Help me find a holiday solution!

[Greenbanana7]

We are a family of 6 with DS16, DD14 and DTwins 12. We went on holiday last year to Greece and had 3 people in each room, wasn't the most relaxing of experiences. DS has said that he won't come on holiday again if he has to share a room with his sisters which is probably fair enough but I'd like one last holiday with him. Have been searching villas, which are very expensive, our of our price range and in the sticks, plus we'd end up doing the same amount of cooking and tidying up as we do at home and we need a break. Jet2 offers 2 rooms. Doesn't look like you can get a third room unless you are an adult and he won't be. We are looking at Lassi in Kefolonia. Anyone got any wisdom on how I sort this. Ps I know it's a nice problem to have but we haven't had nice holidays for years and only now can we afford to go abroad. Thanks

Apartments through booking.com or Airbnb are way less than villas - still self catering of course but the savings go towards some meals out

If you aren't set in Greece we like the Sandaya campsites, mostly in France but also some in Spain, and other places. There are large lodges with several bedrooms and the 'poshest' ones are nice and not like camping at all.

Other than that we have always booked air bnbs because hotels just don't work for families, but I've been starting to feel guilty about it with all the negative publicity in recent years.

I'd look for villa with at least 4 bedrooms and a dishwasher that has good outdoor space and is in walking distance from restaurants and at least a decent sized convenience store.

Then plan to eat out at least once a day and for breakfast and the other meal if you're not eating out have easy food like BBQs, nice ready made pizza, cheese, olives, ham, bread etc or get takeaway gyros or similar if you're in Greece.

Barring any special needs, everyone is capable of preparing food, doing the dishwasher etc and getting snacks at least from the shop and what else is there to do?

You could always reduce the cost by looking at a wider range of locations, Kefalonia is expensive I believe.

Or you could book the extra hotel room say for DH and DS, no-one's actually going to know that DS is there by himself.

Great recommendation but we did that two years running when the kids were a bit smaller and the second time I think they'd outgrown it sadly

Have you checked jet2 villas? I was v surprised how affordable they were. OR book your flights and then your own airbnb?

Thank you, villas seem quite expensive and remote, have you had a good experience of finding a decent one? And if so, have you used a company to find one, and which one(s)? Thank you

I'd give Jet2 a ring if you haven't already. We needed 2 separate bedrooms for our dds as they refuse to share so we booked 2 separate apartments. I'm not saying you can do this as yours are all children but Jet2 have more access to filtering what you want if you speak to them direct

We always get self catering through vrbo or airbnb and get 3 bedrooms so our boys go in one room and our girl in another. Often they have sofa beds in the living room too so there is the possibility of splitting further. You have to hunt around but cheaper ones are there. In the summer we got a 4 bed place in an amazing location for only slightly more than booking a 2 bed lodge on the more resorty type campsite.

Never done hotels etc purely because we've never wanted to share with the kids! Self catering is great. Space to relax, to get away from each other as well as spend time together. Ability to slob around for some meals and not have to go out for dinner every night. But can also go eat out if you want to.

Thanks, I'm going to ring them now!

Can you please update as am in a similar position and interest ed to see how you get on !

Would you be happy with your DS having his own room?

Jet 2 were extremely helpful. The villas were out of our price range (10k plus( and I wasn't keen anyway having a remote villa which required lots of driving and cooking for ourselves, not much of a holiday for us. Jet said that they could not place a child under 18 in their own room, company policy which was fair enough. I gave my DS an ultimatum and he decided he wouldn't come. He will stay with my mum and dad for 12 nights whilst we are away. My mum did say that they (mum, dad and DS) could potentially book a separate place in our resort but would think nearer the time and that would be up to them. Feel very sad that my DS won't be coming with us but guess it's all part of growing up. I offered to take him on a city break in Europe as an alternative and he said no to that too, ungrateful rat!!

Hope you get on better than me, good luck!!

For other families of six two bedroom
apartments in all inclusive resorts work well as one or two DC can sleep in the living room.

We tried that this summer (non all inclusive but Airb&B and it was just miserable, invariably the 3rd bed was a hard sofa bed in a room where the light flooded in that no one wanted and led to arguments and hassle for us unfortunately

Funny how they're happy to charge over 12s (or whatever it is) as adults when it suits them, isn't it! So annoying!

I would suggest looking at villas in cheaper places perhaps. I wanted to go to Greece next year but the villas were very expensive. I have found Cyprus villas to be very reasonable. I've booked a 4 bedroom one for next year for less than half of the cost of a 3 bedroom in Greece. Lanzarote is also reasonable and it's easy there to stay within walking distance of a town. Just plan to eat out every evening rather than cook. That's what I do. Holiday is my once a year break from cooking!

Some of the Tui Blu properties have three bedroom apartments, Google all inclusive hotels for families of six and you’ll find others that have done this research.

Grrrgggh!

Thank you, already booked with a jet2 holiday but will look at this for holiday 2026!