Self catering vs all inclusive

[Pickingmyselfup]

I'm just looking at the prices of hotels for a holiday and all inclusive works out as being £1500 more expensive for a week for a family of 4 than self catering. That works out at £208 for all of us a day.

That needs to cover all meals and drinks as well as snacks. I think if we went self catering the liklihood is that we would spend less but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't much.

We just spent 4 nights at Butlins and whilst we weren't being either flash or frugal I bet we spent at least £500 on all food and drink and that was with some good discounts. We are going to the Canaries where food and drinks are cheaper but I bet not by much. We ate out 3 nights, 3 lunches, one breakfast, no desserts after our meals and not many treats like ice cream either.

All inclusive appeals for the ease, we don't need to worry about what the fussy kids will eat, if they want an ice cream or dessert it's not an issue.

Self catering appeals because we can visit different places and we aren't stuck with what the hotel has to offer but if we ate out every day I could imagine it wouldn't cost that much less if you did it like for like. I always get stuck doing the cooking as always and would feel like we had to be careful about letting the kids have dessert or ice cream.

We are going to visit family really so we know where to eat and drink so that's a big plus for self catering. We are happy to have breakfast in our apartment but it's the dinner and little extras that I like to spend money on and I like a drink too.

I really can't decide what is best to be honest so please let me know your experiences.

The family consists of:
Me-eats most things, drinks alcohol
Husband-fussy eater, drinks a little out but hardly anything
Children aged 7 and 9 by next year and currently are very fussy, would rather graze than eat a meal and love an ice cream.

We haven't been overseas since 2016 when my eldest was a baby. We've had a couple of Cornwall breaks and Butlins so I don't want to have to scrimp.

We are looking at almost 4K for an all inclusive holiday or a bit under £2500 for self catering. 4K is affordable but it seems so expensive for a week, I might be out of touch though.

I think it partially depends on how good the food at AI you go to is - I think a good AI with good food and decent drink offering would be worth the extra money for the ease / the ability to just say yes to whatever people want.

Have you got a particular resort in mind?

In the school summer holidays £1k per person for AI is fairly standard - are the prices you’re getting including any free child places as that makes a big difference?

I don’t think you save anything unless you cook. We always go self catering and eat out and find it a much better food experience, better quality ingredients, table service, nicer views and surroundings but my kids are adventurous and old enough to eat adult meals. They are also old enough to want expensive mocktails

We always do half board : breakfast and dinner and sort out lunch by ourselves. it’s less hassle than full self catering and much cheaper then all inclusive because the alcohol is not covered.
Our reasons: we don’t drink much, we usually do light lunch ( bread, cheese or sliced meat, fruits). The choice of ice cream at the hotel is not particularly exciting whereas there is a place near by (5 minutes walk) with fab gelato. There is a supermarket near by so it’s easy to get things. I wouldn’t say that we’re very fussy eaters but a bit.

I don;t think one is "better" than the other. They are different, we have done both, we have enjoyed both.

I find AI is always better value and I enjoy the lack of hassle. Especially with kids.

I would read food reviews but generally would go with AI with a similar family. Also AI sometimes includes activities as well as food, drinks etc. Mine love mocktails and also we have 1 veg, 1 asd so the massive range you get at AI works better. Alternatively is half board an option though its often more and I find in heat drinks add a lot.

Self catering all the way for the flexibility it gives you. If you end up not liking the quality of the food of the AI you've booked then you're stuck with it as you've already paid.

I just came back from eurocamps (self catering) and the amount of stress around food and drink is too much. Never again AI from now on for me

We recently went AI in Spain as it works out really expensive to go self catering as a family of 6 and I absolutely don't want to be cooking on holiday
But I get so bored of AI really quickly. By day 3 I'm sick of it and although we both drink alcohol I honestly don't think we get our moneys worth. By about day 4 the kids are only eating chips and bread rolls
If I were going to the canaries I'd got self catering
In Spain Costa Brava eating out was the same sort of prices as at home if not more, same went for drinks in bars

We - me, DH and DS (14) - always go half board too, it saves us a lot of hassle. We're not fussy and eat anything and everything; I don't really drink a lot, husband has few drinks in the evenings. Lunch is like yours: bread, cheese and cold meats for sandwiches plus crisps.

We came back from Portugal last week and the complex/resort we stayed in had two mini markets inside and saved us a lot of money.

OP, even if your kids are fussy eaters they're likely to enjoy the variety on offer, not to mention desserts are always appealing to kids. I don't think the food on holidays has to be Michelin starred, it only has to be cooked properly and have plenty of variety. If I want be really particular about food I go on a city break to visit specific places. My summer holidays are for rest and relaxation, and that includes no cooking at all since I cook pretty much every day at home

I’ve never done AI. It intrigues me but I’ve never bitten the bullet as I was worried about the food not being very nice/boring after a while. Also was worried about having to hang around near people going too heavy on the alcoholic drinks.
So we normally go for an Airbnb type place, which has better facilities than many self catered places. I find the foreign supermarkets fascinating, and get a load of breakfasty bits and snacks at the start of the holiday.
I like trying lots of different restaurants, but can totally understand the appeal of not having to go somewhere different each night, or deciding what to do. We just came back from holidays and tended to spend about €50-70 for a meal and a drink for 4 of us, no starters or desserts. We tended to have an easy breakfast at home, and one meal at home, one out per day. Meals at home tended to be bread, ham and cheese so not much prep effort.
We got multipacks or cornetto type ice creams at the supermarket, as well as the occasional bought ice cream.
Probably depends what you like doing. I would like there to be a kind of catered chalet option, like if you go skiing. So nice home cooked meals most nights, with a night off to go out in town.

It's a preference thing. I like my own space so we always self cater. I couldn't cope with all inclusive. My best mate loves the all inclusive. Doesn't want to bother with cooking on holiday. I think most people are one or the other.

I’d do self catering.

Get pastries / rolls / cheese for lunch, eat out at economical places at night.

But that’s because I like to explore and try different cafes etc.

s/c you can stick the fridge with drinks and ice creams from the supermarket.

How much time would you spend at an AI hotel? If you were out and about you’d still need to buy drinks, ice creams and snacks out.

Totally different experiences, we favoured AI when our DS’s were little, as they could have snacks, ice creams and soft drinks whenever they wanted rather than stick to meal times etc. we always booked good quality all inc, not worth paying for a bad all inc, tripadvisor is a reliable source to gauge opinion.

When DS’ got older and we wanted more space, we booked s/c villas with private pool. We had breakfast in villa, sometimes lunch out, dinner out every evening. Probably not much in it financially, I don’t think eating out is as cheap as it used to be.

pros and cons with each option. Have a lovely holiday whatever you decide.

I’d definitely do self catering if the difference in cost is 200+ per day, it’s far more freeing. Get cereals from the supermarket for breakfast, light lunch and dinner out. For 4 of you you’d be looking at 120 per night ish for food if you don’t drink too much. If you have steaks one night have pizza/pasta the next to balance out spending.
Everyone I speak to who goes all inc inevitably ends up paying for one or two meals out. We’ve only gone all inclusive when we’ve been skint and got a cracking deal and intended eating at the hotel all the time, even then we’ve ended up buying drinks when we’ve been out walking or lunches if we’ve been sightseeing. I think last year we still spent 200 out of the hotel and that was actively trying to use the all inclusive to its fullest. So when you are calculating the difference in cost don’t forget to add in some spending outside of the all inclusive

We do half board but only hotels that will allow us do Breakfast and Lunch rather than Breakfast and Dinner. We do tend to eat out in the evening. We get icecream etc with lunch and tend to buy our own alcohol. Financially it works out the best value for us.

Depends if you would eat meals out if self catering, also are you big drinkers (even soft drinks add up)

We rarely eat both lunch and dinner out if self catering. More likely to do one meal and one snack/coffee/cake then a lighter meal where we're staying that doesn't involve cooking. So your budget would be generous for us. Even if it was the same cost, we prefer the flexibility of self catering

You could take an ethical stance and support local food businesses. All too often in resorts dominated by all inclusive hotels the local bars and restaurants struggle. All inclusive keeps money in the big hotel companies and it goes to shareholders. Waiters etc lose out on tips as people don’t carry money. All inclusive is terrible for the local economy

Always self-cater personally but the big cost savings are if you cook yourself. I don't mind cooking on holiday. I find it much easier with fussy DC and much prefer the flexibility. If you don't want to cook though it might end up being a lot more costly or you feel resentful if you have to cook when you don't want to.

Totally agree.

Haven't done half-board either for years because it's so tying and I don't want to eat in the same place every night.

It's easy enough to put together breakfast/lunch cheaply and go different places every night for dinner.

This. And you can’t put a price on having it cooked for you, and someone else washing up!

One of the best bits of a holiday is going round foreign supermarkets 😂
Self catering all the way

@allmyliesaretrue Yep! We eat breakfast in and then have lunch and dinner out :)

We do all inclusive then eat out may once or twice per week on an evening. It still works out cheaper than going full board and buying drinks