Where are the cheapest shirt haul holidays - flights and/or food and drink costs

[hollisatze]

Borderline on whether we get abroad next year as the costs of package holidays have risen so much.

Considering trying to put together a cheap short haul but wonder where seems to be the cheapest place to fly to or have reasonable food and drink costs whilst there.

It may be that short haul they are all much the same but asking in case there is a hidden gem worth knowing about.

Portugal is good value.

Greece is cheap when you get there. Flights possibly dearer than Spain/France etc because it’s further.

Poland! So cheap! Not buckets and spades & pools though obviously!

DS has just been to Romania (Transylvania) He said it was really cheap. Probable not the type of holiday you were looking for but he loved it.

Bulgaria always seems to be very cheap comparatively. No idea what it's like tho.

Yes I noticed this on the packages - May need to research this a bit more.

self catering when you’re there will make a massive difference to overall cost.

Bulgaria and turkey always seem to be the cheapest. Sorry no idea about Bulgaria though! Hopefully someone will be along soon who's holidayed there

Do no named accommodation holidays still exist?

Not necessarily. We go to Canaries, Balearics and Mainland Spain quite a lot and flights to Canaries often cheapest.

Canaries also good value for eating out and supermarkets. Eating out significantly cheaper than Balearics for example.

It depends what you want/what your tastes are. If you just want some sun you could just find the cheapest using something like Jet2holidays deals finder. All inclusive could work out cheaper but it might be a bit 'rowdy, beige and chips'.

Other options could be Eurocamp/caravan - there's lots of these on Costa Brava and self cater, some eating out. Just get basic/easy food.

If eating out, it's often cheaper at lunchtime. Plus I find I can't eat two main restaurant meals a day, so we often have a decent breakfast in the accommodation, eg slice of ready made tortilla, bread and roast tomatoes, just stick it all in the oven. Then lunch out at Spanish lunch time, so 3/4 pm, then in the evening I'm just happy with a snack (stock up on crisps, cheese, ham, bread, olives etc) or a tapa or two while out for drinks.

Turkey quite cheap when you get there, flight prices massively depend on whereabouts you're flying from in my experience!

Have you got DC? I always do package holidays I book well in advance and book with TUI they offer discount codes throughout the year. If you happen to be NHS staff you get money off too through NHS heroes.

Every where is pricey at the moment and I would look now and try book in January because everyone will be skint and prices may have dropped.

Bulgaria isn't overly cheap for a 5* hotel I booked in the pandemic and it was cancelled.

Where would you fly from and what dates?

Gdynia/Sopot/Gdańsk have beaches and are holiday destinations. Lovely place to visit and use to be cheap but haven’t been in about 5 years. I’m sure the Zloty is much stronger than it use to be on the ££

London or Birmingham

May half term
Summer holiday or
October half term

Yes two children under 13

I'd go to a city with good facilities for families like Munich. There are swimming pools dotted around everywhere and it's cheaper than your local leisure centre. Michaelibad is our favourite. Spend the whole day there, picnic lunch, meal in a biergarten on the way back to the hotel.