Parents of three, how do you manage holidays and travel costs?

[Thuraya17]

Parents of 3, what do you do for holidays and how often do you go?

me and my husband are considering stopping at 2 kids, not because we want to, but for logistical reasons. Family rooms on vacation are always 2 adults and 2 parents, tickets for the zoo or the theme parks are the same, once you add a 3rd child with the price of flights these days and needing then an extra hotel room, how are you managing vacations? Also, do you have to split up and have mum with some kids and dad with others?

We are fairly comfortable money wise, and still feel like 3 kids would mean being tight for things like holidays, extra curriculars. What’s everyone’s experience, would you stop at 2 children in 2026?

We don't stay in hotels, we always do self catering. Cheaper and we get far more room. We usually avoid the summer and go in the spring or autumn half term. If going to northern Europe we have gone the last week of August when a lot of places the local children are back at school. We do have the advantage of having parents who live in tourist destinations so visit them in peak season and we have no accomodation costs. We didn't travel abroad when the kids were very young (see comment about visiting family) but have a week long holiday abroad every year and a week in the UK every year as well (plus visiting family). I have a work mate on a similar income who prioritises holidays though and travels abroad multiple times a year, but holidays aren't that important to me.

It’s true, it’s very hard/impossible to get a hotel room for 5. We usually get two rooms and 1 parent goes with 2 kids and the other with 1. As the previous poster said, self-catering is good for this (eg eurocamp or centre parcs or air b n b), more space and only have to book one unit for accommodation.
Also, consider car space - we have a 7 seater. Initially it was impossible to put 3 car seats across the back of a standard car, so we had to get a car with 3 full size seats across the back.
Despite this, we love our 3rd to bits and we wouldn’t send him back…! You don’t regret the ones you have.

I got divorced and suddenly we became a family of 4. 🤣 1 adult and 3 kids is a lot easier to juggle on the holiday planning budget.

Eurocamps via ferry. Loads of fun and cost effective. We always stay in a cabin.

Generally we preferred self catering when our dc were young, much more relaxing.
But also no difficulty finding accommodation.
However, when we have done a package holiday, we've just gone somewhere where there are enough beds. It's not difficult. Lots of places can have a 3rd bed in a room. Not sure why you think rooms are always for 2 adults and 2 dc. They just aren't. Families come in all shapes and sizes.

Same with tickets for a day out. It costs what it costs. Then you use any discounts you can find, or things like Blue Peter Cards or annual passes to help with costs.

Plus of course, I always think the "How can you afford....." threads are daft as clearly some people have bigger budgets than other people, mayber through a bigger income, maybe through lower outgoings, maybe through prioritising different things.

Yes, of course it costs more to buy 5 aeroplane seats rather than 4, just in the same way if costs more to have 2 dc rather than one, or to have an only child rather than not having any children. Not everyone measures the value of having the family you want, in £££.

it’s a non-issue, you adapt your plans to make it work. We only did one package/AI holiday though as it’s not our thing anyway. When we did it was off-season so just booked 2 inter connecting rooms.
Otherwise, drove to France for Eurocamp-type mobile homes/cabins when DC were younger. Then discovered that USA and Canada hotels have all-suite rooms sleeping 5-6 . Also lucky to have family and friends to stay with, or holiday rentals/airbnb.
In UK there was a fair bit of sneaking an extra DC into Premier Inn family rooms.

When travelling and days out etc. -we’d agree in advance who was responsible for which DC so none were lost!

I wouldn’t plan my whole life around a once a year family holiday

I have 3 children it’s fine - yes it’s more expensive but most places on days out do 1 or 2 adults and up to x children tickets

We have 3 and never really stayed in hotels, self catering villas etc are the way forward especially if the catering side of things is limited to breakfast in the place only!
We found you have so much more space and freedom and flexibility, and peace depending on what you go for.
We now have 2 adult dc and 1 teen, they all still come on holiday with us so it’s not gotten any cheaper yet 😂
Hotels never appealed to us primarily as we didn’t want to share a room with the dc for sleeping. And from when they turned about 8/9 they could all have their own rooms the same as they did at home so everyone could have their own space.

Self catering and travel by car.

It’s true that when we stay in hotels we need two rooms now (usually for a 1-2 night stop en route to somewhere) and one parent goes in each. it was much nicer when we all fitted in one room (which you can do til youngest it three, in general).

You can find hotels with interconnected rooms or rooms for five, plus some deals (Accor group on the continent are good for this- Mercure, Novotel Ibis etc). But not always doable on the right place or date for an en route stop and not always easy to book (many premiere inns have interconnected rooms but you have to ring up and request one).

however in terms of actual costs the biggies are a six figure sum to upgrade our home to a 4-bed house (remember you need more downstairs space too for a larger family), three lots of nursery fees at £50k each over four years, eventually three lost of uni etc….

On zoos etc, I find many places do allow up to three kids on a family ticket, so I like to think I’m getting better value at those than a family of four, to offset the ones where I need an extra ticket!

also unless your kids are very close in age, you might not have three child-age children for long. Many places have a reduced price for under 3/ under 5 etc and again kids may be full price from 12 (this true in many hotels) so your eldest ages out of the offer.

For example one place we go frequently has a free child meal with each adult meal, but my eldest (8) wants an adult meal anyways because the free child meals are quite small

I’m going against everyone. It’s a pain in the neck. I hate that we can’t go to a hotel and all be in the same room, we can’t go on weekend breaks because we can’t afford the two rooms, we wanted to go on a cruise but we couldn’t afford the two rooms. Going to things like theme parks are annoying because all the rides are for 2s or 4s so I don’t have one photo of all of us on a ride together.

It’s not only the cost implication but I have found three children very difficult compared to 2. I adore my youngest and it’s not her as a person. Any combination of the children get on much better when it’s just the two of them rather than all three.

We have 3 teens so have had this dilemma for 14+ years.
Hotels abroad you have to filter down to 1 room for 5 people. It filters out all but 5 options in say Majorca or Tenerife but that is just how it is unless you want to separate into two separate rooms with an adult in each which we never did. Some hotels do adjoining rooms, some have rooms for 3 kids and sofa bed in lounge.
otherwise, centerparcs in Europe has been a good option. Duinreill. Villas / air b&b also

I have four. We just book apartments and eat out.

I would do drive holidays on ferry to Europe and apartments

Days out often allow up to 3 or 4 children, or you just get a family ticket and pay for the extra child place and it’s not that much more expensive.

Holidays we either self cater or do lodge style holidays at places like Eurocamp. The few hotel holidays we’ve been on I book through a travel agent as the are much better at knowing where will put an extra bed in the room - we usually need 2 rooms on holiday (mine are teens now) but that is no different to many of my friends with 2 children- in fact I have a friend who only has 2 teens but they refuse to share a room even on holiday so she has to book 3 rooms!

The biggest expense by far is having to buy a 4 bed house 😂

We have 2, but we always stay in Airbnbs when travelling and we do lots of camping (wild camping and in campsites). It wouldn’t be vastly different with a third other than the price of the flight. Most of our memberships are 3 children (our gym/pool membership is 2 adults, 3 children). National Trust is 2 adults and unlimited children living at the same address (like I don’t think you could add 20, but there is no stated limit).

If you prefer staying in resorts, I’d hate to cram 5 to a room (I’d hate to cram 4 to a room, wait til they get to the age when they fight constantly 😬). I would get 2 rooms. Dh and I often split up on holiday anyway as logistically it works better. Older children don’t want to all do the same things all the time.

Really though I’d be much less concerned about travel and much more concerned about the real day to day costs, bigger car, bigger house, another round of nursery, more after school clubs, more activities. We pay £400 a term for sports just for one of ours. 🙈

I grew up as one of three and this is precisely why I wouldn’t have three myself! You’re right OP, everything is always catered to a family of four, and it does make things difficult and so much more expensive!

I grew up in a family of 6 (4DC) and DH grew up in a family of 5 (3DC) so it's normal to us. But honestly, I can't imagine anything worse than us all being in a single hotel room, so even if we didn't have 3DC that wouldn't be the kind of holiday I'd want (we've done it for a single night when travelling to see family and that's enough).

But PPs are right, buying a bigger house, childcare costs when little, university fees (I have 2DC who are wanting to do five year degrees 😱), a seven seater car are all much larger expenses than a holiday. And all the smaller families I know end up taking friends with them on holiday so you end up requiring a bigger room anyway.

This was quite sarcastic and I also don’t measure the value of things in money. I’m just a responsible parent who wants to make sure I’m only bringing the amount of kids into our lives that we can provide for, which I think is fair and sensible personally.

Not sarcastic at all.
Factually answered your question.

It’s kind of a strange question as it assumes everyone has the same spending power.

I wouldn’t share one room with 2 dc anyway. I’d always get a connecting room anyway so makes no difference if there are 3

Eurocamp, European centerparcs, and posher caravan/lodge holidays in the UK. Have only ever stayed in one hotel in 7 years of being a family of 5, and that was a hostel type place where we had a room that slept 6 (which was great).

we haven’t flown yet. The thing that baffles me the most is car hire abroad, we would need a big car to get us all + luggage in and that feels ££££.

We always booked two interconnecting rooms/cabins which meant we paid the rate for four adults but then we often got a free child place. This meant we had lots of space and two bathrooms, double the storage etc.

I already had a four bedroom house and did move to a five bedroom one more for location than size.

We have 3 and yes, life is easier with 2. I cannot deny it.

We are just back from holiday and there are some hotels set up for families of 5 but generally we self cater. We have had to rent big cars and they are expensive. As are 5 aeroplane tickets.

Yes we have had to have big cars, had a 7 seater for a few years as we couldn't get a baby seat, toddler seat, preschool seat and double buggy into a normal car.

Yes it's a faff during the week with activities and after school. We have one parent taking the eldest to football, one taking the middle to gymnastics and there is still another one 🤦🏻‍♀️

I do honestly daydream about just having 2 kids. Not in a way where I wish my littlest didn't exist, and not a reflection on her as a person. I just feel like life would be easier.