How do you do a city break on a budget with 3 kids in tow?

[desperate4spring]

Is it even possible?

I realised the other day that my dc have not really seen much of the UK at all. We have a very modest income so have tended to save up for a holiday abroad (we manage once every 2-3 years), rather than spending any money on shorter breaks.

We'd love to take them to visit some of the great places the UK has to offer, but want to do it without having to forfeit our occasional holiday abroad.

Any tips for how to manage this?

[HelloMama]

We stay in YHA youth hostels. Next week, got a private en-suite room for 4 of us, just off Oxford Street in London for £70. Same room near Euston station is £37. We've stayed in youth hostels in many big cities and have always had a great experience, despite the budget price. Parking often included too (not in London!).

[lilyfire]

YHA hostels can work out fairly cheap. They are often quite central and you can get nice family rooms. Have stayed in ones several times with my three. They are nice and relaxed and have cheapish breakfasts/evening menus. Have done York and Stratford ones and was booked to go to Liverpool before lockdown.

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

Go camping? you can even camp in London.

[Ted27]

We have had some very good deals at YHAs both York and Brighton were particularly good

You can get Premier Inn rooms from £30 a night. Big breakfast for £10, kids under 16 eat free.
I'm sure there are other comparable budget hotels, we are just big Premier Inn fans, and they are everywhere,usually fairly central o

[Aceray]

Premier inn family rooms can be really good for this, usually 2 double beds and could take a blow up bed / travel cot for third child if needed. Often you can get the rooms for about £35 a night.

[Megan2018]

Friend of mine goes all over with her DC using Travelodge/Premier Inn type places that she hunts down cheap deals at.
Takes a bit of planning but she seems to manage to find some great offers (pre Covid at least). But that might be harder with more children.

Air bnb is also useful, cheap apartments or houses in interesting places, self catering means no more on food than at home really. Museums and other free places to visit.

[MsTSwift]

Is your own house nice in an appealing area? We’ve travelled loads via house swap. City breaks done Paris x3 London x 2 Antwerp Berlin and Bordeaux. Free accommodation

[desperate4spring]

Thanks for the replies. I did have a look at Premier Inn but it says their family rooms are only suitable for 2 adults and 2 kids...are you officially allowed to take an extra bed or would we have to sneak her in?

[hilarymantlepiece]

Go to London and stay at the Travelodge in Docklands. There is little demand at weekends, we got a “Super-room” for £32 per night on Friday/Saturday/Sunday a couple of years ago. Bought Oyster cards in advance and took advantage of all of the free things in London, museums, galleries, walking tours etc (we paid for the walking tours because they were really good but you don’t have to), had a brilliant time, it’s very doable.

[desperate4spring]

@MsTSwift

Is your own house nice in an appealing area? We’ve travelled loads via house swap. City breaks done Paris x3 London x 2 Antwerp Berlin and Bordeaux. Free accommodation

We've just had a big building project done on our house and are still in a slight state of disarray! Probably not one for this year but would definitely consider this once we've sorted ourselves out!

[Mablefly]

I would echo the recommendation for Premier Inn. We base any trips around the cheapest premier inn room we can find. We are going away next week for 2 nights and the hotel is costing us £80. Our daughter loves premier inn now more than any fancier hotels cos she associates them with road trips and seeing different places.

[AnotherNameForJune]

Premier Inn family rooms start at £29 (I've only ever found one lower once) with £29-£35 fairly common ime, EVEN in all the school holidays.

We go for 2 or 3 nights to a PI several times a year, just to explore the surrounding towns or cities and have been all over the UK.

We're a family of 5 - I've snuck in dc3 for a couple of years now and never had an issue. Dh checks in with two dc...i follow 5 minutes later with the other. We've never been questioned.

Either two of the dc top and tail in one of the singles or dc3 just sleeps in between me and dh. And before anyone starts a lecture about this being wrong, I fully intend to keep doing this for years to come so please don't waste your energy!

[ChelseaChop]

Premier inns are usually very comfortable (much better than Travelodge) and rooms large enough to accommodate a family of 5.

[rosy71]

Premier Inn & Travelodge. As pp have said, you can get really good deals & breakfast is free for kids. Sunday nights are much cheaper so incorporate Sunday into your stay

[emmathedilemma]

I'd imagine you'd be falling over each other with 5 in a Premier Inn room? Not to mention potentially getting throw out if caught with too many people.
AirBNB
Lots of museums are free.
Look for ticket deals e.g. With train tickets, combined tickets for attractions.
Join the national trust, it's usually cost effective compared to entry a couple of times a year.
Self cater or use local supermarkets for snacks, packed lunches etc so you're not eating out all the time.
Look for early evening / "pre theatre" deals with eating out.

[NearlyAlwaysInsane]

We went to Bristol last summer with DD 2yo and DD 5yo. We rented an aparthotel and cooked some meals, got ready meals and/or takeaways for the rest (we were sick of that soon enough). We did free things all day long - Bristol has nice harbourside things like the Matthew ship, etc., while we had coffees and the kids had pastries at some of the great coffee shops (or to be precise, outside). Also lots of pleasant places to walk through. At those ages, there is little need for us to get tickets to places.....in 1-2 years maybe,

[Mumdiva99]

We ise premier Inn. I either leave OH at home!! Lol. Or we book 2 rooms.....book far ahead and look at the dates you are booking - Sunday night is usually the cheapest day. Be flexible and you can get good deals.

Be mindful of where you are going and what is going on locally as that changes the price....e.g. Manchester when there is Man Und game = more expensive.

Be flexible on where you want to go too...

Check out things like is there free parking around or if I have to pay - how much. E.g. in Docklands we pay a lot to park like £12 a day.....but even with parking it's worth it.

Breakfast is 2 kids eat free per adult if they are young so that is great too.

Don't sneak in child 5 as it's a fire risk....just book the extra room.

[Justwingingit2005]

I recommend a city with alot of free things to do or great places to walk about.
Two cities we are like York and Edinburgh.
Both great to walk around for free. Edinburgh esp if you have Harry Potter fans in the family.
We also use Tesco vouchers for meals or entrance fees.

[Funf]

If you say consider Liverpool, North Wales is an hour away with loads of cheap accommodation, caravans are Ideal as most usually sleep 6, so I would look at staying and travelling in to the city
Liverpool also has a lot of free stuff
www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool/
Or for the Beatles fans
www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool-the-beatles/

You could also see Chester 40 mins away
Conwy? ( Its a Walled Medieval town) World Heritage site, good for Crab Fishing or an informal History lesson
www.donthibernate.co.uk/conwy/

[Mumdiva99]

[quote Funf]If you say consider Liverpool, North Wales is an hour away with loads of cheap accommodation, caravans are Ideal as most usually sleep 6, so I would look at staying and travelling in to the city
Liverpool also has a lot of free stuff
www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool/
Or for the Beatles fans
www.donthibernate.co.uk/liverpool-the-beatles/

You could also see Chester 40 mins away
Conwy? ( Its a Walled Medieval town) World Heritage site, good for Crab Fishing or an informal History lesson
www.donthibernate.co.uk/conwy/[/quote]
We did Liverpool in a Premier Inn 2 years ago. It was really cheap. We got the train up using a family and friends railcard - so 1/3 off. Booked the train and hotel in advance and it really wasn't an expensive break. (The different Premier Inns have very different prices....so do check)

Once in Liverpool we walked, went to free museums and galleries. We got the train over to New Brighton. We didn't fit everything in....it was a great trip.

[cauliflowerkorma]

I did a really good low cost city break with mine in Newcastle and in Salford.

Some excellent free hands on museums and galleries and things to do in both. Travellodge or premier inn. Make the most of breakfast. 2 Tesco express or Sainsbury's meal deals split between 3. And a dinner out. Ate out evenings but with discount codes.

Kids loved it!

[Cowbells]

We always used Airbnb when Dc were small. It's cheaper than hotels and you save a fortune because it's self catering. There's also more space for DC to unwind after a long day sightseeing.

[UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme]

How old are your children?

Youth hostel family rooms are the way to go - usually 6 beds, but you and DH have to accept that you're in single bunks (really shouldn't be an issue when sharing a room with your children!).

I also took each of my children singly to London the year they were 6 for a 1:1 city break as a one off. When dc1 was 6 dc3 was only 1 and a city break wouldn't have been at all the same! Those three trips were very special and the children all remember them and talk about them now (teens and tween).

[CurryLover55]

justwingingit2005 is there an official Harry Potter tour in Edinburgh? DD12 is a huge HP fan

[reluctantbrit]

I personally would book two PI/Travellodge rooms, or look at sc options which we prefer as it just gives a bit more space and we then do a picnic lunch instead of buying expensive food. In the evenings we alternate between going out and having a takeaway/pizza in the flat.