidays.

We have done Siblu holidays in the Loire (Domaine de dugny) and are thinking of going to Normandy with them, the Loire is absolutely beautiful. With Dover to Calais ferry bookings, fuel and tolls this would cost less than £800 for a family of six (that’s us !) We ski in the Winter so always go cheap in the summer :-)

@mumtofourandmore we’re going there soon! What’s it like? Any recommendations for days out etc? (4dc aged 4-13)

Try Center Parcs. Lac d'Aillette is only 2.5 hours from Calais. Belgium isn't too far either.

A lot of French Campsites have their own accommodation to rent and have great pools and kids activities.

Prices in France tend to drop the last week of August as kids go back to school.

If you manage to get cheap flights, yes. Our return budget flights to Milan was approx £100 pp for end of Jul so £400. Our 2 bed sc apartment with communal pool with balcony views of Lake Garda was £600 for the week and car hire was approx £350 (for 10 days for a VW Golf). We also had an additional 3 nts at a hotel B&B which puts it over £1500 for a family of 4 but on budget if it was just the 7 nts. We could have hired a cheaper car too but didn’t want to. Currently spending a fortune on food.