How much is reasonable for a holiday ABROAD for a family 3 during half term?

[luckycat888]

Just wondering. I know lots of variables and range can be huge, but what do you typically spend going abroad during half term? A week in Faro has gotten ridiculous in my opinion.

Where are you all looking for holidays? These prices are crazy, fair enough if you want 5* luxury it's going to cost you,

I've just searched Jet2 for October holidays, one week all inclusive, 2 adults 2 children. There's a whole range of destinations coming up, across Europe for £2.5 - £3k mark. Beautiful hotels with beaches and waterparks. I've never had a bad hotel with Jet2.

Yes that's a lot of money but nothing like what some people on here seem to think they need to spend! It will be less if choose a different board basis, but then you'll need to factor £££ for eating out.

4k for a weeks AI. Have done cheaper, but really noticed the difference when we paid more.

It's true, if money is the major concern then you do need to work out which board basis is most economical for you. It's self catering if you'll do supermarkets, might well be AI if you have kids who'd eat off an adult menu and/or a constant need for drinks and lollies.

Booked on Love Holidays

But for 2 adults and 1 child you can get that for £2k🤷🏻‍♀️

Not somewhere decent, in the summer holidays.

It's all very well saying there are plenty of nice places coming up at £Xxx but check the reviews. There's often a good reason why they are cheaper.

My idea of a holiday is being somewhere better than my home. It's meant to be a luxury. If I can't afford that, I save for a year or two and then go - I'd rather have a decent holiday than slum it just for the sake of going somewhere.

OP said half term not summer holidays.

Yes, but which locations are you looking in? If you want major resorts in the Balearics/ Greece/ Croatia/Posh Spain/ the canaries etc, you are going to easily pay upward of £4k for a really good hotel or posh apartment. If you just look a little, little bit outside the box you can get so much more for your money in a less package tour destination.

I’d recommend ( for sea and beaches and ok weather in May or October half terms): Sicily; La Gomera; Madeira (altho few beaches); Oman; possibly Majorca although chancy weather wise; Essaouria in Morocco; Tunisia… Caribbean locations with direct flights are cheap in a October although it depends how hurricane averse you are ;)

For context I am taking my kids to Germany for 9 nights at the end of the school holidays. The tunnel costs £240 minus my £70 of Tesco vouchers. A really nice appartmwnr for 6 nights comes in at £500. We have three nights in hotels for a total of £200. Our accommodation in the appartmwnt includes a tourist card giving free activities like 3 hours e-bike hire, crazy golf, entry to all local lidos, a couple of natural swimming ponds, cable car trips, trampoline park, climbing wall, suspension bridge, and subsidised entry into a really good spa and water park.

we will spend an additional €300 on entry to a world class theme park and water park, plus about £180 on fuel and tolls. Food will be half and half self catering and eating out. Under £1.5k for a summer holiday for 3 people with no camping involved 😂.

It depends what you want. I’ve been abroad ever year for less than than £2.5k though probably spend around £3.5k once all spending is factored in. Always been in the summer holidays, but usually go b&b. We did do AI last year but was only 5 days.

we are going first week of September (flying out end of August) this year for a week AI for 4 adults in two rooms it was £2.5k and then we’ll probably spend another £1/1.5k whilst there as we’re not ones to stay in the hotel and like to eat out, hire cars and visit places.

my top tip is don’t book with jet2. They cost the earth.

Not when you need a family room/suite where your child sleeps in a separate room. Again, I don’t want to have less than I have at home and a holiday is not spending nights with a child.

4* HB Majorca May £1.4k flying BA direct with checked luggage. 2dc 2 adults. Booked on expedia. Splashed out on private transfers but it was still about £2k all in in the end.

Lots of good suggestions here for different kinds of holidays. Thinking outside the box is definitely helpful if you want to keep costs down, we've found cheap flights to both Zagreb and Bilbao in August in previous years, I've found often flights are more expensive for May 1/2 term than in the summer as everyone wants to depart on the same couple of days in May. We only went to Majorca for a few days this last 1/2 term, I picked an expensive hotel and it cost a lot!

I’ve never paid anything like these prices.

I look around for cheap flights. Depending on which school holiday it is and which airport flying from I can usually get flights for 4 of us to somewhere in Europe for between £500-£700.

Then I look for accommodation. Self catering apartment usually or eurocamp or similar. Depending on time of year this can be as cheap as £250. I wouldn’t usually spend more than £700.

So assuming for most expensive flights and accommodation that’s £1,400.

Plus spending money and food. Self catering so do a big supermarket shop for breakfasts and lunches and a few dinners, and snacks etc, and we eat out when we fancy it.

Zero difference, half term prices are about the same as summer holidays.

We do air BnB. It’s expensive but still cheaper than a hotel.

You can get a decent hotel in Turkey in mid august for under 2k all inclusive, transfer etc.

https://www.easyjet.com/en/holidays/turkey/dalaman/marmaris/grand-ideal-premium-hotel?ibf=true&to=19-08-2025&from=12-08-2025&dst=ALL&sAccId=&geog=ALL&flex=3&org=LGW,LTN,STN,SOU&aa=1&rooms=2_1:5&outId=E17d3c47cad1e666f2cf026dc324a6fee&inId=E29eb92d77947e11dbe3ceb7383d58e85&accId=TRDL0059&packId=2156090087/2/2781/7&boardType=AI&offerRooms=2_1:5/DB01&transfer=DIAN62906KSS&dtransfer=DIAN62906KSS&isExt=0&lateRoomCheckout=0&theme=beach&__ejhsort=hotels_list|7|cgy0PT9H

https://www.easyjet.com/en/holidays/turkey/bodrum/bodrum/bodrum-holiday-resort?ibf=true&to=19-08-2025&from=12-08-2025&dst=ALL&sAccId=&geog=ALL&flex=3&org=LGW,LTN,STN,SOU&aa=1&rooms=2_1:5&outId=Eff3ad7ae93c4bc191599192b493772be&inId=Eecbc93428563b7ff03c9f6373e694824&accId=TRBD0057&packId=2169660539/2/2779/7&boardType=AI&offerRooms=2_1:5/DB02&transfer=DIAN62951KSS&dtransfer=DIAN62951KSS&isExt=0&lateRoomCheckout=0&theme=beach&__ejhsort=hotels_list|13|1X83eOcv

Really depends what you're willing to compromise on. This year we have managed to book a 4 star to Rhodes all inclusive for £1900 for 2 adults and 2 kids for a week in summer holidays but kids will miss 1 day of school and the flights are quite late. It's also more basic than we would prefer but it's affordable for us.

How long is a piece of string..
You can camp with your own tent, or you can camp in a top of the range accommodation for a family of 4 in a 5* campsite in France for EUR 3-5K, not including transport and food.