All Inclusive vs Self Catering Holidays, which is better?

[haughtyhannah]

Tossing up between two holidays, roughly same cost.

Holiday 1: All Inclusive, 5*, big hotel on the beach, fly and flop. 5-6 hour flight. A bit brits aboard.

Holiday 2: Self catering, small villa with pool, expensive destination, rent a car and explore the island. 8 hour flight.

Have you got kids?

If so I'd do AI and still hire a car and explore. That's what we do. We eat out every other day too. My kids are at the age where it's easier just to give into the continuous requests for snacks / ice creams / drinks and they love a hotel breakfast.

Hard to decide without knowing the destination!

Do you have young children? My primary school aged children really like all inclusive as they are full of activities and food.

Destination 2 sounds nice but does the self catering come with daily housekeeping and could you hire a chef? Otherwise I think I'd go for the AI.

Yes, hard agree. So much easier when you have kids, a proper holiday.

Very dependent on your situation. Do you have kids that will constantly want food and drink? If so, how fussy are they? All Inclusive will usually include a huge range of foods that will cater for everyone. Depends on location too and what’s there, what the local food is like, and just what you like to do.

I love self catering because I want to be able to go and explore and eat out in restaurant without feeling like “I’ve paid for the AI so I should eat at the hotel all the time”. But I’ve enjoyed a few nice AI holidays when it’s been more convenient (eg. covid times for ease of cancellation if necessary).

No kids with us - looking at adults only AI.

I'd go all inclusive or even half board you can explore as well, nothing beats getting up and somebody else doing your breakfast.

I have a small kid so AI works for me right now. It didn’t when I was younger and I think I’ll shift away from them when my dd gets older.

AI every time. I hate cooking and hate clearing up even more. For me personally, self catering is not a holiday. Unless it's in the UK and I can do a massive shop in M&S or Waitrose and get all the ready meals and picnic / snack food. 😁

I'd find an AI that's not brits abroad. We only go to 5* adult only and avoid the big brits abroad ones like the plague.

What one are you looking at?

AI is great for families with kids of a certain age. Adults only it's only worthwhile IMO if you drink like a fish.
We used to do self catering when DC were little for the extra space but did AI when DC were teenagers.

Now it's just DH and I we go for a 4/5* hotel half board. You have the luxury of all the facilities and can often swap dinner for lunch but you can go out and eat locally as well. Buying drinks or snacks in the hotel our bar bill has only ever been a fraction of the extra cost of AI.

S/C depends. I like it but only if I have a decent selection of shops and markets around.
I wouldn't want to get out for every meal, especially breakfast.

AI - I lost the lust for it. I just find them too much but then we didn't do an Adult only resort.
We will be going on holiday with DD soon and most likely will look at a half-board resort with a good selection of restaurants without a buffet in sight.

Self catering every time. We tend to eat lunch out, and prefer salady or lighter dinner menus. Breakfast is only ever fruit, yogurt and sometimes toast, no matter where we are. AI resorts strike me as a prettier version of boarding school with alcohol.

SC every time for . Personally I prefer to our holiday to run to our own schedule. I never cook but enjoy having a leisurely cuppa and breakfast in our own space. Everyone has their own bedroom, we can eat where and when we want. We’ve done this with our DC since they were young although we tried hotels, they just don’t work for us.

if you’re thinking of somewhere like Barbados for the SC then absolutely go for it. You can explore, eat the most incredible food and try a different beach/location each day.

It depends what kind of holiday you’re after. If you want a piss up with cheap booze on tap then maybe AI, that’s my experience of the type of ‘brits abroad’ AI resorts anyway

if you want to relax, eat and drink what you fancy when you fancy and chill by the pool with a decent glass of wine then the Villa sounds ideal to me

So go B&B instead. Why pay for dinner and all the other stuff that you're not going to have?

Well I do have it I don't think I said I didn't.

We (two adults) needed a rest so went AI in a hotel, on the beach (Fuengirola) with decent evening entertainment. We would have spent the difference in price between AI and HB on a few coffees. We still did trips out. I'd like to stay by the marina next time in SC/BB. There were so many places with live music and various restaurants.

@Ponoka7 That sounds like my kind of place. Would you recommend the hotel?

Totally depends what you want from your holiday. We've done SC since DS was 4, he's 16 now. We still prefer SC but go for somewhere with a good kitchen if we can as we like to cook. We're in Montenegro now and being able to visit the bakery and markets is so much more enjoyable for us than feeling obliged to stay in one place. Saying that, we tend to stick with Europe. If we were going further afield we would be more likely to do AI.

Definitely Holiday 2. You can eat in restaurants, explore the local area more, and have an overall classier holiday. The AIs that I have been to were often like serving myself from a trough. Maybe I didn’t go to the best ones.

Holiday 2 without kids - you don't have to cook you can eat out. I've enjoyed decent AIs in the past but mostly because it's great for kids

I think people sometimes miss the point about self catering. You don’t have to cook!
DH and I almost always go self catering (not AI, half board or whatever) but we never cook. We always choose local restaurants, bars etc and eat out. It’s handy to have fridge, kettle, toaster etc for a quick breakfast as I’m always up earlier than DH.
You also have loads of space, usually a separate bedroom, lounge, kitchen etc. For me, spending 2 weeks living in just one hotel room is not fun. I know we spend most of the day out but it’s great to have some extra space to chill, read etc out of the sun and away from other people!
AI works out cheaper (in many cases) but of course it depends on your AI hotel and how much you spend on eating out when you go SC.

I’ve never been AI & now that I don’t drink, I probably never will. Self catering or B & B is great although it depends on the breakfast offered. We did B & B in Turkey & the breakfast consisted of a hardboiled egg, cheese, cucumber & tomato every morning! DH & I went out most days!

When you say the costs are the same, have you factored in spending money? Because that could increase the SC cost significantly.

Self catering for us - we did AI last summer, and aren't in a hurry to go back.

I think it depends totally on what people want from a holiday.

All inclusive were great when our kids were young, they'd meet others to play with, could have a drink or snack anytime, and as long as they were happy it was relaxing for us.

Once they got to teen years, we all found it more interesting to explore places/eat out locally, so s/c was preferable. Whatever floats your boat!