Booking a holiday - talk to me like I'm an idiot

[BeanMeUp]

Because at this point, I feel like I am!

We (2 adults, 1 child) would like to maybe venture to Europe next year. Child will be 8/9 depending on time of year and is autistic.

It's been a long time since we've been out of the country - 10 years, maybe more.

We've gone away a lot but UK based, where I've booked transport/accommodation separately, generally staying somewhere like a Premier Inn as a base for a city break, or a self-catering lodge type accommodation for something more rural.

What's the deal with booking in Europe? Previously we've just booked cheap flights and found somewhere to stay when we've got there. Had some amazing places but also some proper dives, but it didn't matter when were young and carefree. We obviously need to be a little more prepared and responsible now!

Talk to me like I'm an idiot - because I think i might be. How would you go about booking say a city break in terms of travel and accommodation? Do you just pick a random hotel and book direct, or through a third party platform?

Or a resort type break? When I've looked online e.g. Tui every search ive done has come back with nothing meeting my criteria, or in countries way further than we can currently travel.

Also, I welcome any suggestions!
Main criteria: Eurostar/plane travel, short transfer times, flight length max 2 hours.

Thank you!

Pick a city.
Use Skyscanner site to find out if there are flights that meet your criteria. Pick dates fir travel. Don't book yet.

Use Booking.com or LateRooms.com or Trivago or whatever to pick a hotel for the same dates. You can filter by cost, and some facilities. Don't book yet.

Try Jet2, EasyJet, Ryanair, to see if they fly where you want, and then see if they offer to add on a hotel.
They won't offer as many hotels, but they can be cheaper overall if one suits you.
Booking.com is useful to check location, facilities, reviews etc. Compare, refine, repeat...

Once you've done some research, either book flight then hotel, or book the package with the airline company.

Or try a high street travel agent?

Sky scanner for flights.

I use on the beach and expedia to find holidays then price up directly to check, also check flight prices with the airline direct.

For city breaks I use booking.com.

For longer haul I use destination2.

Check out sky scanner as above but make sure you book through the airlines actual website not some random site that may come in cheaper.

check out Jet2 for European breaks also, I searched for holidays to Italy and loads of euro camps came up which look good for kids.

Easyjet holidays also.

failing a package just use sky scanner/airline websites and then look to see if the hotel is cheaper via booking.com or direct with the hotel.

Where are you flying from? Two hours will not get you far depending how north you are.
For example, it’s over two hours to Mallorca from Manchester airport.

Leaves you with channel Islands and France pretty much at under two hours plus Amsterdam and some of Germany. I would use easyJet and then book accommodation separately. Airlines usually release flights 260 days before departure for scheduled airlines, more for charters.

Thank you for the quick responses so far, really appreciate it - it feels like a lot of additional pressure to get it right with an SEND child.

Intrigued as to what the hidden comment was 🧐

Flights realistically would be Bristol, Exeter or London with an overnight stay at either end. Probably looking somewhere like Paris or Berlin initially I think. Kid loves exploring cities and pools/beaches equally though.

If he likes city and beach, what about Barcelona?

Just book a package holiday if you're not sure as they do it all for you.

I book flights directly with airline.
Then I usually use Booking.com for hotel or apartment. Occasional Airbnb. I scrutinise reviews, check tripadvisor, go on google street view to check out the area

Use a travel agent and take the stress away

I'd be inclined to book a package of flight + hotel, you'll be fully covered if anything goes wrong. Plus it's easier to organise.

BA holidays do a good range of holidays at excellent prices - often cheaper than Tui or Jet2.

Just a reminder, get travel insurance as soon as you book.

We use airbnb a lot, just make sure the place has recent, good reviews. I find it's often quieter and more suited to having an autistic child than a hotel room.

Book a hotel + flight with BA you can choose private transfers too as extras
Atol protected

Or jet 2 etc hotel and flight
But BA slightly nicer seats

I spend a lot of time reading TripAdvisor reviews before booking hotels, weeding out ones that have issues that might be a problem for us (e.g. too noisy). People also give quite a lot if information about how to get around from a particular hotel and what the local restaurants are like.

I tend to book directly with hotels. I am also increasingly booking flexibly, so we can cancel if something goes wrong.

We had a great trip to Paris last year. We stayed in a hotel with a pool, which gave a bit of respite from the hustle of the city. I planned something to do every day. There were a few things that needed booking in advance (e.g. I think you have to be online within 10 mins of the Eiffel Tower tickets being released). Again, it was forums that told me that, and I actually failed, but another forum said that a boat trip and Eiffel Tower combined ticket was easier to get.

AI is quite good at suggesting itineraries, but get it to ask you a few questions about what you enjoy, to get a really tailored response.

For our autistic DD, the main things that we have to consider are noise (she is better with ear defenders), she's not keen on flying (we did Eurostar to Cologne for Christmas markets, rather than flying further into Germany) and what she will eat. But I do understand that all autistic people are different.

My comment was hidden probably because I put too many companies names 😅.

I start with flights as there are less options there than hotels e.g. if you can only fly on x date but there are no decent flights to Paris that day there's no point finding your dream hotel first.

I've just used the transfer option on booking dot com (so I don't get hidden again) very reasonable prices for private transfers, half what the hotel wanted to charge us.

Oh, I'm disappointed, I was hoping it was going to be more scandalous than that 😆

I was absolutely clueless about this too but the Jet2 app was brilliant and I've managed to book a short break to Porto with my daughter. Good luck!

I mean - either book flights and accommodation separately or book as a package? There’s no right answer. There’s pros and cons with each.

Have a look at Tropical Islands near Berlin. It is less than a 2 hour flight. You can do both Berlin city (to see the sights) then get the train out to Brand Tropical Islands station (can't remember how long but not much more than an hour) and a shuttle bus takes you to the resort in less than 10 mins (which is sort of like a center parcs, and definitely feels like you are on holiday, loads of accom choices). It isn't particularly cheap, but it is good. Then back to the airport (again, less than an hour). S

I usually use Trip Advisor to pick the hotel and check the reviews. Type in the place you want to stay, then sort by reviewer rating and use the filter to set your maximum budget. Then look down the list until you find one you like. You can’t book it on trip advisor but they do include several links to sites where you can book it, with a price comparison.

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate your guidance and suggestions, will do some deeper digging later. Its all a bit alien, I think probably because we both grew up in families where holidays just weren't a thing for different reasons. We want to be able to give our child opportunities and experiences we never had (and have those experiences ourselves now!)

Ooh that sounds like a good idea. Another thing you could do as well as all the city attractions is get the train out to a lake to swim in and walk in the forest. German public transport is excellent and cheap (look on seat61.com for an explanation of tickets etc). Jet2 (likely also BA, Easyjet etc) do packages to Berlin but you could equally book your flight separately and look on Vrbo, Trivago or any of the other hotel booking sites for your accommodation.

Something else that might work is Lalandia in Denmark - it's a Center Parcs type resort so cabins and a big swimming/activity dome. It's also next to the original Legoland and some other Lego themed attractions. It's a couple of miles from Billund airport, to which you can fly to from London.

When searching for flights, to find which airlines go where, I use Skyscanner to search for direct flights from UK to the place I want to go and set the date filter to flexible. It then returns the UK airports that go from airports and you can then click through from where you want to start from to see the airlines and prices.

This place looks amazing, would be ideal for a couple of nights alongside an overnight or two in the actual city. A quick look suggests DC meets the minimum age/height/weight for most things and there's a shuttle bus from the station too. Thank you!

I don't like to have alot of stress when I book holidays.

So for citybreaks I have looked at airline flight and hotel deals inside my budget which has worked really well. (Got a lovely 4 day trip to Munich with BA - just clicked I wanted a flight and hotel deal and then could filter according to stars and location). And for AI breaks I usually go via a travel agent. We have had success with Sunvil for Greece and Cyprus.

Yes I can do it all separately myself but it makes me anxious.