DD18 wants her first holiday with mates. Help!!

[mumsiedarlingrevolta]

DD and a few friends are struggling to book a holiday for right after A levels.
Very small budget -seems slightly unrealistic to me but they have been doing lots of research-they'd like to spend around £100 pp for 4-5 nights or £300 pp all inclusive. it is a lot of money but they are getting nowhere. They are flexible-trying to go on either a city break or beach-group divided. Found a fab air bnb in barcelona but the cleaning and service charges were £300 :(
Just wondering if you have experience with your DC going somewhere post exams that you could recommend.
Many thanks!

Look on Teletext holidays. Super cheap. Crappy flight times BUT I can't imagine that'd bother 18 year olds.

Have a look on Love Holidays. There are plenty designed for her age group and within budget too. You can search by max budget, a selection of airports, board basis and destination. I have used them a few times with no problems at all

That seems quite a bit off the prices tbh. Unless they look at somewhere in the UK?

Also bear in mind if they do manage to find anything for that price it'll likely not be very nice, and they might end up having to pay extra for air con or cleaning.

I was a holiday rep in party resorts and some of the accommodation was beyond anything I'd let a dog sleep in.

It might be worth looking at Groupon or Wowcher, sometimes there are bargains on there. Otherwise I would second teletext. Also Holiday Pirates.

Do they want a party resort?
If not, have a look at flights to Malaga and an apartment near by (Malaga city, Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Fuengirola etc). There's a good train service along the coast from the airport which terminates at Fuengirola. Malaga has a beach, or they could stay outside Malaga and visit for a day trip.

£100pp abroad? I think that’s quite unrealistic!

They could leave it until the last minute and get a 'cheapie'. Friends of mine frequently did that, walked into travel agents and found amazing bargains!

Really depends what sort of holiday they want but at that age, they usually want music and fun.

I hope they find something that suits, op. You're only young once and please don't worry, they'll be fine.

Budget airlines book cheap flights in advance. Megabus book cheap travel in advance. Can stay in shared room hostels which are cheaper. Buy a travel round Europe train ticket, sleep on the train, whilst site seeing cities during the day. Holidays outside of school holidays are always much cheaper. I've recently enjoyed return trip with overnight ferry to Amsterdam for under £100

Alternatively young person rail or bus discount card, tent, camping gear. The camping gear can be reused on other holidays.

If they're looking at places like Barcelona they have no Chance. Even our 3 nights in Amsterdam for hotel and flights was £200 each.

go on Ryanair or jet 2 and search from all UK airports, find the cheapest flight (Leeds to Dublin usually comes in about £30 each way) Then see what they would have left for an air B n B or apartment.

Your Dd and her friends need to do a lot more research because they are unaware of the situation re Airbnb in Barcelona. Their current budget is unrealistic and they will all need more money to fund their short break.

The Spanish have really clamped down hard on Airbnb in Barcelona; the protests against Airbnb have been widespread and this has led also to changes being made there re such bookings.

Get summer jobs or part time job to pay for a holiday. Are they expecting a champagne holiday on a shoe string budget. All cities are expensive, unless you are very frugal. What about £9.50 sun holiday ?

Cheapest holiday in recent years £150 each which included flight & hotel in Majorca for a week, out of season, hotel had pool. On top of that had to pay transport to airport, car park.Hired car on holiday, it was cheaper than the transfer to hotel. Add ontop food, drink, entertainment, petrol. I already had travel insurance. I've seen a few £99 holidays advertised.

Thanks for all suggestions-
Just to be clear they all do have jobs and are funding it-

There are rooms with shared facilities on air bnb in their budget-
I agree re cheap flights and they ideally would find a good hostel-
DS stayed in a brilliant one in Budapest so was just hoping someone would have a suggestion of similar.

@Attila they are doing lots of research-I was just trying to help a bit-I don't know about the air bnb barcelona situation-what do you mean?

Thanks again for all suggestions!!

Yes @P0ttery that's the sort of thing-

they have been on groupon etc.
The search continues...

Try Olympic Holidays usually cheap deals to Greece with them.

I've been on several short breaks in UK & abroad, booked budget flights well in advance, so under £50 return for flights eg Ryanair, Easyjet, only take cabin luggage. Get train or bus to destination. Pre-book cheap accommodation. Best bargain £6.50 return on overnight bus from London to Glasgow !

@P0ttery wow!! that is impressive!!

I went to Prague last year, super cheap flights, there was five of us and our Air B&B cost us £11 a night each, was really nice too and a great location. Cheap whilst there too.

Look at skyscanner. Put in the dates and select 'anywhere' it will give them the cheapest place to fly to.
If there are non airbandb look at the Formule 1/ Etap hotel chain - their rooms are very cheap, though not many are city centre/ beach resorts.

Airbnb aren’t really allowed in Barcelona. Owners have to obtain a special license to rent out for holidays which most AirBnB’s won’t be able to get. It’s to stop the locals having to put up with a constant stream of “ visitors” entering their apartment blocks especially in already busy areas.

Hostels aplenty in Barcelona but even they are £30 a night.
Cheap camping holiday in Italy? Lido de Jesolo on a package deal?

The week or two after the A level period ends is v v popular with teens, book sooner rather than try for a last minute one.

Has she tried Hostelworld.com?

I think they’ll still struggle at £100 for 5 nights and flights though.

My DS & his mates have booked a week in a ‘party resort’ in Greece for £230 each, flights & hotel (no meals). The reviews look dire but they are pretty excited about it .

My DD is a student and does loads of cheap breaks. They find cheap flights then they book hostels. Usually these are 3/4 to a room sharing. Sometimes they find cheap airB&B's. It helps not to be super fussy about where they are going. She has been to Amsterdam, Berlin, Nice and Budapest all very cheaply.