All inclusive or B&B

[Littlesticklebrick]

Hiya, I’m looking at holidays for myself and my 9yr old son. On past holidays I’ve done AI as I find this a ‘safe’ option as I’m on my own. I’m considering B&B this year and wondering if anyone that does this themselves cold give me a rough prices for food out, Ice cream prices, standard drinks. I just wanted to see if I’m making a saving doing this?
I don’t drink much alcohol at all so the free drinks aren’t worth it I don’t think. Although it’s nice not to worry about having money on you all the time.
Thanks in advance.

Which country?

It massively depends on where you are going and standard of accommodation you are comparing it to. However I’d say generally we go SC and pay as much if not more as AI when factoring in spending money. Breakfast is normally bakery or supermarket food in the apartment as we all get up at different times and not everyone does big breakfasts. Lunch is normally a sandwich or nice bread, meats cheeses etc. plus snacks. Evening meal is always out. During the day we all drink water or soft drinks. In the evening DH has lager but I’m teetotal. Kids eat adult portions. In short I don’t think we save anything compared to AI but I feel the food and the eating out experience is nicer. I have seen AI places that charge less than I’ve paid SC this year but I wouldn’t want to stay in them. This is comparing to Balearics as that’s where we went last and where we are going next. They are expensive for food though, almost everywhere else is cheaper to eat out.

You could go half board. So you're just eating out for lunch. That way you can do some nice day trips wherever you are.

Have you looked at HB for an option?
For our October break for 4 people HB was just an extra £100 for the week, whereas AI was going to be an extra £800 or so. So we've gone HB as there is DS16 and his pal of the same age, so they have hollow legs.
Means we just need to cover lunch and if we fancy an evening out we can swap the evening meal for a lunch at the hotel.

I’d say also consider what you do during the day. We never stay in the hotel grounds so we aren’t forced to pay hotel prices for drinks as most don’t like you bringing in your own. We tend to go to the beach or on trips so a drink might just be a big bottle from the supermarket rather than four drinks from a cafe for us. Same with ice lollies, crisps etc

Thanks for this. I’m wanting the eating out experience rather than staying in all of the time. I think I can do that now my son is 9 as he’ll enjoy it too. I failed to say where I was looking at, probably Majorca or somewhere similar.

Thanks for your ideas, I’ll look into them. 😀

I usually find that the increase in costs to AI isn't worth it for my child and I, just a tad younger than yours.

Depending on how long I'm going for, if abroad often find that I'm better off financially opting for breakfast and dinner, as dinner is often at a later time, with sufficient time to be out and about, exploring etc. Can stop for lunch etc.

When we went to Spain, had we not had dinner in the evening, the difference in money costs for an evening meal out every night, would have been well over 2.5 times what we paid out, assuming you want to eat proper meals.

I find some parts of Mallorca quite expensive for eating out, at least as much as the UK, noticeably more than mainland Spain or the Canaries, although alcoholic drinks are usually cheaper.

Having said that, I think B&B and some eating out can be cheaper than nice AI, but a better experience than buffet AI, which isn't very relaxing, I like to eat outside and be served at a table on the seafront, or in a nice square.

We normally stay SC or B&B in an apartment, so we can stock up on drinks, snacks, ice creams and food for lunches, BBQs, nibbles etc. We then usually have a big breakfast maybe at about 9 to 10 am and then either have lunch at a restaurant mid afternoon while out and about and then something like cheese, ham, bread, olives, crisps etc on the balcony in the evening, or we might go out for a drink and a few tapas. Or we might just have a slice of pizza, ice cream or sandwich in the daytime, then have a meal out in the evening or a BBQ. So we only pay for one full restaurant meal on both days, and the rest of the food is at supermarket prices.

But then if it's just you and a 9 YO and he wants to meet other kids, you might want to stay in a hotel/apartment complex with a communal pool, activities etc, so he can entertain himself some of the time. Although that shouldn't tie you to AI, there's lots of accommodation with these facilities but also any sort of food provision from SC to AI.

So I'm terms of specific costs, this is based more on Tenerife than Majorca but hopefully gives you an idea:

Ice cream - usually around 2-3 euros from an ice cream stall

Soft drinks- roughly 3-4 euros in a cafe. I tend to buy them from the supermarket when we're at the beach but DS is older and DH is there too

• if you had a fridge in your room could buy some and keep them there

• meals depends on where you eat. It is possible to eat out cheaply with say a pasta dish at a cheap restaurant being around 7-8 euros. Look out for restaurants not on the main strip for the less expensive options. But if you add in drinks and bread it's probably going to be around 15 euros each.

• Lunch will be less and you can buy filled rolls for about 4-5 euros

Problem for us is where do
You do this. We like our drinks and meals to get a break from the sun but sit down meals do add up cost wise.

I find some parts of Mallorca quite expensive for eating out, at least as much as the UK, noticeably more than mainland Spain or the Canaries, although alcoholic drinks are usually cheaper.

Just looking at my receipt from McDonalds in Palma last month (needed a quick meal...) and the adults meals are basically the same price (7 euros or so) as in the UK.