2 adults and a 2 year old coming to £2k

[Flamingo84]

It’s been a while since I’ve booked a holiday. We need to take next years over the 1st week of September and have been looking at ideas and rough prices. I’m seeing that £2k for the three of us seems to be a trend!

Our main criteria is short flight, no driving abroad and somewhere DS can enjoy.

Before Ds, DH and I went on cruises but we also enjoy beach/city stays too. I’ve priced a few holidays we might be interested in:

7 nights half board in Costa Del Sol from local airport £2357 for all of us.
7 nights villa in Majorca from local airport £2256 but this is obvs self catering and almost an hour from the airport which I don’t fancy with a toddler.
4 nights Disneyland Paris Santa Fe Hotel, half board incl park tickets and Eurostar £2295.
7 night Disney Cruise from Dover around Norwegian Ffjords, all inclusive £3966.
7 night Royal Caribbean cruise from Southampton to France and Spain, all inclusive and balcony £4052 ( inside was about £3k)

I’m getting to the point where if it’s £2k for Costa Del Sol, I’d rather pay the extra and go somewhere amazing or something really geared to DS. We’ve done UK trips the last 5 years so really want to go abroad.

Any suggestions or recommendations? Anything we should avoid with a 2 year old?

Avoid Venice. It's all up and down steps over canal bridges. Nightmare with a child in a buggy.

would something like [https://www.canvasholidays.co.uk/italy/rome/campsite-fabulous.php this]] work for you in italy? Its got restaurants, a mini mart etc on site so whilst isn't AI, you do have options there. it is also near rome so you could leave the site and eat there x

Look for free child places on TUI. U can get something for less than 2 grand on there geared for kids. Especially if u will consider 3 star or max 4 star

Camping Fabulous is amazing and I'd thoroughly recommend it but leaving to eat in Rome isn't really an option.

Thanks for the suggestions.

The campsite looks amazing! I love Italy too, but I think it’s going to be a bit too far out from the airport for us. I’ll definitely be keeping it in mind for when DS is older, looks great for kids.

I looked at TUI but I have a feeling our local airport is what’s pushing the prices up.

All of Spain/Balearics were coming in at £1800 the cheapest. Also the only flight for the week we need is at 6am which means a 3am wake up call. We’ve just got him to stop getting up at 5am!

I called Royal Caribbean and got a better price but it was still over £3k so that’s doubtful.

DH wants to do the Disney cruise as he’s a spend today, worry about it tomorrow type. I might try calling them and see if they have any offers on.

All this trawling through the internet for deals makes me miss brochures!

The Euro rate is terrible at the moment, with all the insecurity about Brexit etc. So it's making a big difference to holiday costs.

I'm in the same predicament. I found that Jet 2 have good package deals for next September and will shortly be booking a 7 night holiday in Rhodes staying at the Sheraton resort half board. It comes to around £2k for 2 adults and a 1 year old with flights from London

We did the place in Italy without a car. Think we got a taxi from the airport, and used their shuttle service to get back to the airport at the end.
We were full of ideas about grabbing the bus into Rome, but never made it!

Booking directly with the hotel can save a fortune. Sign up to newsletters or, if they offer it, become a member and you can often save 10% or so. You should get an early booking discount too.

Which airport are you looking at and what star rating if a hotel? We often holiday in September and usually pay around £1k for 2 adults B&B in those sorts of places in a 4 star hotel with flights, so it seems mad that a toddler is more than doubling the cost.

Have a look on jet2holidays if the airports suit, you can get any board, plus villas all over Europe with mostly daytime flights, plus you should get a free child place. I would have thought you could get a lovely holiday for half the prices you've stated or not much more.

Can you travel a week later? How long do you want to go for?

Thanks for the responses.

It’ll be DS first holiday so we don’t want too much travelling in one day/ long transfers etc in case he has a complete meltdown (and someone start a threat on here about the feral child in the airport! ).

The Costa Del sol Hotel I priced up was direct with the hotel and flights on sky scanner. But if we spot somewhere we love I’ll definitely sign up for their newsletter in case they have offers.

Unfortunately Jet2holidays airports aren’t anywhere near us. It’d mean a 4/5hr drive pre-flight or a hotel the night before. Annoying as I’ve seen them recommended loads!

We’re tied into those dates due to childcare issues. We’ll need to either spend £500 on different childcare or book the time off anyway so we thought we’d use it as our summer holiday. We’re looking at a week ideally.

Holidays in the school holidays are much more expensive.

The kids go back on the 2nd September 2020 here and we want to go starting 30th Aug, 31st, 1st or 2nd. Was hoping prices had dropped a bit as any kids would be missing the first week back.

I’m debating pricing up holidays in May time and might just have to leave the September holiday idea. One of those ideas that are good in theory!

try holidaypirates, jacks flight club, and travel republic for good deals

We have always done May and October and get the 3 of us around £1600 AI usually (just outside but usually overlapping with half terms)

Last year we did Cyprus AI with Tui for £1750 for a week - was lovely. What is your local airport? Is there nothing a little further but bigger?

Last year we did Cyprus AI with Tui for £1750 for a week In September, First week - for a friends wedding (I said this in my head but didn't type it for some reason)

We have done villa holidays for the last five years and we book about a week before we go and always get a half price villa and this is in the school summer holidays. If you can risk a late deal, you'll pick up something much cheaper than £2k. James Villas is currently advertising a villa and flights for under £600 leaving this Thursday. Others at £1200. The last minute prices/deals for first week of September are always good.