Budget for trip to Australia?

[LemonyPicket]

A lot of my family live in Australia including my sibling and we’d like to take our DC to visit. We’d go for three weeks and because of our work the best time we could go would be Easter, so 2026 or 2027. We’re worried we might be a bit late for 2026 but our youngest turns CSA in Sept 2026 so we thought we could maybe go before that as then we wouldn’t get a fine for her.

Anyway… trying to think about how much is realistic to budget. Our three kids would all need their own seats so we are thinking we need around £1k per person for flights which seems realistic based on googling. Beyond that, we don’t really know where to start! We would stay with one of my relatives for at least a week, probably longer. With young kids I think we’d be better off using their place in Sydney as a base and then taking some trips from there, maybe the train up to the Blue mountains for a few days, maybe somewhere up the coast perhaps. But we don’t want to do tonnes of travelling around when we have a 7, 5 and 2 yo in tow (or 8, 6 and 3 if we wait a year) and also it seems kind of pointless when we have family who live in a great location near the northern beaches who are more than happy to host all 5 of us for as long as possible (their words not mine!).

So any tips/ideas/budget planning advice would be very welcome please! We just need to work out how much we’d need to have saved and thus whether we could afford to go for 2026 or if we need another year to save. Thanks

In terms of flights we are going Easter 26 2 adults 2 children (7 &4) flying to Brisbane from Manchester then flying back from Sydney and it cost us 4500 when it was the cheapest.

We have budgeted in total 10k

Thanks @gohomeroger1 what sort of activities/accommodation etc is that based on please?

It's based on around 1600 on accommodation and we also need car hire for 8 days on the gold coast.

£10k is realistic and don’t underestimate the convenience of hiring a car from when you land to when you fly home, it’s a good place to put all your stuff if nothing else and get to and from the airport. Also great for little supermarket trips and short trips out and about.

The Blue Mountains is a lovely drive out from Sydney. Northern beaches are beautiful.

A really good day out in Sydney is the Australian Museum, the birds and the aboriginal sections are excellent. Then lunch in centre point tower. Then underground to circular quay. Quick snack at Pancakes on the rocks then a hop on the ferry from Circular Quay to Milson’s Point and back to the northern beaches.

My top tip generally is just to enjoy everything you see and do, and don’t try to squeeze too much in. It’s so beautiful and different that everything you do will be impressive… just enjoy it. Easter really is the best time to go with DC also.

Look for flights +/- 3 days as you can save a fortune this way. Expect to pay £1200 per flight to Sydney.

Last time we were forced to do a 10 hour layover in Dubai which we were gutted about but we stayed in the airport hotel and it was great… just the right amount of time got everyone to have a stretch, a shower and a sleep and it really helped with the jet lag.

We are going to Australia in August family of four similar to yourself staying with family based in Melbourne. We are doing a week excursion to Cairns and Sydney. So far:

International flights 6k (stupid school holidays bumped up rates of course)

Internal flights 1.4k (Melbourne-Cairns-Sydney-Melbourne - annoyingly all the airlines seem to price our child's age as an adult ticket)

Great barrier reef snorkel 500

Airbnb Cairns 4x nights 450

Airbnb Sydney 4x nights 500

Will probably do Blue Mountains but not booked anything for it yet.

Staying with family for the rest of our time in Melbourne is going to save heaps on accommodation and dining out though as I know how expensive Australia is for dining having previously holidayed there when I was younger.

*I'm a bit nervous at the moment as our flight is via Doha so I'm fretting our journey is going to be affected by what's going on in Iran but there's not much we can do about that.

I was going to say we're paying more than £6k for 4 of us to go in August. Australia is generally quite pricey, like food in supermarkets and eating out, but you'll save loads on accomodation if you stay with family the entire time. Also depends on where they live as to whether you can rely on public transport, do you need a car? Given there are 5 of you, can they transport you everywhere? Not so many cars will seat 5 of you plus them. I think 10k would be more than enough, and you'll probably spend much less, there is loads to do in Sydney, you'll have a great time!

Thanks, forgot to say that yes Easter does look a bit cheaper than August/summer hols particularly as we will take the kids out of school for a week either before or after so will avoid paying peak prices on one leg.

Im about to book flights and im paying £1.1k for each of us. On top of that im budgeting 5k for the trip. That’s just for me and DD7 (8 at the time). Staying with friends in Sydney. We’re going for 2 and a half weeks.

I think we could do it for less but I’m not sure it’s a place we’ll do again so not going to scrimp and save. (Which is totally our normal vibe)

Thanks for all the feedback it's really helpful. I guess I need to budget for accommodation for any places we stay that are not my relative's house, plus food, and then whatever activities we do which is what I'm kind of stuck on at the moment. I think we are probably resigned to this being a 2027 trip which means the kids will be 8, nearly 6 and 3 and pp have a good point about potentially needing a car hire although my relatives do have a few vehicles. They do live cycling or bus distance to the beaches and centre of Manly though so we wouldn't necessarily need much driving. They normally do the boat to Sydney.

I took my daughter to Australia this Easter. We spent just over £5k including spending money but all but 5 nights were staying with family. Flights were £2800 with Qatar from Manchester.