Affordable holidays abroad?

[choc]

We haven't been on holiday abroad since way before Aidan was born and we were hoping that this year we might be able to afford it. I had no idea how expensive it was until today though! We were hoping for all inclusive on a family resort with lots to do, possibly in Spain, but they cost into the thousands! I was just wondering if this is normal or am I looking in the wrong places? It does have to be in school holidays though which I know doesn't help.
Anyone have any suggestions of websites etc, or is this just the going rate.?

 

[R_x]

Stalking x

 

[Mrs R]

Try booking you flights with a budget airline, then booking your accommodation through Travel Republic, Alpha Rooms etc. will save u a fortune. We never book package holidays and we travel quite a bit.

 

[Melissa93]

Turkey tends to be pretty cheap, to get a good deal you are best off booking quite a while in advance as you get 'early booking discount' price tends to keep going up the closer it gets to the date x

 

[stephx]

Low cost holidays is pretty cheap

We did flights to reus (Spain) with Ryanair and 10 nights in a 4* hotel half board cost £700 total for 2 adults 1 child

You just have to look around for the best deals x

 

[bumpy_j]

If you go the all-inclusive route, you're looking at the very least over a grand in total for a week unless you find an absolute bargain. Summer holiday premiums are the worst!

Keep an eye on HUKD - they sometimes come up with some all-inclusive steals

 

[emyandpotato]

Well it's by no means all inclusive but you can get amazing static caravans for a week in most European countries which are on a park, usually with a lake or beach for swimming, restaurants, shops, loads for the children, swimming pools, gyms, and playgrounds. Eurocamp are a great starting point.

I don't think you'll find a full board hotel abroad for all that little, though it depends on what sort of thing you're looking for. I think Benidorm and places like that may be possible.

 

[Melissa93]

The only thing id say with all inclusive is u need to try and make sure where you go had good reviews on food, we went self catering last year and met a family at a restaurant who had paid out for all inclusive to get there and the food was awful and they was having to go out and eat at restaurants and thats the last thing you want especially if money is tight you dont want to be stuck and not have the money to go out for meals x

 

[hel_5]

Could you book time off work and get a last minute deal? We go to lanzarote every year, it's only really become more expensive these last two years when we have to go in school holidays, can you go 'off season' also I find booking the flight and hotel, seperate, though their own website the best. Also, before booking, ask how much it would be to upgrade from self-catering/half board to all inclusive, it was cheaper for us to do that when we arrived than when we originally booked xx

 

[choc]

Thanks for all the tips girls, I'll look into some of those companies.
I'm a teacher so have no holiday to take off, I have to go in school hols xx

 

[Kayley]

expensive but the best family holiday I ever went on was to a Thomas Cook holiday village - we went to the Tenerife one in 2011 cost me about £1500 for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant all inclusive but it was fantastic and we got free spa vouchers!

 

[Jaysmummy]

We've been looking into this, this morning.

OH has been looking at onthebeach.co.uk and they seem quite reasonable. Just over £1000 for 2 adults and 3 kids all inclusive to gran canaria. Flights and accomadation are booked separately I think.

I'm a bit dubious as to wether everything is included so we are going to go to some travel agents on his days off next week.

 

[RachA]

It depends on your budget tbh. We've paid £1700 for 2 adults and 2 children, half board to Rhodes for 2 weeks in the summer holidays. Given that when i first started looking the prices were coming out at £3000 i feel that we've got a real bargain.


Be careful about booking through some companies - booking direct with Ryanair is usually ok. I've used onthebeach and low cost holidays and both times we've had problems (one of them called us the day after we'd booked it and put the price up by £100 pounds which they are allowed to do as we hadn't had the confirmation through. The other booked us in to the wrong hotel by accident! Then by the time they managed to sort it out the hotel we wanted wasn't available. We agreed on an alternative but when we got there they didn't have any record of the booking and we finally found out that they'd changed the hotel but we hadn't got the email because we were travelling at the time!)

Travel republic is usually good though. As is icelolly. You can also find some good deals on travelzoo.

I've found that if you can travel from an airport further north you get better deals too. We pay a huge premium usually to fly from Bournemouth which is our local airport.

I'd also consider booking right on the last minute. Some of the best deals my mum and brother (they travel a lot) had managed to get are ones where they've booked and flown within a couple of days.
You can also book direct with the hotel too. We booked our flights and they waited for the hotel we wanted to come down in price. We very nearly booked direct but the rooms came down in price so we ended up just booking it.

I'd also take any reviews on trip advisor with a pinch of salt. I've been to so many hotels where the reviews say the food is awful and then found it to be really good. One thing that you have to remember with a lot of places like Greece and Spain is that they tend not to serve piping hot food.
Oh and if you do go all inclusive most hotels will give you a packed lunch so that you don't actually have to go back to the hotel to eat each day.

 

[nugget80]

We have to go in holidays too as dh is a teacher! We paid 2100 for a week all in at end of july to Egypt. I spent 3 days looking for something cheap and suitable for everyone and found low cost holiday best. Could have done it a bit cheaper by changing flight times and airport but savings not worth extra inconvenience. ..