Cost of a two week holiday

[DaffyDuckz]

I know this is a “how long is a piece of string” question and depends on budget but just curious - does £5600 sound ok as a basic cost for a two-week self-catering holiday (Europe, August) for four people (two adults, one teen dc and one younger dc)?

It is a two-centre holiday, one city week and one chilling out in nature. Both weeks very nice but not luxury accommodation with great facilities including excellent swimming pools. One of our kids is now 15 so we do need two rooms which really bumps up the cost.

Travel : Flights are at sensible times and with hire car, total travel cost £1500.

This seems like a good price to me, but I wonder if I’m kidding myself and I’d do better booking two weeks with Tui!

Sounds expensive, we get all inclusive for same price at same time.

Would TUI offer the kind of holiday you want? But yes, if that doesn’t include food that sounds expensive compared to package AI.

You'll definitely get it cheaper than that. I find EasyJet holidays cheaper than Jet2. I also love Expedia.

Sounds very reasonable to me.
We paid a week in a self catering villa in Tuscany for £4000 last year.

This will be the new magic Mumsnet chicken 😂

Not sure as I haven’t done a package holiday since I was a child!

My teenager will be a picture of misery if I take her on a holiday that is roasting hot and involves mostly lounging by or in the pool for two weeks. So we’d need sights, local villages or cities, watersports, something kind of adventure eg exploring caves or whatever. And I do not like sightseeing in temperatures much above 32 so that probably rules out most of southern Europe.

Holidays that have gone well for us were Florida (April) and European road trips (summer) where we have some hot days but not baking in a heatwave every day.

I also priced up two weeks hitting the main sights in Slovenia (Ljubljana, Bled, Soca river, caves) but that seemed to come out more expensive - the self catering accom had little to recommend it (lacking a good swimming pool for example) - and the add-on costs of activities high.

I think if you have nice accommodation then it’s fine, but you could probably find something cheaper if you need to. Depends a lot on where you are going and what agency you have used to book your accommodation. I don’t think you can ever do a direct comparison between a holiday rental/villa and AI, unless cost is your only consideration.

I think so! I think my holiday planning peaked in 2024 when I got everything right and we had the best holiday ever for a really good price - that was a MN chicken holiday if ever I had one.

I considered Jersey or France for this summer as I love both but dd15 isn’t keen - she’s craving novelty.

I have next year’s vacation planned (Lisbon/coast and Azores) and that’s going to be quite cost effective.

I think that’s a good point. I probably need to pitch both types of holiday and put it to a family vote. DS wants to go to Greece but I think only because he’s been reading Percy Jackson.

Is she craving novelty? or craving something her friends haven't done.

What are her suggestions?

Get the feeling an AI isnt what the family want, so if you are after self catering somewhere nice, you are probably going to have to pay the price you've got.

Only thing i will say is that Greece in August will be seriously hot.

I think all inclusive could come out a lot more expensive because a 15 year old means adult prices in a lot of hotels. I remember when mine hit their teens the price shot up, admittedly they are adults now so things might have changed. School holiday prices will always be higher as well so the price you got doesn’t seem that bad. I remember paying nearly £4000 for 11 nights in Cyprus June time before covid, that was all inclusive and they were teens.

@noidea69 you nailed it - dd15 wants something new for bragging rights, but also she is genuinely craving adventure.

So her suggestions are (wait for it…)

Canada (Vancouver/Rockies)
Thailand
Costa Rica

None of which are happening in summer this year for reasons of cost/weather/planning!

Take her to a caravan in scunthorpe, she can brag about how her holidays are "real".

I think it sounds great! You’ve found something which meets your requirements, which is priceless.

just because someone can do AI in Benidorm for less doesn’t mean you should.

Obviously that’s on the basis that you can afford it.
if you can, great!
if you can’t, you all need to adjust expectations

Have I missed where the holiday you are planning is to? Which country?

Also AI at 2 weeks in the summer for £5-6k isn't going to be particularly nice. The accommodation will probably be quite basic, and the food a mediocre buffet.

I would self cater and eat out over AI any day of the week, even if it costs more, within reason, because the experience will be so much nicer. It doesn't even need to be that much work because you eat out every day, have a dishwasher, stock up on easy food, snacks, drinks etc and everyone pitches in. You spend all your time out and about or on the terrace/in the pool etc.

OP your planned holiday sounds lovely and if you spent the same amount of money on two weeks AI with Tui, which I don't think you'd get in August, you probably wouldn't enjoy it as much.

If you want novelty and warm but not hot, how about Poland? Gdansk is beautiful and not far from the coast, which is very wellness and nature focussed eg Sopot and the Hel peninsular. All very affordable compared with the UK too.

Germany would probably be a good shout. Berlin has loads to see and do, there's a waterpark just outside the city, there's also forests and lakes, and on google maps, I can see a lakeside beach, so I bet there's 'forest holiday' type facilities there.

That sounds like a very good price to me op.
Often AI does work out cheaper, providing you stay in the hotel and don’t eat or drink anywhere else. Is that really what you want though?

Sounds expensive to me… my only comparison I can give is 1 week in Egypt AI for £3.5k

If you can make Slovenia work cost wise it is a great option.

For 2 weeks that’s what we’d spend but that’s because I would HATE a cheap AI in the summer holidays so I’m very happy to pay more for the kind of holiday I want!

You’ve also got normal flights and a car which you don’t tend to get with the cheap AI

Decent AI for 2 weeks is VERY expensive and the ones that come in under 5k for 4 would be utterly shit in my experience.

Seems expensive though so dependent on accommodation. I’d expect at least breakfast for that price.

What @FusionChefGeoffsaid.

We have spent similar amounts on European multi base holidays, and also more. We did a Barcelona, Seville and Cadiz recently. Travelled by train between cities, and stayed in hotels (made more expensive by needing two rooms). Also hired a car for a week. I reckon we spent around £10k including all food, activities etc. but we were away more than two weeks, ate out every night and had a wonderful time. Yes we might have got an AI in Majorca for less, but we like to explore by day and try different restaurants by night. It was rather hot though!

£5.6k seems ok, but unless you’re very strict on spending you could easily get through another £2-3k.

You may get a 2 week all inclusive cheaper but then you have to add up all the extras!
Excursions every day and maybe even car hire if you decide not to do excursions but to go visiting places on your own and doing some activities

Take them on a road trip around Germany. Own car, drive from uk saving on flights (ferry is cheaper than tunnel) head clockwise, taking in the northern coast, Berlin, Bavaria (castles should be a hit, also there’s a summer bob that dc loved) then back across Black Forest and Europa parc which beats Disney then up to Aachen for last night (Charlemagne lived there) a short hop to the ferry. Get the 15 year old involved in planning on Google maps and looking for attractions along routes as well eg we went to the zeppelin museum years ago now