Somewhere pretty we can live cheaply for 3-4 weeks?

[Saving7787]

We’re in transition at the moment (two adults and two preschool kids) and, in between our sale and our new place, we are wondering if we can stay somewhere cheaply for 3/4 weeks - preferably abroad.

Any suggestions? Our budget would be £3k for flights, accommodation and food (flights feel like they’ll be a big part of the expense as there are four of us, sadly neither child is under 2 so free!). We’re open to any suggestions! And do have some air miles which usually take us to America etc. But with young kids, it needs to have a level of comfort and be a fun place to be.

DH works remotely and not 9-5 so can be any time zone.

Wrote that in a rush! I don’t mean “usually take us” I mean “usually are available”. Not making much sense - am so tired!

What time of year? My go-to would be somewhere like Valencia - not the busiest tourist city, plenty of green space with so many different parks, little museums and activities for the kids, beach nearby, lots of interesting day trips to smaller towns / Albufera / down the coast to explore on weekends. Not sure how much an Airbnb would cost for a month but flights can be cheap - or you can fly to Madrid or Barcelona and get the low-cost high speed trains (Avlo) - but food is dirt cheap, activities can be as cheap as you want them to be. Hire a car for trips out and just walk / cycle inside the city.

That said, I asked about time of year because depending on how much heat you can put up with, I’d avoid mid July to mid August when temperatures reach 37-40 degrees daily, with high humidity. It’s great for being on the beach all day but not so much for behaving like a functioning adult who needs to work, clean and do the food shop

I’d say Spain would be your best bet, but I’ve read that they are going to get a heatwave with possible fires.

Given that your budget is modest, I think I'd see take a look at low cost flights and see where you can fly to for the least money and then see what you can find in terms of an apartment or cottage in that area. I would've thought that you could easily find something in rural Spain, Portugal, France or Italy that would fit the bill. Valencia I think might blow the budget, because cities can be expensive to stay in, but anywhere that is a bit inland or without sea views tend to be much cheaper. If you don't want to hire a car though make sure that wherever you're staying has a supermarket and reliable, regular public transport.

Slovenia!!!!! Either in Ljubljana, Piran on the coast or up in the mountains - or all three.

I would 2nd Valencia, I live an hour south and we have missed the heatwaves fortunately - only 30c today. What time of year would you need the accommodation for ? Flights to Valencia are often cheaper than the touristy airports especially in the summer . It's a wonderful family friendly city with so much to do.

You could take the ferry/tunnel to France and head south.

I agree we would need to know what time of year
I think you would be better going with a car rather than fly there and be stuck in one place not being able to do day trips.
I would go for france, Italy or Slovenia.

Thank you for these so far!

It’ll be fairly soon - June and maybe some of July. July obviously creeps into half term, so we’d avoid that time if we can!

Our car is quite small, but driving might be an idea. Although we can’t actually fit much stuff in it!