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Holidays

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Original poster

I'm curious, how much did your summer holiday cost this year?

449 replies

StoppedToTieHisShoe · 22/07/2026 11:58

How much are people paying to go on holiday this year?

Our stats:
2 adults 2 children
1 week in July to Lanzarote
Basic 2 star self catering apts, small pool, all clean and pleasant. No luxury.
£1800
Spending money approx £1500

We eat out for lunch and dinner each day, visit a music bar/play pool after dinner and do a few local day trips but kids happy with pool/beach/playparks. They could run up and down a wall beside stairs for hours!

I pass by some of the bigger hotels with the entertainment and activities and wonder if we would like that. Would anyone share how much they are paying for these types of holidays?

Just wondering how much people are paying for different holidays and also, as an aside, when is the best time to book for best deals?

OP posts:
Hotel100 · Yesterday 22:45

£5300 hotel including breakfast in Skiathos for 2weeks. Plus at least an additional 1k spending for 2 adults 2 children (14 & 8)

Doteycat · Yesterday 22:46

Skiathos seems to get a good shout here. Is it gorgeous?

ImImmortalNowBabyDoll · Yesterday 22:47

Last year we spent about £500 on a long weekend in Cornwall.

Then at Christmas we went to Lapland and that was about £8k but it was a once in a lifetime trip.

This year we're going to Blackpool for 5 nights- we've splashed out a bit on a nice hotel and all the activities and it will come to around £1300.

Then next year we're going to Uzbekistan, I've budgeted about £4k in total for that and the flights were £2.5k of that.

XelaM · Yesterday 22:47

Americasfavouritefightingfrenchman · Yesterday 22:43

£600 for return trains and a week in an air BnB in Blackpool this week and then we will spend easily double that between the zoo, pleasure beach, various seaside attractions & shows (both things like the circus/ice show at the pleasure beach and a couple of musicals at the winter gardens and the grand). The circus acts/ice show/magic are something a bit different and honestly the kids are just absolutely loving it and have already asked to come again next year. I’m trying to persuade them they would enjoy a break in Düsseldorf with a visit to Phantasialand and the Roman museum in Xanten, which feels fitting as eldest will start learning German next year. I think we possibly do slightly weird holidays.

Düsseldorf is where my parents live! It's a great place 😃 My daughter just spent 2 weeks there and didn't want to come back. Geographically it's also very well-positioned to travel around Europe if you want a road trip. My teen also loved Xanten.

MsSquiz · Yesterday 22:48

WTAFuuuuuck · Yesterday 22:00

Might as well take some heat

£43k
19 days
family of 4

We will spend on some food and drink whilst there but all activities are included

Can you say where?

OneNewEagle · Yesterday 22:48

PhoebeBuffay1234 · Yesterday 21:19

We’ve been going to the Peak District for 19 years and when we first went we stayed in a cottage in Eyam for a few years, then there was a 2 bedroom apartment in Two Dales, just outside of Matlock and now we stay just outside of Matlock but in the opposite direction. This will be our 7th year here, our first year was 2020 during Covid.

We love the Peak District because you’ve got Chesterfield one way where there’s a cinema and bowling nearby so that was good for rainy days when the kids were little but then on good days you’ve got the beautiful countryside and they loved exploring too. We also do Alton Towers a few times, which they also still love now they’re older.🤣

This is where we currently stay. We originally chose it as FIL needed all one level but obviously it’s great anyway.

www.holidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/oc-34273-heatherfield

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Thank you very much. That looks lovely, I’m better all on one level myself due to a disability. I’m really tempted to book it myself as exactly the sort of thing we like. We are hoping to get away for a week in January instead of a standard Christmas so this is going on my to be considered list. Many, many thanks we might actually get back to the Peak District again, we really loved it.

Echlefecker · Yesterday 22:50

£3200 1 week half board in Costa Brava for 4 adults.
Spent £1200
Took 2adults kids with us. Very expensive but had a great time

DustyWindowsills · Yesterday 22:53

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 22/07/2026 20:25

Zero. Couldn’t afford one 🙈

Same here.

XelaM · Yesterday 22:54

MsSquiz · Yesterday 22:48

Can you say where?

Show quote history

£43K on a holiday is just stupid. Not even multi-millionaires I know spend this much on a holiday. Unless you're a WAG and bringing the whole football team on holiday with you?

GarlicEverywhere · Yesterday 22:56

God, it's so much more expensive going on your own!

This year I'm having an exciting three nights at a UK hotel. There's an event I don't want to miss. Hotel £350, train will be around £80 and I expect to spend about £500 while I'm there.

I'm cribbing some of your ideas for next year. If I can find something like your weeks away for little over a grand, I'll be well pleased.

Dragonflyspeeding · Yesterday 23:00

Approx 4.5K for two adults and two teens. for two weeks in France. That included flights, accommodation in two different locations and car hire.
Self catering accommodation was ok, nothing wrong with it but nothing to write home about either.
Spent quite a lot but that was discretionary so pretty pointless including that. We could have spent a lot less and had a cheaper holiday.

WimbyAce · Yesterday 23:01

We have paid just under £2800 for a 4 star all inclusive in Gran Canaria end of August, 2 adults and 2 kids. Local airport. Will only take the 100 euros I have knocking about.

Samysungy · Yesterday 23:01

2 weeks South Africa...£1,200

XelaM · Yesterday 23:03

Samysungy · Yesterday 23:01

2 weeks South Africa...£1,200

Wow 🤩 this is amazing. Please tell us more!

mishgs · Yesterday 23:03

£1100 for a week in Anglesey in August - 2 bedroom apartment for 1 adult, 1 teen and a dog. Lots of amenities and a beach 2 minute walk away.

Minasama · Yesterday 23:07

NotSureNeedSomething · 22/07/2026 14:08

£4000 for 3 (2 adults 1 child) to Malta 5* 11 nights B and B hotel.
very expensive and tbh I’d probably just do an air bnb next year as all DC wants is a pool and chips anyway! Plus I’d choose somewhere with 1/2 hrs flight

That seems good value to me, we spent £8600 for four of us for 10 days in Kefalonia in a nice hotel in August two years ago. Not doing that again.

Samysungy · Yesterday 23:08

XelaM · Yesterday 23:03

Wow 🤩 this is amazing. Please tell us more!

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£500 return flights from Manchester
£450 Airbnb
£260 car hire

You can get flights cheaper than that sometimes. Best I have had is £370 return!

Supperlite · Yesterday 23:08

How does everyone afford these holidays?! Even £3k on a holiday feels like an enormous amount to save up and spend in one year.

ETA this is a genuine question, I must be going wrong somewhere…!

InTheMargins · Yesterday 23:10

Two adults, two kids:
£1400 - 11 nights at French Eurocamp type site (although booked direct) in August. 3 bedrooms, AC, premium chalet.
£300 - Eurotunnel
£200 - 2 overnight stays to break journey
£300 - fuel
Total = £2200 - probably spend around £1000 (£1500?) while there as well but I won’t be keeping track! Can’t wait.

WimbyAce · Yesterday 23:14

Supperlite · Yesterday 23:08

How does everyone afford these holidays?! Even £3k on a holiday feels like an enormous amount to save up and spend in one year.

ETA this is a genuine question, I must be going wrong somewhere…!

Edited

0% credit card!

CaffeinatedMum · Yesterday 23:16

@Supperlite we put £500 a month between us into a holiday pot. We definitely should put less into that and more into actual savings, but we both love travel and holidays.

Doteycat · Yesterday 23:18

Salary. Wages. Disposable income.
We were broke as fuck for a good while.
Now we are not. Our business is thriving and we take out v healthy salaries. Pensions and property and kids sorted.
We dont drink smoke etc. We like our hols.
We always took the kids on hols but it was a once a year event i spent the year squirrelling away for. 2 weeks in a eurocamp self catering.
Happiest times of our lives they were.

Dragonflyspeeding · Yesterday 23:18

ElleintheWoods · Yesterday 21:10

I am quite shocked/surprised at how much people spend on holidays.

Where do you find these prices? Is it a package situation? For some reason I thought children under 5 or 7 were usually free to take along and you'd just pay for 2 adults.

Extremely well travelled (BA lifetime gold member, highest tier member with a premium hotel chain) and I don't see how one would pay this much by choice. Is it the case of being set on a very particular super premium accommodation? Not being price sensitive? Having to book flights last minute? I am just checking Paris luxury hotels for next week to see what people might be booking for that budget and some extremely good hotels are available at under 500 per room per night...

I'd usually holiday somewhere like Como (usual destination), South Italy, Paris, London, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Switzerland, Norway/Sweden, so fairly popular destinations not known for being 'budget'. Stay in the prime location in a 4-5 star hotel with beautiful pools, destination restaurants etc, or a really good Airbnb if privacy is desired.

I am currently looking at my winter holiday that's booked with full flex cancellation, in a 5-star hotel with a Michelin star restaurant on site, and the cost is 700 GBP for 7 nights. Will add flights later, I think they'll be about 200 pp RTN with BA.

I'm also doing a long-haul holiday to an Indian Ocean island this year and that's 1,500 all-in - may add optional upgrades.

I'm flying next week, so peak school holiday travel time, and my return flights are 200 with a premium airline from Heathrow. Long-haul I'd still expect to pay under 1,000 RTN pp unless it's Australia/NZ.

Assumed the 5-10K pp holidays were for the 'retired and wealthy' market rather than under 40s, I did not realise paying 5-10K for a family holiday outside the USA was a big market at all considering the noise about COL, and how cheaply companies advertise their family friendly holidays.

Can you please give more details ie. when you travel, where you travel from, how far in advance do you book, through an agent or direct and what website do you use?

I feel like I'm spending way too much!

Doteycat · Yesterday 23:20

Is your winter hol in a 5 star hotel for 700 just for one person?

sunupstars · Yesterday 23:31

Supperlite · Yesterday 23:08

How does everyone afford these holidays?! Even £3k on a holiday feels like an enormous amount to save up and spend in one year.

ETA this is a genuine question, I must be going wrong somewhere…!

Edited

We’ve always set money aside every month for our annual holiday, our income and outgoings for the year have determined how much we put in. In the early years we were lucky to pull together £2000 (and that was the hardest money to spend as it was such a lot of money to us) and now the figure is much higher as wages have increased.