Last minute Easter travel ideas?

[AnotherDayInParadise43]

I can take the whole fortnight away from work, including both weekends. Could go away for some or all of it. Me + 12 year old can go. Relatively low budget (£1-£1.5k total). Ideas? So far have started to look at:

Interrailing (either starting with Eurostar or flying into a start destination)

Tui or similar package e.g. Prague or Portugal.

Road trip staying in B&Bs in Scotland or Ireland

Ideally something to keep a 12 year old occupied and away from a screen.

The Channel Islands? You could drive down and ferry to Jersey (there's quite a bit to do with kids!), stay there for a few days, and then head over to Guernsey. Lots of the islands are a day trip's distance away so you could see which ones interest you and plan around that. You'd also be able to vary the cost depending on if you stayed in B&Bs, Hotels or Airbnbs.

Thank you, adding that to the list 😀

How about the Belgium and the Netherlands? Cross at Dover to Dunkirque and then stay in ibis budget or local B&Bs - driving over there was incredibly easy and there are some great theme parks and water parks too

The 12 year old loves water parks so that could work.

I've never driven out of UK though

If they like waterpark have a look at CanevaWorld near Lazise. Fantastic little town on the edge of Lake Garda. Plenty of eurocamps there and cheap flights into Verona

I really like Portugal, look at easyjet flights to Lisbon, spend a few days exploring the city, lots of sights and museums to entertain a 12yo. Then get the train down to the algarve where you can do a bit of relaxing and water parks if they are open.

Great ideas thank you

I want this too. Am also considering Norfolk or Devon

I have indeed done an Interrail trip with 2 DCs over Easter 2 years ago, and our budget was about £1500 for 16 days. And we're planning another for this summer.

It's a shame your DC is 12, as under 12s get a free pass! (But they will still be eligible for a "youth" discount).

The biggest hurdle for a last minute Interrail trip from the UK is that passholders have to pay a supplement on Eurostar...and these sell out. You can find out if there's availability before buying a pass on the b-europe website. If no Paris or Brussels availability, try Lille.

It was great, we had an amazing time. Our route was Brussels- Innsbruck- Venice- Rome- Genova- Paris. This year I'm planning Cologne- Berlin- Transylvania - Bulgaria- Vienna- Nuremberg- Heidelberg- Strasbourg.

Thank you. For accommodation, how far in advance did you book? Could you be sure you would get to x destination by x date of booking well ahead?

I mostly booked about 3 months in advance for that trip. Except for the place in Rome I booked with booking.com that turned out to be a scam!! (Never trust a place with just one review- lesson learnt!). I had to hurriedly find somewhere else over the Easter weekend with two weeks notice- nice apartment but it was a long, long way from anywhere 😬

Despite that, I am quite a fan of booking.com- you can book places with free cancellation now and only pay a few days before your stay. Or, as I do, pay them off one by one whenever I have a bit of money spare.

Thank you. So booking now for Easter could be a challenge based on what you are saying here. I fear I've left it a bit late.

Well, have a look on Booking.com and see what's out there!