@goodnightgrumble
How the hell do you afford all these holidays? Does booking early make a difference?
am an addict and save a few hundred each month for holidays but couldn't afford all these!
I have been to a lodge in North Yorkshire, got South of France in a gite in June and probably Cornwall in August camping!
Book flights early. Book everything separate, research hotels (it's not always true that booking direct with the hotel will be cheaper- I booked 4 nights in Salamanca, Spain for the end of August and the hotel website gave me £350 (it's 4 star with breakfast included) but Expedia gave me £247 with member discount. I couldn't get 4 nights in the UK at a similar level for that. The flights were about £30.
I like to do multi-city trips so sit and work out if it's cheaper to do Copenhagen -Berlin-Vienna for 3 nights each or Vienna-Berlin-Copenhagen etc.
If you need train travel within a country sign up to their app etc and you'll get discounts. Trenitalia for Italy for example almost always has 30% offers from the app.
I think you have to decide your criteria as well. I'll go cheap as chips for a flight but want no less than a 3* hotel and with breakfast included. I'm a member of all the big chain hotel apps (Holiday Inn, NH, Radisson, Best Western etc) I tend to go straight for them for a city.
Booking early makes a difference with flights, definitely. Not so much hotels. Since Covid I always pay that little bit extra for the "can be cancelled with full refund up to 24 hours before" and "pay nothing now, pay at hotel" option if it's there.