Great ‘cheap when you get there holiday destinations’ hunt
MSE_Jenny
Posts: 1,312
MSE Staff
With the euro surging ahead in the foreign exchange markets, destinations like Spain and Greece are the not the cheap holiday options they used to be. Hotels, restaurants, car hire: all are pricier. Thus it can be possible to get more value from your holiday fund by going to places like the U.S.A, Egypt or even Thailand.
We want to tap MoneySavers for their tips on the cheapest places to go this summer. Which countries are cheapest for what stuff? Can lower prices outweigh the cost of a long-haul flight?
Please click reply to add your ideas.
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We want to tap MoneySavers for their tips on the cheapest places to go this summer. Which countries are cheapest for what stuff? Can lower prices outweigh the cost of a long-haul flight?
Please click reply to add your ideas.
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Comments
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Well, I am hoping ours will be cheap. We are cruising. Bagged a late 4 berth cabin deal for two weeks in the school holiday for £1850 (total for 4 of us). Going from a UK posrt means no investment in flights which saves a fortune.
Now, all our food and entertainment is included and we will be dropped at different ports for free (no car hire) which we are researching on the net and will do on foot. I am estimating £120 for museum and park entrances and £130 for tips.
We have a cheap ship for drink - wines from £10 and free tea and coffee.
The formal clothes will cost a bit but I have bagged some from the Next sale. Other clothes I have purchased but would have to anyway as my wardrobe is threadbare.
The other 'cheap' destination was a villa holiday we did. Where the villa was centrally located and beautiful - shoulder season it wasn't expensive either. It offers the ability to self cater and most entertainment was on site in the form of relaxation and the private pool.0 -
Last summer a group of us (met originally through this forum) had a holiday in Hungary - Lake Balaton.
This was very cheap to start with and even cheaper as we had 6 people.
Ryanair from Stansted to Balaton was cheap £70
House found on www.houses.hu - bargain
Beer and food cheap, there was a Pizza restaurant near our house that had massive really nice pizzas for £3. Nice big meals of good quality in restaurants by the lake were cheap as well.
Hire car cheap
Plenty to do with things to see, spas, the lake is massive so its like being at the coast with beaches and boat cruises.
Wine tours, caves, castles.
They also have Tesco etc for stocking up.
1 week all in for flight, car, 3 bedroom house, fuel, food, drink, fuel from Liverpool to Stansted, airport car park, day trip to Budapest on the train all for £300.
If you can call it a downside, not many British people around. The Hungarians use the resort a lot and a few times the only other language the menu in a restaurant was in was German.I beep for Robins - Beep Beep
& Choo Choo for trains!!0 -
Marrakech! xGone ... or have I?0
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O.K. Cuba. The Convertible Peso has a conversion rate equivalent to the $U.S. with £1 equal to around $1.99. Then you have the local Peso, which you can use in some bars, shops, restaurants, take-aways, (Copelia Ice cream parlour) and the local buses. You can get 24 Pesos to the Convertible. You will end up using the Convertible more often, but it is handy to have a small amount of local Pesos for things like street food, coffee etc.Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Proust0
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For somewhere closer to home, we fly to Porto, drive an hour south to figueira da foz (car hire is comparatively cheap, or the trains are very cheap, can be around £7 per person for a first class ticket) - once you get there, food and drink are still very cheap, in a way that a lot of france / spain isn't anymore. Food in the markets is very cheap, and then meals out can be 20 euro for a family of 4 for 3 courses each, wine, coffees, etc, not too bad for a short haul cheap flight!0
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Thailand is a fantastic place...apart from the places infested by Western perverts.
For some more culture, look to Malaysia. £500 return to KL and a fantastic holiday destination. Top class hotels from £60 per night and a very enjoyable times.0 -
Hmmm... I'm not entirely sure what the state of play is now, but the only country where I felt rich because of the fantastic exchange rate was Fiji.
I took all my currency in Sterling travellers cheques and exchanged them at Nadi airport bank on arrival.
It was mainly Australians and New Zealanders where I was based and they were flinching at the price of drinks, etc, whilst I was wondering how they could afford to sell a bottle of wine in a restaurant for the equivalent of £2.50 a bottle.
It's definately worth checking out and I'd also check out any destination that has a preference for USD. and buy your currency in the U.K.0 -
Hmmm... I'm not entirely sure what the state of play is now, but the only country where I felt rich because of the fantastic exchange rate was Fiji.
I took all my currency in Sterling travellers cheques and exchanged them at Nadi airport bank on arrival.
It was mainly Australians and New Zealanders where I was based and they were flinching at the price of drinks, etc, whilst I was wondering how they could afford to sell a bottle of wine in a restaurant for the equivalent of £2.50 a bottle.
It's definately worth checking out and I'd also check out any destination that has a preference for USD. and buy your currency in the U.K.
Fiji is a great place but oh so far.
Been twice - 1996 and 2002. Was slightly disappointed by how commercial it had all become but still absolutely amazing.
Was in the Cook Islands in November. Cracking place. Just hope it doesn't get too busy.0 -
Just back from Miami and found that if you have teenagers Abercromie and Fitch, Holister and American Eagle have bargain rails with things like hoodies from £6.50 which would be 10 times this in London. These rails are at the back of the stores and are really worth going to. All clothes are really cheap in the USA at the moment as the sales are major and if you get a sale in the Outlet Malls the prices are sometimes just silly for stuff we would pay a fortune for here.
Otherwise Miami is not too cheap, probably a bit less than here but if you want to club ask the hotel reception if they have any passes as this can reduce the cost by a huge amount. Also lots of happy hours with cheap booze, if you like that kind of thing, and please drink responsably!0 -
Can lower prices outweigh the cost of a long-haul flight?
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I certainly think so.
Last Christmas we bagged ultra cheap flights to Norway, £120 return for 2 of us - Bargain. However we ended up spending over £1000 by the end of the week, with a tiny bedsit in a basement costing us £400 to rent for the week, food shopping ludicrously expensive; excursions costing £200 each and eating out just in the ranks of 'unaffordable' - we paid £17 for a McDonalds for the 2 of us?!?!
This year we decided to go to Egypt for 2 weeks. £1500 for the 2 of us, All inclusive (drinks included!) for a weeks cruise, B&B for 2 nights in Cairo and Half board for 5 nights in a hotel in Luxor. Once we get there we will have to pay £130 for all excursions from the cruise, but don't have to spend anything else except on drinks in the second week and things to bring home.
We have been told that it's ultra cheap in Egpyt, and think we will end up spending less than £2000 in total including spending money, for the 2 of us for 2 weeks... I think that's pretty good for somewhere I would have previously thought unaffordable!
We use www.ownersdirect.co.uk frequently, it's a fantastic site for finding accomodation in this country and abroad. We used it when we went to Spain last year, and because we looked for somewhere with a private pool, we didn't go to the beach that often at all, which meant we spent less on ice-creams.... yay!
Happy holidays everyonePersonal challenge: Do without as much as possible to pay off £12k by 07/2009!!!:T
Bluejeans Challenge: Spend less - Eat less! Need to lose [STRIKE]4 [/STRIKE] 2.5 stone (:eek:) then maintain until my concert in Dec!!
Cady's jam jar challenge.. how much will be in the pot?!
Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.0
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