All inclusive holidays

[MCMP13]

Hello

I am booking a holiday for this summer, I know my DH prefers all inclusive but I prefer self catering. Has anyone ever book all inclusive but then some night a week went out to have meals at restaurants? I can't help thinking it's a waste of money if we do that 🤦🏻‍♀️.

I find AI holidays are not much more expensive that others and I still eat out some of the evenings. It stops the hassle of having to buy drinks, lunch, breakfast etc during the day and some evenings we would eat at the resort and others eat out. I don’t see AI as an excuse to go crazy with the food and drink, just makes it a bit easier.

We always go all inclusive but never eat any evening meals in the hotel. I just like the fact you can have breakfast / lunch/ soft drinks and alcoholic drinks if you want to.

For a compromise, how about half board ?
We normally go self catering or breakfast only but with DS16 and his pal coming in October it seemed like a good idea to have some meal costs paid for up front. At the place we're going to you can change to have lunch paid for instead of dinner sometimes.

If you go s.c., who will shop, prep & cook? Even if it's only for brekkie it's not much of a holiday for the cook.

Cost it out.

Even when it was just ds and I, at a cost of £100 a day it was well
Worth it for lunch, drinks etc. usually eat in hotel once or twice, on the days we’ve been out all day.

If you are going to be out on trips or at the beach all day then it might hit be worth it as you’ll be eating out for 2 meals + all the drinks

Paying £50 fir lunch at a hotel puts me in a bad mood…. Quality probably not as good with AI but with kids it’s def worth it.

I always compare the price eg self catering v all inclusive and often find if it’s only a couple hundred more it’s totally worth it and usually still go out eat for a few evenings

I think all inclusive is definitely worth it!

Neilson. Breakfast and lunch included plus some evening meals so you get to go out on the other nights to try the local restaurants.

@Georgyporky

If you go s.c., who will shop, prep & cook? Even if it's only for brekkie it's not much of a holiday for the cook.

Who actually cooks on a sc holiday in the Med though? We don't. Breakfast is just fresh bread etc, then we eat out for lunch and dinner.

I dislike the idea of AI because it is terrible for the local economy. Also, we prefer to eat locally produced food in local restaurants/tavernas/bistros etc. And the food is better.

We do book AI for the convenience it has. No issues with another ice cream or a drink after dinner.

But, DH prefers to "leave the prison" every couple of nights. If we are away for an outing during the day we often eat at the resort as we are too tired to do a lot more. But after a day at the pool we prefer eating outside.

We also do self-catering, having done it the last four years we decided to enjoy a hotel this year again. I love to cook and it's not really a chore, I mean I don't do big meals, it's not a lot to do some pasta or similar. As long as DH cleans up and does the dishes I don't mind.

All inclusive is costing us roughly £500 more than self catering for 2 adults and 2 children(13 and 8). Roughly £17 a day each. That would just about cover an evening meal out. The small difference in price made the decision easy for us. We still want to eat out 2-3 times for the experience though.

We usually do all inclusive and eat out half the week at least. I still think they’re good value for money if you’re eating breakfast, lunch and snacks at the hotel and then all your drinks.

However, I am extremely picky about which all inclusive hotels I book and read lots and lots of reviews. Typically we go somewhere 5* and with a couple of different restaurants so it’s absolutely not beige buffet food all week.

I've done both.
AI when DC were teens and S/c most of the time. Never cooked a meal in S/C but you get so much more space.

This time I have booked AI for the sea front location and luxury rooms but plan to eat out in the evenings most nights.

You have to get out of the mindset of "I've paid for the meal therefore can't waste it".
Just treat it as adding flexibility.