Tips on finding a holiday for this summer

[Wheretowhereto]

We were due to go on holiday this Wednesday but due to serious illness of family member we were going with it had to be cancelled yesterday. Everyone is gutted and I’ve been up since 3am trying to find somewhere else to go but I’m just so overwhelmed with options, as in theory we can go anywhere and we can go in next 2 weeks or we can go late August. I think we want a half board or all inclusive type thing (not the holiday we were going for but perhaps needed), in Europe, we have 2 DC aged 8 & 6. Would like somewhere with lots for them to do, good pool, slides etc. 1 week, ideally separate sleeping area for kids rather than being together in one small room. Budget prob £3.5K which appreciate prob might not be enough for school hols but we’ve lost a fair bit on cancelled holiday.
Are there any recommended websites/booking agents? I’ve been looking at onthebeach, loveholidays, tui, but just end up scrolling through too many options. How do you all start your holiday searches, narrow by destination first? How do you suss out whether hotel is any good, just on the reviews? What about travel agents?
I’ve just been searching through last month or so of posts on this board to see if that gives me any ideas and there have been some great suggestions on other threads but when I’ve checked those hotels there’s no availability in next 6 weeks.
Any tips to help me make progress on my search would be so welcome!

I just search with one company at a time

highest rating
lowest price

ti start and see what comes up

with young children I’d want shorter flights

We’ve got a last-minute bargain for a Eurocamp style campsite in Spain (2 bedroom lodge style accommodation) with a half board meal package. Full board was available too. We sorted out own flights and it came in at less than £2k.

Thank you, I think I have been over complicating it by looking across sites and having a bazillion tabs open! Will go through one by one.

Thanks @Fivemoreminutes1, hadn’t considered a euro camp and didn’t know at their half/full board options so that’s really helpful. Are you hiring a car from wherever you fly into?

We used an old fashioned Travel Agent ... they are specialists, they know about holidays you may not find easily, if you give them your budget they will find something. Takes all the hassle out of trying to book a holiday.

We were recommended Neilson Holidays - worked really well for us with a teenager and I had always been a bit wary snobby about that sort of holiday.

Eurocamp is also a fab - used them when our DS was younger - prefer a mobile home or cabin rather than a tent.

I'd always look at Jet2holidays as my first option for package holidays.
Pick the dates you want and filter out anything with less than 4/5 on tripadvisor and search on price.
If you phone them up you can usually get another £60 off the price.

Centerparcs Europe tend to be cheaper than UK and often have last minute discounts

Another recommendation for jet2holidays and they have a good search facility.

Look in the deals section from your local airport to places you'd consider going to, select 4 rating and above on Trip Advisor, sort by price low to high. You can also set the board to HB/AI or whatever and there's holidays marked as family friendly/family luxe and a map option so you can check that the hotel isn't too far away from the beach etc.

Late August is probably least expensive, especially if you could go from a Scottish airport. If you have a Hays Travel or independent near you, they often have Jet2 offers

We keep booking TUI family blue as we find the concept really good for our kids, younger than yours but they have lots for other older kids too.

Do one website at a time. I’m most familiar with TUI, choice your date in the middle, add flexible by 7 day or maybe it’s just 3, the airports you want to fly from, then use the use the filter options eg waterpark, countries you want to travel to and then sort by total cost.

Tui do seem to have some good deals at the moment. Problem is that they seem to have been one of the worst affected with delays and cancellations recently, although the news probably makes it sound worse than it is and still 90% of people have a lovely holiday with no problems or only very minor delays.

I’d look at jet2 as well. Start by looking at the free child places as that will reduce costs and you can get an idea about locations and flights still available.

The stats said otherwise when I looked. % they were not the worst but they are the biggest holiday company so it was a greater number of people. I haven’t seen anything about package holidays been cancelled in recent weeks.

Go for jet2. They've not cancelled any flights yet as far as I know.

Where are you flying from?

I'd look at jet 2 and if you want something with water sides etc I'd look at Turkey.

@Wheretowhereto It’s not actually through Eurocamp, but it’s that kind of set up. We’re not hiring a car because there’s enough to do at the campsite, local town and beach.

That's not true. They are no worse affected than anyone else. But it's easier for the press to attack them - they are large and not British owned! I've traveled with TUI three times this year. The only delays I experienced were on one holiday, and caused by the UK airport. And comparing with friends and unbiased media, this has mostly been the issue whatever the company you travel with. Most journeys are fine, some aren't, and the UK airports are well below standard right now. My friend had travelled twice with Jet2 - delays both times, due to the airport.

We’ve used Cyprus Paradise cyprusparadise.com
for our last two holidays and stayed at Salamis Bay Conti resort. Great hotel and all inclusive and the kids absolutely loved spending every day on the water slides. We flew with Turkish airlines which was scheduled so no issues with flights. They cover north and south Cyprus. Was a bit far for me though so wouldn’t want to do it again for a long time but I’m a bad traveler. Might be a bit over your budget now though - we went over May half term so was probably cheaper then but might be worth a look on the website.

If you're in the North consider flying from one of the Scottish airports - they'll be cheaper because the Scottish school kids will be back at the end of August

Why was the holiday cancelled for everybody due to the illness of one person when you're rebooking without them? Or do insurance companies insist if one needs to cancel then all is cancelled?