Cheaper to book now, or wait until the week before I go?

[FabulousFreshias]

I know nobody has a crystal ball, but I'm interested in people's experiences.

I'm looking at booking a 5-day package holiday somewhere sunny during the last week of the school holidays, we need to be back by 28th August. We're pretty flexible on destination, although I'd rather not have a really long flight as it's only a short break.

In your experience, what tends to happen to package holiday prices as the departure date gets closer? Do they generally come down if you leave it until the week before, or is that less common during the school holidays because demand stays high?

Would you book now or take a chance and wait? I'd be interested to hear what others have found. Thank you

Cheap last-min deals are, broadly speaking, a thung of the past. I think book now.

In my experience the prices go up the nearer you get to departure whatever the time of year.

Thanks, I’ll take a look today and accept there may not be a last minute bargain!

Prices go both up and down, particularly for the flight portion of your booking, it's entirely based on supply and demand. You don't tend to get any absolute bargains these days. I would have a look now and see what you would fancy booking for your time frame and also have a look to see how much the same package costs to go next week (or the week after), and then make a decision. Waiting also runs the risk of places you like becoming fully booked. We went to the Carribbean earlier in the year during the Easter school holidays, and I in no way snagged an absolute bargain, but I booked 4 weeks out and the flight prices had fallen £600/person since I started looking in January. It started off crazy expensive and was just expensive (but less than booking for Easter 2027) by the time I booked it. You have a better chance of prices falling if there are a lot of flights to where you want to go, Balearic islands and Faro being good examples from most airports.

Availability may become an issue the longer you wait.

There have been a few threads lately where families have booked last minute, there hasn’t been room for them to book seats together & they’ve expected other people to move for them so that’s a consideration.

Thanks all, probably look h at Balearics and at the moment there seem to be a fair few flights. As it’s for two adults, we’re not too worried if we can’t sit together on the plane

5 weeks before has worked for me. Just booked a 5 day trip to Turkey AI me and 2 kids for mid August. I’ve been monitoring prices for the last couple of months and this is the lowest they’ve gone.

I think it's really pot luck and could go either way, but with only 2 adults and flexibility in where you go - especially if you'd also consider mainland Spain or the Canaries, I think I'd risk it.

For flights, you might get a better deal if you use different airlines, eg Jet2 are doing some very cheap flights going out, (eg £29 or £34 including two cabin bags) but the ones coming back are more expensive, so if you could get the return flight with Ryanair or Easyjet, you've got a good deal for a summer flight.

Of course, then you have to find accommodation, but in the second half of August, many northern European schools are back, so there's more availability, especially if you go somewhere popular with nationalities other than the UK.

Perhaps look at Paguera in Mallorca, lovely little resort town, 3 good beaches, pedestrianised seafront with restaurants and shops that you'd probably want to ignore, but most of the holiday makers who go there are German so demand is probably lower in late August.

I would wait. I waited until the day before to book a flight in Feb half term to Gran Canaria as it had gone down in price by several hundred pounds. If you're not fussy about where you go there are lots of good deals to be had by being last minute.

I just booked for that week OP, JET2 or Love holidays are good prices, couldn’t afford TUI this time.