How much do you have to spend...

[nappiesandcontracts]

...to be guaranteed a nice holiday?

First time booking holiday in school holidays and I can't believe the prices. I've found a few options (package holidays) around our budget (4-5k) which look nice but then get some pretty negative reviews on Tripadvisor, eg bad food, not enough sun beds, dirty room, tired-looking etc.

Am I looking in the wrong places or do I need to stretch the budget further?

I've not been abroad in a few years and never in school holidays before so pretty clueless about how much we need to spend. I thought our budget was pretty generous for 2A + 2C but maybe not!!

We are going to the same place we went last year as it was so good. Turkey, all inclusive, beautiful hotel (we even got married there), bags for kids and adults to do, lovely food. £3200 for 3 of us with the free kids place.

Don't go for package holiday. Sort your own flight and accommodation. We've done this ever since forced to go in school hols and it's so much cheaper.
Seems a bit scary at first if you've only done packages but we've done it for years now and had fantastic holidays and accommodation that you'll never get with a package plus complete flexibility over dates and length of holiday.
When DC were younger (now teens) and we could get kid fares, have paid less than 3k for 16 days in Spain with beautiful 2 bed apartments and car in August.
Book early, check reviews and always book on a credit card.

Would you mind sharing the name of the resort? I feel like I'm in google/Tripadvisor hell so any recommendations are much appreciated!

Depends where you want to go. That budget in Majorca in the first week of August won’t go that far. Sunny Beach in Bulgaria, probably further!
I think there’s a difficult price point at around that amount: over £3000 is a lot of money when you think about it. So you expect something good. But actually, demand means it can be a bit tired, chips at all meals, nowhere to lie down. Once you get above £6000, (a really large amount of money: more than 6 months of my mortgage), things improve an you probably get loungers on your terrace (my last holiday had this and it made a great difference). If you spend £900 on a holiday, you’d expect a lot less and be relatively happy as long as it was clean, safe etc.

I don’t do package holidays. I find the cheapest flights from our local airport to somewhere I want to go on the dates I can do. I then find an Airbnb and check there are things to do, local shops for food/restaurants etc. Almost without our fail we holiday with friends, usually those who have similar age children which makes it significantly easier and cheaper.

Thanks, I'm coming to the realisation that a lot of what you're paying for with packages is the convenience. Trouble is, I think we probably need that as my youngest is only 2, so going somewhere full of families where no-one would bat an eyelid at any tantrums definitely appeals! Pre children we were pretty intrepid travellers (backpacking etc) but we haven't quite worked out how to "do" family holidays yet. I thought a package would bd the easy/safe options but the thought of spending 5k to stay somewhere pretty crummy is depressing!

You've hit the nail on the head. I've stayed in plenty of ok-ish places for cheap in my time, just can't seem to make the mental adjustment to school holiday prices where you pay a lot for not very much... 🥴

When my DC were young we did the Eurocamp/Canvas style holidays and stayed ina 3 bedroom lodge/mobile home. It was great for the space, separate rooms etc plus the outside aspect to it all! Could just open the doors in the morning and they'd be outside playing with other kids. BBQs in evening or takeaway or eating out. Some places do kids discos etc and shows. We did several in France but our favourite was Camping Portofelice just north of Venice. We flew to Venice and got the local bus! Great local bus service so didn't need a car. By the a beautiful Sandy beach and a short walk into a wee town. Loads on for kids and great pools.

We decide where we want to go, flights are usually cheapish as we have a BA Amex card and use it for all our spending to rack up points and get the free flight for a companion. Look at holiday rentals for something that appeals (depends on the tone, city break, beach, country). We like to have separate bedrooms for the children, washing machine is a must so we can pack light. Good kitchen/bbq/terrace space. We go out sightseeing during the day and have a lazy lunch. Then back to the accommodation to have a play around, nighttime routine, bed for children. We then cook up a feast, wine on the terrace/garden and relax. You can spend as much as you want then! I don’t want to stay in accommodation that is worse than our house, so I tend to spend more there and make life as comfortable as possible.

A week o just over a week in Europe, probably 3k booking well in advance.

We don’t do package holidays, normally self catering, rent a car to explore the area, visit different sights, beaches, eat out for dinner or lunch sometimes but not all the time; other times we just cook easy meals and eat breakfast.

Wr have been in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal

Sounds like packages are not the way to go for cheapness! Thanks for all the advice. Just need to decide whether the extra cost would be worth it for the added convenience...