What do you think a reasonable cost is for a weeks holiday for family of four (excluding spending while away)?

[ellasmum1]

Including flights/car hire/ferry etc.home or abroad.How much do you budget for?
Am just interested,am i just tight?
Am very shocked by some prices when browsing!

Have just booked Isle of Wight holiday for 4 adults and 2 toddlers, just before schools break up. 4 nights s/c for £450 (10% discount from work), and train fare £35 each (1/3 off each).

Had good value holidays pre-offspring by taking train/Easyjet to France/Italy and sharing a large chateau with friends, with one or two cars hired.

We did New York fir £2K flights & 4* hotel. Spending on top. That was for 4 in the school hols for 1 week. Spent 2k touring in this country last year

Norfolk line are pretty cheap and do Dover to Dunkirk in a couple of hours. I've book a return for a week from 7th August for £85. That includes a trailer tent which we'll wimp out of doing, would have been £50 without trailer. They do special offers earlier in the year. If I can sort someone to look after dog we'll do Germany again as we had a great time last year. I've looked around and I'm confident I can get somewhere for around 3-400 euros, but have some very basic back ups lined up for just over 200 euros.

Last August we went on a farm in Germany which had an indoor pool, free riding twice a week, lots of animals , several playgrounds, sauna/gym, crazy golf, go-karts, roller train thing. That cost 420 euros (about £340 as I'd pre-bought Euros on fxcard before exchange rate plummeted) including fresh rolls every morning, electricity etc. Ferry was £47. Diesel was about £120 so total for week in August was just over £500.

There is no way I am paying £7-800 for a week in Devon in August when we can go abroad for less.

Just to warn you: petrol is currently about E1.36 per l in France - i.e more expensive than in the UK, at current exchange rates. And all grocery shopping is more expensive.

Beachedwhale, that's actually very slightly cheaper than my local petrol station if I work it out with the exchange rate on the card I use. We get round the grocery issue with out humongous ice box into which we lob the contents of our fridge and freezer and it stays frozen for days so long enough to get it there. However I know that's not a lot of people's idea of a holiday, but works for us as both the DC's are happy to put up with a long distance drive and I don't mind cooking whilst we are away- I make extra portions of stuff for a few weeks before we go. Mine aren't toddlers though and will go off and enertain themselves so DH and I get a break if there's enough stuff to do where we stay.

do you know whether it is more economical in france to hire a petrol or diesel car?

We are doing a two-week house swap to the Loire in August.

Ferries have cost just under £500 and then there will be petrol costs as well of course.

libra I'd love to do that but our house needs doing up plus not sure if anyone would be interested in this area(staffs)!

Libra, would you mind reporting back after you've been ? I have been thinking about doing that next year.

I don't know about diesel vs petrol car I'm afraid as we always take ours. The other thing worth looking at are the Brittany Ferries gite holidays which work out good value as they include the ferry crossings from the south coast rather than Dover, which are a lot more booked on their own without the gite.

This will be our 15th house swap - we have been all over Europe.
It is great to actually stay in another family's home - we don't need to take toys for DS2, for example. There is usually a good kitchen rather than the ill-equipped ones you sometimes get in a selfcatering house, and you are living as part of the real country rather than as a tourist.

It is also the one times in the year that I ever really tidy up the house!

That sounds a really good way to travel- how did you get into it?

diesel ellas - theres much less tax on it in france compared to petrol (though am not sure of the rental costs difference).

We go away in the cheap weeks - feb half term, first week of october half term and I always aim to bring it in for about 1000 so 1500 by the time we've added food and spending money - eg for oct half term I was looking at a 3 bed villa in turkey (ownersdirect) for 400 and then the flights with easyjet were 600. You do have to do it all yourself though - package holidays are laughable - theres no way am paying 500quid each for a two/three star hotel...

Wow Libra I am so jealous of your sense of adventure!! I could never relax knowing there were strangers in my house or equally going to a strangers house... I have an over active imagination!! Sounds like such a good idea were I less highly strung!

Sounds fab Libra. I've been thinking about doing it for ages, have only done it with friends before. I think next year we might take the plunge. The cleaning will do me good !

thanks will look into diesel then!

If anyone is interested in house swapping, we have always used the Intervac website.

Have been to Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France, Spain and England for longer holidays and weekend breaks nearer home (Scotland) through them, and we wouldn't go on holiday any other way now.

It means that I am more relaxed about spending money on the holiday on things like meals out because I know that all we have spent on is the travel.

But it is scary the first time you do it!

I would love to do home swapping I think it's a great idea, but our house needs a bit more done to it before we could swap with people.

Libra may I ask, what do you do with personal items like paperwork etc do you lock it all away?
Do you clear drawers and wardrobe space as well?

Sorry Ellasmum1 don't mean to hijack this thread I'm just interested.

Hi Linnet

What we find that most people that we swap with do is have one room that they can lock. Then they put everything precious or personal there and lock it up.

We do clear a little bit of cupboard space, and dump the clothes in this locked room.

We always leave a meal that can be quickly heated up - as do our swapping partners, which can be a Godsend.

We also leave a folder that we have compiled over the years with recommendations of things to do and where to buy things. It is lovely to arrive in a small village in France and find recommendations on which baker to use and to mention a certain name to the wine seller!