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

[StoppedToTieHisShoe]

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?

Oh come on if you don't know the state the world is in especially England were being bled dry nothing left for anything so I would consider yourself very lucky then as most people don't have that sort of money

Well apparently a fair few on this thread do!

Theoretically I've had what I'd class as main summer holiday in June to Greece.
However next week is husband's shut down. We're off camping in our van for 10 nights. We do lots of free stops so that will be reasonable.

Oh, I forgot, we had a week in Italy in March too

Just over £7k on 2 weeks in Japan in Spring for 2 adults 2 children. Almost half of that was on flights, 1500 on accommodation (only had to pay for 1 week) and 2500 on trains, activities, car hire, food and all spending money when there.

Re the AI v self catering debate we have discovered local delivery company in Spain glovo. Dinner delivered to villa 40 euro all in paella for 4 plus beer delivered to door. No cooking or shopping required. Lovely evening with teens in private villa.

We don’t like being round other people on holiday and don’t like the “canteen” feel of AI. This way we are private have our own house but also dont need to cook if we stay in or pay £80-130 which eating out usually is. Will still eat out sometimes but this is good middle option

@JuliettaCaeser that sounds perfect! I wonder if Crete have anything like that!

4 adults - 12 nights Madeira early July so returned just over a week ago. Flights, accommodation (2/3 bed SC holiday rentals in 2 different locations, car hire and airport parking totalled approx £4K. DIY booked before Xmas. £2K spending on top so £6K all in. We go out and eat lunch or dinner and self cater breakfast/snacks. DC are young adults so drink alcohol but meals averaged a very reasonable 120 euros which was our main expense. In our experience, Portugal is cheaper than Spain which in turn is cheaper than Italy/France for eating out. Still cheaper than the UK.

We copied our Spanish fellow holiday makers they all doing the food delivery option !

May-June: 9 nights in Italy at a Eurocamp in Premium accommodation. 2 adults, 1 6 yo:
Flights and luggage - £350
Valet parking - £120
Accommodation - £820
Car hire and petrol - £300
Spending money - approx £1200

July: 5 nights in Rhodes, just me (visiting family/friends staying up the road):
Flights - £310
Accommodation - £500
Taxis - £150
Spending money - £500

August - in-laws are generously taking us on a 7 night cruise! Haven't paid for cruise/flights but so far excursions are have come to about £350 for 2 adults and 1 child. Will take approx 500 euros in spends, but will budget to spend a little more if we need to.

October - am planning a long weekend in Italy (Rome or Florence) with my best friend for her birthday. Budgeting for under £900

Lots of travel this year that I feel very lucky to have done/have coming up - this time last year I was only recently in remission from cancer, and was not yet able to go abroad. Making up for it now!

2 adults 2 children
Harbourfront apartment st Ives £2k (Wouid have preferred to have gone s/c abroad for same cost but outvoted by DH & DC)
Probably spend £1k
6 hour drive with bickering kids £priceless

Not aimed particularly at this poster, but I'm surprised that a few people have said they've taken a certain amount of spending money; considering most people don't spend cash at home, do you actually take cash or do you mean you put that onto a specific card, or account?

The canteen feel of AI is very dependant on the hotel/resort.

we’re currently at an AI resort and nothing “canteen” about it

Just paid £524 for 7 nights at eurocamp in Croatia for one adult and two teens staying a huge resort with a water park on the beach. Flights are £800 and we have £1500 spending money. So roughly £3k with treats at the airport etc.

We will be taking cash to Aruba this August. It's easier for tips, taxis, street food etc. and it's usually a real pain to try to find a cash machine somewhere (had this problem in Greece).

We also take cash even though we’re AI for tipping staff, taxis and local shops

We rarely take cash on holiday these days, but by spending money I just mean X amount budgeted for ‘spends’. It usually all goes on a credit card (safest way to spend abroad) and pay it off when we get back from the holiday savings.

£190 for 3 night camping about an hour away from home. 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 dog. Approx £100 for activities while we’re there. We could actually afford a fancy foreign holiday, but we like camping. I also struggle with the thought of the unnecessary carbon emissions created by flying, so avoid it where possible.

Spending money depends where we are going but default would be on a card for safety but this summer we were in Sri Lanka where cash use is common. I got a Wise card - we paid the driver in cash and more for tips, we paid the guest houses/villas in cash to save them paying bank fees and its their preference and they are cheap, tuk tuk in cash, restaurants along route in cash, National park fees (Yala, Kumana and also Lions Rock) were cash only, tea plantations cash was better. We withdrew cash at cash machines though you have to plan for rural areas and weekends cash machines may have run out. Wise was great though a couple of places card machines rejected it when there were funds on it but these were rural card machines. Within Europe would just take cards.

@therockingbird sounds great what’s it called please&did u book direct with euro camp?

I think some people actually do take literal cash, have seen those topics on MN before where people go out to exchange money before trip.
Not sure why go through all the trouble and risk that the cash is stolen or lost.

I use my Amex or Wise card to pay and haven't travelled anywhere so exotic recently where there were no ATMs anywhere around. Also don't have set spend budget, we spend what we spend.

We took some actual cash although we also spent money on phones/cards. My phone didnt work in one shop, so i paid with cash. We paid for a taxi with cash.

I never use atms in the uk, so i wouldnt think about using one on holiday, but my sister was going to use one and there was a €5 charge to withdraw cash.

Varies by the banks whether there's charges for using ATMs. In Sri Lanka some banks did not charge at all and we used those though you are best like here to use inside ones so best to do during opening hours of banks. I've only been to one very remote island with no cash machines at all, in Sri Lanka sometimes if you were rural it would be the nearest big place. Wise gives a certain amount free then a % charge but the people needed the money a lot more than we did and some of the guests house were only £30 a night and $6 for a massive breakfast.

yes of course you need to avoid the daylight robbery machines like Euronet and if your regular bank card charges fees for cash withdrawals abroad, get a card that doesn't (like Wise).
I rarely use cash but if I need some, where else would one get some besides ATMs? I don't work cash in hand, so don't get it in any other way.

@JuliettaCaeser yep , we did dinner in our room last new year break ( not New Year’s Eve of course) in Stockholm a couple of nights - and watched Netflix - suprisingly enjoyable and relaxing ( don’t have kids around anymore) and used their equivalent of deliveroo which is called wolt - I’ve done this in other countries too if we’ve had a busy day - slap up takeaway dinner in room followed by a couple of drinks in hotel bar - we rarely have takeaways at at home- but it was suprisingly enjoyable and saved a bit from our usual 80 euro's a night dinners.

Have a blast- you deserve it - my son loved Eurocamp when little- ( and even as a young teen) he actually preferred it to conventional hotel holidays- I think he liked the mix of international kids and the freedom to roam about a bit - popping up to the campsite takeaway etc - good times!!