All Inclusive vs Self Catering

[Happyinheels]

Hi!

I am looking at holidays abroad for me and my 2 teens this summer. I just wanted to pick your experiences re all inclusive vs self catering.

We did the all inclusive experience a couple of years ago. It was great not having to think about food shopping, cooking and cleaning up!! Also, barely needed any spending money. Obviously the cost of the holiday is huge compared to self catering.

I'm looking at places to go. I don't have lots of money. Self catering is much cheaper as a holiday price but realistically does it work out cheaper in the long run?
I hope you're following my waffle here 😂🙈

Any tips or examples of your experiences, places to go would be so appreciated thank you 😊

It's not so much the food and drink that I find unappealing about AI (although, no, I wouldn't want to be presented with the same sorts of buffets every day for 14 days and it's often these arrangements that cause food poisoning) it's the being in a "complex" with thousands of other people.

We book a villa with a pool which costs a lot but save by cooking at least 50% of the time at home. Honestly, how much effort is it to sling a fish on the bbq or buy a roast chicken from the supermarche? Or even just bread, cheese, olives and salad? I'll go to all that trouble to avoid a package holiday, sure. We never do any cleaning other than loading the dishwasher. And in a villa you always ime have a washing machine so you can come home without 2 weeks worth of dirty laundry.

Both my kids 13 and 12 strongly prefer AI. 12 year old is ASD and its perfect for him as set times, plain meals available and no waiting. Ones we've been to have waiter service as well as buffet and food has been very good. We like no cooking, washing up, shopping, always a massive choice which is important as DS is ASD and DD is vegetarian, DH always wants meat. We tend to do resorts with pools and watersports on site and one day onsite, one day excursion - on that day can get breakfast and dinner which is plenty of food but if you want they will give packed lunches with drinks too. We drink lots of non alcohol drinks there and that would add up if SC. Love being able to go to pool and not need to take cash to get drinks so can all swim.

SC if you make own meals would obviously be cheaper, if you eat out every meal will cost more generally. Without kids we would probably choose half board if an option. We always look at food reviews before booking. Obviously depends on price difference too, when we went to Australia only AI we saw was about £500 per night so did SC there or B&B except full board at one.

I guess we are all different, I like going on holiday to meet new people, we lead a quiet life at home so a villa just for the three us would be pretty dull, and I sling fish on the BBQ or eat a rotisserie chicken every other night at home in the summer . I want to eat something that someone else has gone to the trouble of thinking about & cooking. And even if you do the absolute minimum housework you still have to do some clearing up on s/c holidays.

But if you choose AI, make sure it’s a good one. Check the reviews carefully.

Thank you so much for all the advice and opinions. So much to think about.

I don't really have much experience in package holidays. When I was married I always planned our holidays and we tended to drive to France and hire a villa, which was perfect. Had a pool, did a lot of sightseeing and exploring.

Now it's me and 2 DC aged 12 and 15 it's changed everything. I couldn't do all that driving on my own. I think they need company too. I would struggle to sit round a pool for 2 weeks and be stuck on a resort. I like to explore and take in the local culture. I definitely don't want to be surrounded by brits - otherwise I might as well stay in this country.

I can totally see the benefits to both AI and SC... it's just working out which is most cost effective for us.

Redsea holidays sometimes have good all inclusive deals.

Maybe what you need then OP is a HB package that allows you to spend the middle part of each day out exploring? That's what we like to do, as none of us are 'lie by the pool every day' types of people. If all you have to do is find somewhere for lunch each day then you could easily budget for that ahead of time. AI is very tying and if you spent all your money on it you might feel like you didn't want to go out and explore if it meant missing a meal you'd paid for. That's why we never do it.

My teens love the freedom of AI. They can drink and snack throughout the day and much prefer this. I would definitely recommend 4-5 star AI though as food can differ a lot in quality etc.

But 5* AI to get the food quality and a la carte service is eye wateringly expensive.

That's why going SC/B&B and eating out a lot, and buying your drinks and snacks in the supermarket/local shop is a good compromise.

Better food and experience than mid range buffet AI but much cheaper than 5 star AI. I've stayed B&B in a 4* hotel that also did AI in Tenerife and there's no way I would have done AI in that hotel.

We love the AI, it's great for drinks, snacks, and meals but it does get a bit repetitive if your there for 2 weeks!
We eat out for evening meal quite a few times in our 2 weeks, we love turkey and the prices to eat out are excellent so we have the best of both worlds.

We always do SC and I don't find the cooking any bother at all. We do really simple food, including supermarket ready meals, and lots of cold meals, so it's only 10 mins to prepare any meal and 10 mins to clear up (as long as you have a dishwasher). The kids help - it's my holiday too. We don't eat out much (fussy kids) and I reckon, even with lots more alcohol, 'treat' kinds of food, and trying local specialties, we only spend about 50% more on food than we would at home. For us, it's way cheaper to SC.

@juneau yes that's a good point - I didn't even consider HB!!
@Coronapop thank you, I'll also check that out just in case.
A friend mentioned Holiday Pirates to me, has anyone had any experience with them before?

SC depends where you are, really.

If you are in a lovely Breton market town where you can walk to buy fresh baguettes for breakfast, grab a croque monsieur for lunch and get a rotisserie chicken and some salad for dinner from the market, it's cheap and easy. If your gite is actually in the middle of nowhere, the nearest place is a very sleepy village with a fortnightly market, one boulangerie that has sold out by 9am every day and the whole place is closed on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday, it's very different.

AI also doesn't have to mean a mega complex with 3000 sun loungers around the water slides - lots of decent sized hotels do AI packages