Family of 5

[80skid]

I've never been abroad with my family before. I've looked at holidays but we don't fit in a family hotel room and kids too young to have their own room. We're idly wondering if we could find somewhere late notice, cheap and cheerful either oct half term or just after Christmas.
Any suggestions? I think self catering is the way forward. I have no idea about searching for cheap flights/ booking transfers etc, all completely new to me. I'd be grateful to hear how other families of 5 manage it. Thanks 😊

DH and I slept in separate rooms with our DC spread out between the two rooms. It was only a week so didn’t bother us to be in different rooms and one room became more “the base”.
We did that as we wanted to do all inclusive rather than have to budget or do any cooking over the holiday but then did pay more.

We always use Airbnb or rent a cottage/house. Then we can self cater more easily and spend some time together after the children are asleep. We also generally rent a car. Gives us more freedom and flex with location.

We do a lot of Eurocamp/Yelloh holidays and stay in a 2 or 3 bedroom caravan/bungalow/cabin.

Interconnected rooms? Have you looked at those? It’s what I always book, but not all hotels have them

When you say 'just after Christmas', do you mean being back home for new year? Because new year is one of the busiest/most expensive times of year to travel and is really not synonymous with 'cheap and cheerful'.

October half-term is also a very popular week to go away and depending on what/where you want to go, you might not find many deals then either - particularly as you've left it to the last minute.

Travel has changed a lot since the pandemic and last minute deals aren't the thing they used to be. Now, to get the best prices, you usually need to book well in advance. If you've never been abroad as a family, do you all have passports? If not, I'd get that sorted first.

Thanks for the ideas.
We're all passported up now. I've not been successful finding places with interconnecting doors. They obviously exist but I suspect that the people in the know book them quicker than I have!
I'll have a look air bnbs. I didn't know last minute wasn't a thing so much anymore. I have a friend who is accomplished at dropping on cheap flights, but she travels alone, term time midweek to places she knows well enough to just get the bus to wherever she's staying the other end. Maybe I'm having unreasonable expectations for 5 of us in school holidays!!!

Family of 5 here, 3 teen/tweens. We bite the bullet and book two rooms, one adult in each. Works fine, no romance for us parents obs 😅 but worth it - no way I'm sharing a bathroom with OH and three kids 🤨 Extra cost is a killer tho.

School holidays do not go hand in hand with cheap and cheerful unfortunately.

Which countries are you looking at? Do you want warm? What's your budget for everything?

Check out Sandaya, a French Eurocamp-type company: https://www.sandaya.co.uk/our-campsites/riviera-d-azur/rental-units#menu
We stayed at that site in October 2021 and the weather was lovely, we almost had the pools to ourselves, really enjoyed it! Accommodation is much cheaper as it’s low season. Nearby Douce Quietude looks good too.
I think you can get a good bargain as long as you can get decent flights nearby - that’s the challenge nowadays.

No they don't really! In all honesty I assumed that late notice was still a thing and thought maybe we could find some cheap sunshine.
DH found an all inclusive week in Spain for £2k which sounds lovely but realistically I suspect we won't do it for various reasons. That was a family suite which looked snug but not too cramped. I don't fancy doing the 2 rooms with an adult in each if we can help it. We've done it once before in this country and I don't really fancy it. I love the idea of being looked after and fed hotel style but the greater space from self catering.
I've just got everyone's passports done so it was a nice idea to be spontaneous and take the kids on a plane but maybe not October half term. I need to plan a bit better I think.
Thanks for the pointers and suggestions

If I were you OP, I'd be looking at next May half term and next summer. You may still find packages with free child places and you'll have a lot more choice. I realise that booking things 10 months in advance may seem ridiculous, but we always book as far ahead as possible, because a) you tend to get better prices and b) you get the accommodation you want - whether it's a nice apartment in a certain location, a certain hotel, or a certain room type. Interconnecting rooms are brilliant for families - we often do that if we want to stay in a hotel. Other hotels have apartments (aka aparthotels) so you get the space + the hotel service, meals, pools, etc.

We’re a family of 4 (soon to be 5) and we always do Airbnb and get a three bed house or flat so everyone has their own room, plus we can cook or order yummy food in :-)

Hotels can be uncomfortable with kids! In an Airbnb they can immediately wake up, have some toast, milk and cereal, yoghurt - all in our pjs!! You can bring an Amazon firestick with you and presto - all the tv apps for the kids can be accessed on the accommodation tvs. We go away often in the UK and have done this abroad (Belgium, France x 6, Italy x2, Spain) since they were babies. Highly recommend!

Look at Jet2 or TUI packages and the flights and transfers are all included. You can usually filter the search to show one room only. We are a family of five and while options are more limited than families of 4, we have always found a room/apartment that will sleep all 5 of us. We usually go all -inclusive but there's plenty of self catering options too. Turkey has some cheaper deals, although you will struggle to find somewhere for October half term. Perhaps look at May/June next year for best prices

Look up fantasia Bahia principe in Tenerife. They take up to 5 in a room. Sliding doors to separate you from kids. I'm here just now and high recommend.

We are a 5, with 3 pre school aged children. We just got back from the h10 in lanzarote. 2 bedroom bungalow had a super king in one room, 2 double beds in bedroom 2 and a sofa bed and single foldy bed thing in the living room. Would easily sleep 6.

We went to Crete with jet2 in august. We stayed in a villa with its own little pool. Came with car hire. 4 bedrooms. Me, DH, ds16, dd14 and ds8. It was perfect, but not cheap. We’ll probably go for self catering / hotel next time, as felt it was missing the bigger complex, pool, bars, etc for dc to meet others their own age. Have a look on their website for villas as well as self catering.
or if you’ve got any local independent travel agents still nearby, pop in, you might find something that way.

Have a look at Landal if you’d be happy with Northern Europe.

I've stayed in a lot of independent places with rooms sleeping 5, especially in france and Germany. I typically book through booking.com

A great easy shorter break is Normandy, the place I stopped in had beds for 5 ( we only needed 4 so handy luggage space)

I always look for places that have a 2 bedroom family room or 2 interconnecting rooms. I wouldn’t want to book 2 separate hotel rooms and have us split up.

I like it when you can get the three kids in a triple room and us in a connecting room. You also get 2 bathrooms then which is always better. When I find somewhere that suits us we generally keep going back to the same place!