What would an European holiday cost?

[Chalatte]

For a family of 5, one 11 year old and 2 who are younger. We go for a holiday to our home country every year, for which tickets are £5-600 per person. Me and DH make decent money but we never felt we made enough or had enough disposable income for a holiday

The FOMO is finally hitting me and I'm wondering how much could a cheap holiday in Europe, for a family of 5, possibly cost?

We are generally quite flexible except for food, which may be expensive given done of us have special dietary needs, and would prefer self catering most of our meals. We could also drive/take the euro tunnel if it saves a bit on costs.

We both make over £100k combined but have fairly high outgoings - mortgage and a used car on a loan.

I've never been to the EU before and neither has DH and especially not after kids so we have both been quite paralysed into not planning any trips sadly 😕

Any advice on how to go about planning/saving for one, and what one would roughly cost, would be gratefully received!

Flights for about 1200 and accommodation about 2000 and then food etc.

I would say about 4 to 5 k for a week?

You could do a Eurocamp for even cheaper than that.

Domaine Des Ormes in France is a lovely family campsite, you would have a great time there and it’s very easy to dip your toe in that way as it’s so easy to get to.

You could get the whole package in June for a reasonable amount, and bring your own food.

Cheapest way would be to drive/ferry and camp or stay in a static van. We booked a static van at the end of August one year (French schools have gone back by then) and the people renting the vans had half price ferry tickets.

Thank you, 5k sounds rather steep given our other £3k commitment for the other holiday to visit family. Although saying that, the eurocamp and French holidays both sound more promising, if we could fit it in under£2.5-3k that would be so much more doable 💜

Look on Airbnb to get a sense of what you can afford - I reckon driving to France/Netherlands you would definitely find a decent self-catering place within budget.

I think with ferry and eurocamp you can do it quite cheaply. Lots of eurocamp fans on here, so look for those specific threads. Definitely do self catered, especially as you have three kids!

I’m family of five and we haven’t flown on holiday. We usually book fairly late but typically we spend £400-500 on a Eurostar crossing and then €1500-2000 on a centerparcs in Holland or Belgium, although if you leave it very last minute and aren’t choosey, you can get the accommodation for less than this.

(ETA: this is for August)

How long is a piece of string?!
Camping in a low-cost European country?
5 star hotel in Switzerland?
How many nights?
Time of year?
Fly?
Drive and ferry?

You need to be much more specific about what you want then (if, say, you plan to fly), look at options from your nearest airport and take it from there.

Don't forget costs of passports, if you don't already have them.

You might get a cheaper package holiday in Easter holidays (I’m assuming you want to go in school holidays? That will make a big difference to the cost).
A package holiday will give you flights, accommodation (and food if you go All inclusive/ full board) and could include transfers to and from the airport too. That’s the easiest way to do it for a first timer.
Otherwise consider Eurocamp type holidays (there are cheaper ones on AllCamps website) we often go to France and Holland and can do that for around £2k travelling on the Shuttle and paying for a Premier Inn near Folkestone (a family room in Premier Inn can take a family of 4).
Last year we went to Domaine de la breche in Loire which was gorgeous but a long journey. In Holland we’ve been to Duinrell and Camping de vogel, both excellent. Vogel was much cheaper as we flew to Duinrell and drove to Vogel.
Be brave and go for it!

You could May half term and go for a non-typical Brit location as the prices may be cheaper as it's not yet high season and several European countries don't have a holiday then.

The weather is more unpredictable though. We went to France and Belgium 2 years ago and started with 25 degrees and sun and ended with 15 degrees and rain.

If you think more about Summer, again, think of non-standard location, the Med will be boiling but northern France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany are great alternatives if you aren't looking at a fly and flop holiday.

Totally depends on the type of holiday you want? We did a euro camp at domaine de la yoke in France. Flew into beziers, the second week in June. Lovely site, near the beach, multiple pools and slides, shops and on a public transport routes with lovely ancient towns all over the place to explore. We paid £165 per person including flights and 5 min taxi transfers. Just paid for food to cook in the van and and food out. Bargain and the kids enjoyed it as much as a £1000 per person holiday.

You could probably get an all inclusive reasonably cheap if you can pick up one with a free child place. Jet 2 often have decent offers

You could get Eurocamp plus ferry to Calais/tunnel for about £1500, especially if you go jn May half-term or in the last week of August.

Just a generic search for the Black Forrest, Germany. You can get self catering accommodation for around 1k for a week in August. Ferry/ tunnel is around £300 if you book unsociable times like 5am ...
That would leave you the cost of food and activities. The area is lovely with plenty to do both paid and free.
So just over 3k for a family of 5 is durable. Be aware that some areas have a tourist tax, if you pay that you get free travel on local public transport - could be worth it for getting around.

www.booking.com/searchresults.de.html?region=1477&theme_id=1&theme_source=theme_landing_region&top_ufis=0&rows=20&error_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Fapartments%2Fregion%2Fde%2Fblack-forest.de.html%3Faid%3D375801%26label%3Dblack-forest-XgJ16Czd6xk6MosPBbvytwSM406028155419%253Apl%253Ata%253Ap1%253Ap2%253Aac%253Aap%253Aneg%253Afi%253Atiaud-2395231936738%253Akwd-481366423%253Alp1007208%253Ali%253Adem%253Adm%253Appccp%253DUmFuZG9tSVYkc2RlIyh9Ya9nxjGDNbW5LZAZoYDAkz4%26sid%3D704fbc839fe0387b28932bea5f489435&aid=375801&label=black-forest-XgJ16Czd6xk6MosPBbvytwSM406028155419%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap%3Aneg%3Afi%3Atiaud-2395231936738%3Akwd-481366423%3Alp1007208%3Ali%3Adem%3Adm%3Appccp%3DUmFuZG9tSVYkc2RlIyh9Ya9nxjGDNbW5LZAZoYDAkz4&lang=de&sid=704fbc839fe0387b28932bea5f489435&sb=1&sb_lp=1&search_form_id=057b439da85b0259&checkin_monthday=1&checkin_year_month=2026-8&checkout_monthday=8&checkout_year_month=2026-8&checkin=2026-08-01&checkout=2026-08-08&room1=A%2CA%2C11%2C6%2C7&group_adults=2&group_children=3&no_rooms=2&age=11&age=6&age=7

You could look at the Canaries outside the main summer season, eg October to Easter - is quite often cheaper than the Med in summer. Mainland Spain might also be a good option. Prices always increase if you're tied to the school holidays though.

I would look for an apartment or small villa near a population centre so you can walk or use public transport for the beach, supermarket, restaurants etc. You could book as a package with a free child place or see if it's cheaper booking separately. Jet2holidays have a good search function - put in all your criteria, sort by price low to high and see what's available where the reviews are acceptable.