Last minute beach holiday this August - is it doable or am I mad? Or camping in the UK instead?

[Bubblyb00b]

Hi, my work schedule threw me a curveball and I just found out I can take a week off at the end of August - was told before it was not possible. Which is great as it means I can do something with my DS before he starts school.

Ideally, I would really, really want to get some sea and sunshine, but I have no idea what to do. I don't have a huge budget, but I'm not really fussy - something decent with sea access would be great. The problem is, all the usual places I look at either too expensive/ too hot in August/ require a car to get there (I don't drive). I was recommended a place near Alicante (can book it but have to get a train to get there); Valencia - too hot; Greece, Sicily and Sardinia - too expensive, fires, too hot... I look at Lastminute/ Booking site - they seem to be the cheapest.

I normally prefer to stay in apartments (not Airbnb, don't use that) but this time would be happy to consider any options as really want DS to have a splash around and get some vitamin D. I would really like to find some small-ish place, where I can get to by train or bus from the airport and where I can go to a free beach.

Could anyone recommend anything, if its doable? Alternatively, I was looking at going camping in the UK, though it seems August is pretty much booked. Gosh, I'm so frustrated and angry at my boss... But really want to make it work for my kid. Thanks in advance for any help!!

Have you put your dates into Jet2, EasyJet & Tui's websites to see what's available?

If you're unsure about destinations but want sea and sun those 3 websites would be my first port of call.

The Skyscanner website lets you enter the dates then you can select "anywhere". This gives you the cheapest flights to anywhere in the world. For last week of August there are some good deals to Germany which might be the right temperature for you:

Compare Cheap Flights & Book Airline Tickets to Everywhere | Skyscanner

Malaga and get train from airport to coast torremolinos it has nice spots

You’re well placed if you can fly from London.

we used EasyJet holidays this year and found them great, and transfers are included. Have a look and see what is available but I’d imagine you’d have a few to chose from… Balearics/main land Spain esp

if you’d prefer to book separately, I was also going to suggest Barcelona, as flights are usually cheap ish and there’s lots of accommodation to chose from. There’s loads to do for kids and you can easily get to a beach from there.

Mijas is nice, you can fly to Malaga and then get a taxi (it’s about 30 mins). Lots of options for accommodation and a nice little town on the beach to base your stay.

Or like others have said, consider a last minute package and look on Tui. That’s what I did as a single adult with a child, and then you know everything is sorted for you.

Thanks everyone, really appreciate it! Will see what I could get )) Feeling a bit more optimisting on this drab and rainy day x

Mallorca is quite easy to get to and should be in your budget.

We like los cristianos, Tenerife. Can get a bus from the airport, plenty of apartments and hotels within walking distance of a beach, guaranteed sun.

We booked for Greece with Jet2 a few weeks ago, leave on Saturday. It came to just over £1500 for four of us and that was including booking plane seats, so it's definitely doable.

If your budget is 1.5k and there’s just 2 of you you can absolutely make it work!! We just booked last minute and spent 1.4k on 4 of us (5 yo and 1yo who’s free) for a week in Spain

Forgot to say we booked it last night for Sunday which probs helped with last minute deals

Flight to split
then stay on Ciovo, it’s €15\20 euros from airport in a taxi.
Okrug Gornji is a small resort great for children and you can take the boat/ water bus to Trogir of an evening or even into Split. Plenty of places to eat in Okrug Gornji Croatia is not as cheap as it once was but a beautiful country.

You can definitely do this. I’d agree with what PPs have said about Malaga - if you stay in the city itself there’s loads to do, and good beaches.
Faro is a good bet with public transport - a train line goes all along the coast to some great little resorts. Olhao is my favourite.
If you didn’t want to fly, you could have a look at St Jean de Luz, on the Atlantic coast near the Spanish border - really easy to get to by train.

If you don't want too much heat, how about San Sebastien in Northern Spain? Fly to Bilbao, then easy bus transfer. Its a lovely town with a nice sandy beach.

Netherlands is great for kids. You can get the ferry over. Have a look at Duinrell.

This isn't remotely last minute...this is what I'd call planning ahead! I think every single trip I've done this year, I've either booked it the day before or 2-3 days before at most. I've got health issues, so it's hard to book ahead not knowing how I'll feel.

You'll probably find it harder to get a good deal in August, because all of Europe is on holiday then, but it's not mad at all to go away. You've still got about 3 weeks to prepare. If you're on a tight budget, have you considered somewhere like Bulgaria? There are some beach resorts on the Black Sea. Varna is having some pleasant weather at the moment by the looks of it. Prices for things like food and drink way lower than Western Europe.

You don't say whereabouts you live, or how old DS is, but perhaps an Interrail pass? A 4 day pass is about £240 for an adult- and FREE for an under 12! 4 days should be more than enough to get you from home to somewhere in France/ Netherlands/ Germany and back. You do have to pay a £30 supplement each way for Eurostar though, and pass holder places sell out at busy times. The Belgian railways site - beurope.com- is able to tell you if there are passholder places on Eurostar before you commit to buying a pass. Check out the man in seat 61 for more info.

Regarding camping in the UK....indications are that the weather might improve in the second half of August 🤞. Many cheap informal campsites never sell out- I find that entering "Farm camping" into the search function on Google maps yields good results. Then you just have to find somewhere with good public transport links.

@Bubblyb00b have a look at Barcelona. There’s a beach there, usually quite cheap, loads to do and all central location

We booked quite late and we're going to Split in Croatia, which we chose because it seems to be about 10C cooler than Greece, which is where we were looking originally. There are 4 of us staying in a 2-bed apartment with a pool. I can't say whether your budget is achievable but it would be worth a look.
Split seems to be accessible by bus from the airport and it's on a little peninsula, so everywhere is quite close to the sea. There are lots of little islands to visit nearby.
Also look at Pula in Croatia, this seems to be the beach resort area. You can take a day trip to Venice from there!

There's a good choice on Tui to the Balearics, comfortably within your budget. I would recommend Menorca - lovely island, beautiful beaches, can be hot in August, but being an island, there's usually a nice breeze to cool things down.

Thanks! Very interested in train to France option - no idea how to get tickets though! do I get Eurostar and then look for a local train? Thanks in advance ))

I would check out the interail options

Go on eurostar.com site and type destination eg toulon for all through ticketing

Mallorca is wonderful we had easyjet flights and airbnb's last year when we went. Loved it and want to go back! In St Jean de Luz the weather is currently as shit as it is here, and as it was in northern Spain for us. We had a shit time this year. I'd rather go a bit further south and have it too hot than wet and miserable.

If you're at all interested in the train option, www.seat61.com is the bible. At this time of year, with a DC, an Interrail ticket will almost definitely be cheaper, especially if your journey to London is a long one, because that's covered too.You can check French ticket prices on any number of sites: SNCF, thetrainline.com, raileurope.eu etc. There is a "budget" TGV option called InOui, but I don't know how cheap it'll be in August.