Special (long haul) family holiday at Easter for under 10k?

[theitchyandscratcyshow]

My DCs are 13 and 15. I'd love to take them somewhere special outside of Europe. Easter is probably the best time and gives us two weeks, and the budget would been to be max 10k for the four of us all in. Am I being I unrealistic?

I'm thinking south east Asia would be the most obvious choice. Ive looked briefly at some flights which would likely be around 2k each which would leave 2k for hotels and spends. Now in my backpacking days that would have been loads but my needs are different now! Any ideas / ideas of prices? Personal experiences of a trip around this price point?

Try Etihad holidays. Have seen some good deals on there.

Sri Lanka is a great choice for those ages and should be doable on that budget. Flights are typically around £1000 pp direct but you'll find cheaper prices via Middle East. I'd advise booking 2-3 different hotels, more if you are feeling adventurous, and either using trains or hiring a car with driver (or combination). It's a small country but very diverse habitats so ideal for touring

Unless you’re going business, your flights won’t be £2k each.
We did Japan for 3 weeks (4 of us) for £8 travelling comfortably. I’d really recommend it.

£8k!

We took our children (who are the same age as yours) to Vietnam earlier this year and it was a massive hit. We did it on a 10k budget and that included really lovely hotels (mostly 5*), internal flights and lots of fantastic day trips etc. Everything is so cheap once you're over there it is amazing value for money. Plus the people are so friendly, the food is delicious and there is so much to see and do!

@agoodfriendofthethree that sounds amazing!! Where did you go and what did you see?

Alternatively touring India would be a different experience, we had a driver and a guide in each city, would come in under budget based on our costs, though being school holidays the flights could be higher

I travelled around Vietnam twenty years ago and it was amazing! Did you fly in and out of the same airport? And can you remember how much your flights cost?

Mauritius! We went to a Beachcomber property for around that and it was the best holiday ever

@Elise72 We flew into Hanoi and did general sightseeing there, plus a day trip to Lan Ha Bay (like Halong Bay but much quieter - amazing!). Then flew to Hue to see the ancient citadel and pagodas etc - really enjoyed our time there! Then got a private driver to take us over the Hai Van Pass and on to Hoi An (with the beautiful lanterns all lit up at night) which is gorgeous, a day on the beach and a day trip to the ruins of My Son. Then another internal flight to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days there and a day trip to the Mekong Delta which was fab. We stayed 3/4 nights in each place.

@theitchyandscratcyshow We flew into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh City, both via Dubai with Emirates. I think the fights came to about £6k in total, including all the internal flights. It's an amazing country isn't it?! 🤩

Highly recommend Seoul and Tokyo. We did this for around £8k all in with our teenagers comfortably. There are budget airlines between these 2 cities.

Mauritius - We stayed in Victoria Beachcomber and Dinarobin Beachcomber - AMAZING!

We are travelling to Vietnam next April. Flights were just under 4.5k for the four of us. We have also budgeted 10k in total.

That's cheaper than I've managed to find so far. Do you have a very long flight / which airline are you going with?

I've had a look at the Beachcomber resorts. With flights it comes in at over 10k ;(

I would second Japan, a really great choice. Also, as @greenskylark said, combining that with South Korea could be an interesting choice. There's a thread here about somebody currently planning a holiday in Japan.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/holidays/5152514-japan-planning-thread

For where I live, Easter holiday dates are Saturday 5th April to Sunday 20th April.

Within those dates, flights from London to Tokyo leaving on Monday 7th and returning Friday 18th are less than £1,000 with China Eastern (stopover in Shanghai).

If you want to travel at the weekend it will generally be quite a bit more expensive. But there are still some weekend flights for less than £1,000 but they involve two stopovers (London > Beijing > Osaka > Tokyo) with Japan Airlines and Air China.

For example, depart London Saturday 5th, return Saturday 19th, £967. Or you could just
.

Or China itself has lots of different areas to see and things to do. Flights to Shanghai then start at £600 and flights to Chengdu start at £680
.

Another alternative would be India; Easter is a great time of the year to visit. I would look at northern India, flying in to Delhi or Calcutta. If you're in that part of India then you can also cross into Nepal and visit Kathmandu as well (well worth doing).

During Easter, weekend flights to Delhi from London start from £750 for direct flights (eg Air India) or £540 with one stop (eg Swiss, Lufthansa, Finnair etc).

Flights to Calcutta start at £620.

Then with all these destinations, you can spend as much or as little as you want on the standard of your accommodation and how else you spend your money. Five star hotels are going to be more expensive anywhere that you go compared to more modest hotels.

Here are some examples of current prices. I take it you don't want the flights with a long layover?

If you are happy with a long layover (7 - 9 hours) then the cheapest flights are with Shenzen Airlines depart London Sunday 6th, return Saturday 19th for £896

Or if you don't want to do a long layover (only 3 hours) then British Airways depart London Sun 6th return Sat 19th is £1,210.

Although, quite frankly, Singapore Airlines is £1,280 with a 14 hour layover in Singapore on the way out (6 hours on the way back). I would much rather take Singapore than BA and also you get to spend half a day exploring Singapore.

Flights are with Qatar Airways and decent times (night flights). Layover is 2 hours 50 on way out (could have had shorter but didn't want to miss the connection) and 1 hour 35 on way back. I can't remember exact length but I think they were about 17 hours and 16 hours in total (including layovers). That seemed pretty good to me.

I spent a long time searching however with every possible variation (and checked regularly). I also signed up to all the airline clubs. I bought these when Qatar suddenly had 15% off for members.

When I booked Qatar, Emirates were only slightly more expensive as well, but times were not as good. We are flying to Hanoi and back from Hoi Chi Minh. We were only going to do the north and central but flights were cheaper from HCM on way back so having a final night there.

Also - Easter Monday is 21st April so you can fly back on Sunday and flights may be slightly cheaper.

I agree Sri Lanka would be good, it's easy travelling, you can get a driver and car very cheaply and do some of it by train. It's very varied and not too big or overwhelming perfect for 2 weeks and I think perfect for a first time Asia trip for children. You can go on safari, go to temples, climb Sigirya, go to a tea plantation, visit an elephant sanctuary, have amazing beaches. It's very colourful and lovely!

18 of the best things to do in Sri Lanka - Lonely Planet

Vietnam/Japan/India etc also amazing!

Mauritius... well it has nice beaches but there's nothing to do or see much, and culturally it's uninteresting to visit IMO compared to other places mentioned. Also virtually only big hotels to stay in and you could be anywhere with a nice beach!

Can recommend Vietnam, Thailand & Malaysia with kids.

We always do it ourselves rather than book a package and it works out much cheaper plus you can do what you want! Once you've paid for flights it's so cheap to be out there. We did a month in Thailand in decent local hotels for less than £8k total for the 4 of us.

With Sri Lanka there's no need to book a package, just put it together yourself, everything is online and when there you can use Uber in the city. Book a somewhere not too far for the first 2-3 night eg I stayed at the blue water south of Colombo, from there you can take a half day water safari which I arranged with a tour agent across the road from the hotel and there's plenty of local eating options (i love the family restaurants which are basic in style but excellent food).

The take the train back to Colombo centre and onto the elephant sanctuary. Afterwards I recommend continuing to kandy. From there taxis make sense to go up to the cultural sites then down to the te plantations. If you are up for it, climb Adam's peak at night and watch the sunrise. Note it's cooler in the centre and rain is not uncommon so take suitable clothing, it's 6000 feet!

Absolutely, in fact there is never any reason to book a package holiday if you are willing to put in the legwork yourself!