Spending money

[enoughofthiscrap]

Hi, Looking for a bit of an idea to how much spending money people bring on a self catering holiday to Spain for 1 week for a family of 2 adults & 2 older kids. We usually go All Inclusive but thinking on doing self catering for a change. It been a long time since we have done self catering abroad. Not looking to have every meal out, maybe breakfast out one day, a couple of lunches & all evening meals. Not looking to go to really fancy restaurants, just decent ones. I'm looking at Santa Ponsa.

Will you need money to hire sun loungers and do you tend to book excursions, visit water parks etc?

I would budget €200 per day for food and drink and stock up on soft drinks and snacks for your apartment.

Thanks, Yes we would be hiring sun loungers & going to water parks. I suppose it's just the cost of food I'm worried about as I don't usually have to budget for eating out.

We're going s/c to the Atlantic coast of France for 10 days.

7 days are by the sea and then 3 days in a city.

We have budgeted 2 weeks of our usual shopping budget (ie £300) plus £900 spending. Will eat out two or three times and have coffees and icecream but most meals will be chez nous (bbqs and salads) and we'll shop at Aldi. We'll prob do two paid for activities (eg museum and surfing) but rest of the time we'll be on the beach basically.

We are going tomoro to Majorca and have changed £1000 in to Euros and we have our revolut card which has savings in it. Wel have breakfast/lunch at the apartment most days except lunch on beach days and will be eating out every night. Will be going on a boat day, there isnt water sports where we are going unfortunately, don't plan on scrimping so maybe 2k. When are you away?

€250 a day

I'd say easily 200€ per day if you are eating out every evening plus lunches and breakfasts. The tourist areas of Spain are very expensive.

We’re taking €300 as cash then the rest goes on card.

I've just been to Spain. Two adults two teens one child. Meals ranged from €80-200. We ate lunch or dinner out and maybe a coffee/ice cream/a couple tapas in addition most days. We spent about €1000/week (eating out plus supermarket food). Car hire and petrol in addition. Accommodation was my own.

Thank you all. It wouldn't be until June next year but just trying to plan ahead. Will try budget €2000 for spending and hopefully we won't go through it all

Restaurant meals cost a bit less than they would in the UK. Majorca is not as cheap as the rest of Spain.

One way to save is to eat your main meal at lunchtime, which is what Spanish people do. Find a place serving "menú del día" and you can often get three courses with a drink for €15. Look for places called "cafetería" (which does not mean self-service), possibly a block back from the main street.

There is a big Eroski supermarket at the top end of Jaume I where you can do a full shop.

Getting around by bus is cheap and easy (they are all air-conditioned). You can tap on and off with your debit card, like using the Tube in London — this is substantially cheaper than buying a ticket from the driver. Use one card for up to 5 people and you get more discount. From Santa Ponsa to Magaluf or Palma Nova is €6.30 total for 4 people, and to Palma it's €9.45.

Also remember that you can use your debit card for almost everything. It will cost a couple of percent on top of the official exchange rate, but it can still be cheaper than what it costs in commission and rate spread to change cash.

If you do want to take cash, a surprisingly cheap place to get it in the UK can be your local pawn shop/cheque cashing place. They often have very good rates, just a couple of percent either side of the midrate. Under no circumstances change money at an airport, at either end, and do not use airport ATMs. In fact don't use any cash machine unless it is physical attached to a branch of a bank.

We budget £150 a day. Some days we spend way over other days we only spend for dinner.

this year we went for 10 days with 3 adults, budgeted £1500 and spent just under a £1000.