Villa or all inclusive?

[caitlinohara]

Never done All Inclusive, never done package holiday, never flown as a family. Always do ferry + gite in France or road trips with tent around Europe. We have 3 boys who will be 12, 10 and 7 and we have 2 weeks in the summer next year.

Next year we have decided we are going to fly, and we were all set for villa in Spain (which we until we did some research and realised how expensive they were - MUCH more than France for what we want!), so we are researching all inclusive but are very apprehensive having never done it before. It's all about value for money to me - I like the idea of not having to cook, but maybe not if that's going to mean all squeezed into same room with kids on camp beds. Similarly, I love the privacy of having our own place with our own pool but if it's going to be nearly as expensive and we still have all the shopping, cooking etc is that actually good value for money?

FWIW we went away for a month this summer, camping with tent around France and Spain and it came in at under £4k. If I'm going to fork out £7k next year it needs to feel worth it!

Would be really interested to hear from anyone who has done both types of holiday. Ultimate first world problem, I know. Thanks.

I have done both. AI for a week was my limit for life if I am honest. I felt as if I was being "organised" and I hate that on holiday. we book flights using skyscanner and momondo websites and book villas through the various sites like Airbnb, owners direct, tripadvisor and local providers. there are deals to be had if you book early and shop around. I also did not feel any privacy with AI. Reading your post above, apart from the not have to cook, I think you would hate AI.

Depends what you want out of a holiday. For me, the main pros of AI is not having to cook/clean and activities/clubs for the kids. Villa gives you privacy, freedom, not having to share a room with the kids, you’re likely to do more day trips as lunch isn’t paid for in your package. Personally unless the AI is an extremely good one and you could afford to get your boys their own room, I’d go villa every single time. The true dream would be to have staff to cook and clean though!!

I would go with villa as I think AI is too restrictive as pp mentioned you would probably do fewer day trips as lunch is included in AI.
I have used flip key which is part of the trip advisor site to book villas and apartments - might be worth looking at to see if prices are better.
I have also rented a villa where a local lady came in every day to cook breakfast, make beds and clean - probably the best compromise between a hotel and full self catering.

AI all the way for me. Villa felt too much like being at home as I cooked, cleaned, washed up etc and I didn't feel like I was on holiday. There are some fantastic au hotels with amazing facilities and loads of restaurants if you look around.

We did both and enjoyed both. It depends what you want from a holiday.

DD asked for an AI holiday after she heard all about it from her friends. DH and I were very reluctant as we had not so good experiences in the past with resort hotels and felt with a villa we are more flexible.

In the end we did AI but, as DH quotes it, "left the prison on a regular basis". We are just not people being at the pool for days on end and not seeing what is around us.

So money wise I think we paid more than we did with a villa as

a) we had a suite as sleeping with DD in one room for more than a handful of days is not relaxing

b) we went out for trips

c) had meals outside the resort

The advantages are that you don't worry about the next meal, you can just go to the restaurants. No worries about the state of your room. And when DD was younger we had some really good kids clubs she enjoyed going to.

Disadvantages - I am not the biggest fan of AI food, esp buffet style ones. . We had one hotel in Barbodos which was great but otherwise I feel it is too much canteen food.
Small room, even with a suite you sit on top of each other more than I like
Too many other people

Saying that, when we get a villa we go for comfort as well, we always have a dishwasher, most times a washing machine (most times we do sc is hiking or outdoor time, so things can get wet and dirty fast).

Next year we do 1 week AI in May and 2 weeks sc in Summer. Good compromise for all of us.

I've done both.
I think the big divide is between adults and children. Adults like seclusion and privacy and children love action and amenities and food and drink on tap 24/7.
Your DC are at an age where they will absolutely adore AI in a big hotel. You will get a break because it's a lovely safe environment, they can go off and make friends and you can relax and do no cooking.
We did AI for a few years when DC were 9 to 15 and then went back to villas or hotels with just B&B.
Choose at least a 4* hotel with more than one restaurant and budget for going out some days and evenings.

I would recommend a villa. I don't cook, or clean but I love my own space.

Our children don't really like to mix with other kids on holiday so being in a villa is great for them too.

AI seems a bit like a glorified holiday camp to me...

It certainly isn't if you pick the right hotel. Where we tend to go has 7 al a carte restaurants (so we never ate in the buffet at night). Lunch service was all waiter service at the poolside restaurants. It has water slides, crazy golf and a funfair included.

Mine are very sociable and would be bored with just themselves and us but maybe they are older than yours and so we can let them wander off to the funfair or play golf or table tennis is they fancy it - makes it more relaxing for everyone.

I think the big divide is between adults and children.

This.
Maybe you need a third way...neither villa nor AI...
We've opted for camping in a nice static caravan type thing on a nice site near a beach.
Dd had pools, activities and other kids on site. There was a restaurant and take away on site so we didn't have to cook (but could if we wanted to - I don't really want to eat out for every meal and definitely not for breakfast). We could get off site and go to the beach etc.

And crucially (for me) there was peace and quiet and relative space in the caravan thingy. I couldn't spend a week in a hotel.
This Summer we had a two bedroom, two bathroom caravan with a nice porch with sunloungers and lots of pine trees.

Its not the sort of holiday I'd be going on if I didn't have a 6 yr old but it suits us at the moment.

For three of us it was around £2.5k for accommodation, flights and car hire. That was France though, Spain may cost more (but is way too hot for me!).

Alternatively there's the Martinel (something like that?) resort in Portugal which is AI but you stay in villa type apartments.

How about going half board? That way you have breakfast and dinner sorted but still have the flexibility of going out for lunch and not being tied to the hotel.

You can get hotels that have kitchenettes so you can go out for lunch or rustle up something in your room.

We tried AI for the first time last year and hated it. Found people greedy too .

We have found the best of both worlds for us is going to a small self catering apartment. Everyone has their own bedroom, decent pool/company for the teens. Tend to buy in fruit and snacks but eat out for most meals.

I agree, find the idea of small hotel rooms too much. Not sure I will do AI again.
We found Spanish villas expensive too, went to Basque county in August. Couldn't afford a pool that's for sure! One place had a shared one.
If I could have a villa on a AI resort I would be very happy. Need to win lottery

You have to be careful with AI, if you have 7k you will probably not get a good standard of food or resort. I do like AI,but it has to be a good standard. You may get a good quality half board for your budget.

2 weeks self catering from July 30th... just an example but nice apartments (we used them last year) with something for all ages. Where would you be flying from?

At just over 5k that leaves 2k for eating out.

Our two weeks in north Spain was well under 7k and we stayed in spectacular places. This is one of them..www.i-escape.com/ea-astei

We did a week in San Sebastian too.
It was never too hot and no tacky tourist stuff. Lovely

Villa all the way for me. You can find great deals on the likes of HomeAway.co.uk etc. for example in somewhere like calpe outside of Alicante , or lanzarote, 2 weeks for €600.

I like the freedom of the villa in that you'd have a living room, kitchen, separate bedrooms and often a balcony or terrace.

This means you can go out to eat some or most nights and cook in some nights and have a relaxing beer or game of cards on the terrace!

I dunno where you're researching villas or/what your budget is but self catering will always be number 1 for me!

Even if it's a self catering apartment, a lot more room than cramped up in 1/2 hotel rooms. At least you can relax around the apartment if you don't feel like going out

I recommend travelrepublic too as you can pay as you go

I have two boys, older than yours but I would also recommend a mobile on a site with good facilities. Lots more going on for them to do.

A couple of places we have enjoyed:
Norcenni Girasole - can do day trips to Florence, Sienna, San Gimignano etc. Italy has a lot of airports so can shop around for flights. Good pools.
Natterer See in Austria, near Innsbruck. Loads going on on the site, can have a day trip south into Italy. Could start in Munich for a few days then hire a car.

Then again we've never gone AI because I'd rather not be tied to where I eat.

Often we might eat a lunch out (and often lunches out have cheaper specials) and then have a lighter evening meal or BBQ.