Never taken the kids abroad...

[Winona45]

We've had a shitty year but am a lone parent with low funds. I'd love to take them away this summer. Eldest 2 are desperate to go on a plane.
France seems to be cheapest for flights but I'd really like to do a beach holiday. Is that doable for France?
I also don't drive and everywhere seems a drive from airports.

Can anyone help?

Have you looked at Skyscanner for flights? Spain is often cheapest. You can put in your departure airport then 'Anywhere' for the destination and 'Whole month' for the time period. I've found that sometimes the cheapest flights can be found by looking at the outward and return flights separately - there's a box to tick for one way or return.

I don't know about the summer, but Malaga has always been cheap to get to from our regional airport at Easter and Feb half term. I've bought return flights for £28 each before, and this year our outward flights were just £8 each! We went with one airline and came back with another.

Malaga itself is lovely or if you don't fancy that, Benalmadena, Fuengirola etc are close by - there's a train to both of those places or pre-booking a taxi in the UK (there are often offers for Hoppa etc) can be cheap. Hope you find something!

How old are your children? My friend takes her kids to Salou on a package deal as it's easy to keep them entertained they have 2 theme parks and a water park. Barcelona is also close enough for a day trip.

Don't do it in summer. It'll be hot and crowded. How about Menorca in October?

Menorca or Majorca are not very secure weather wise, if you want a beach holiday don’t go October half term.

Spain or Greece will be boiling, so it depends. If you like the current weather you should be fine.

Maybe looks for places really close to airport.. I know biarritz in France is v close to airport so cheap taxi.
It has excellent bus service and if you based yourself in biarritz you could do day trip or stay a couple of nights in fabulous St Sebastian over the border...