Cheap package holiday guide discussion area

dotchas

Lanzarote may be a good bet.Theres the Timanfaya Volcanic park to visit.
Gran Canaria can be a bit of a concrete jungle depending where you stay.Definitely avoid Puerto Rico.
Corfu or any of the greek islands are great. How about Cyprus?

mushyg99

hi im after a cheap holiday ideally for within the first half of April
2 adults - 3 kids, aged 7, 4 and under 1
idally looking for Egypt, Dubai, Tunisia or somethingsimilar nice and warm and safe

thanks

magough

robatwork wrote: »

Hi,
I want it all, I admit it.....and want it cheap...but maybe someone else has just had it all and can recommend.

I want to take my 2 kids, 12 and 10, away during August this year. We had a washout in Cornwall last year, and while not ruling out another UK trip I am thinking somewhere with more likelihood of not actually shivering. I have ruled out Spain as being just too concretey and tacky.

I would like a nice beach, a waterpark for them, plus also somewhere with some historic interest for a trip, but not a pile of rocks that may interest me but not the kids (who were particularly underwhelmed with a "amphitheatre" in turkey that was just a crater). I like self catering, so somewhere near a reasonable supermarket, and of course the accomodation has to be as nice as possible bearing in mind it will only be 2* or 3*.
Am thinking perhaps Corfu, Canaries, and am open to any suggestions of resorts or even apartments.
many thanks

How about Cyprus?
I have been to Ayia Napa several times since 2000, including last year and the year before, and have to admit that it has EVERYTHING you could want.
Yes it has the mad clubbing side but also has a quiet relaxing side to it.
If you don't like it busy with drinkers, just stay away from the square at the top of the town as that's where all the bars and clubs are.
The beaches are beautiful and there's LOTS for kids to do.
Most of the beaches have different kinds of watersports and there's even a permanent funfair.
If you've got fussy eaters for kids there's a mcdonalds, burger king, kfc and pizza hut. Alternatively there's some lovely restaurants scattered all over the town.
There's a fabulous waterpark which the kids will LOVE and next to that there's a go kart track too.
In the harbour, there are a whole bunch of different boat trips starting at 5 euros and a brand new full size pirate ship called the black pearl.
The kids would have a ball on here!
I was worried about the price of things due to the euro but it's the same as anywhere, there's cheap places and there's expensive places.
You could pay 2 euros for a beer or 8 euros (in a club).
I found a lovely restauirant in the town called Clarabells and had a nice 3 course meal for under 10 euros.

I would advise going the last week in August as it's not so busy but still lovely and hot. That's when i'm planning to go with the kids this year.
If you're considering it, let me know and i'll show you some pics and reviews i posted and let you know about some different hotels

dancingdaisy

Can anyone help please?
I am looking for a short 4 day break, somewhere warm, between the dates of 5th April and 13th April, (have to be home by then) for 4 people, all inclusive, flying from Bristol.
I searched all over the net and came up with Majorca for £107, yet when I rang I was quoted £195! Huge jump in price there! This happened another 4 times, price online was a lot different to the quoted price each time I rang.
Amusingly each operator told me different prices for seats for the same flight, ranging from £63 --£240 (lol), I gave ref numbers for lots of different holidays, all far more pricier than the net price.
Am I doing something wrong?

More than prepared to search myself, but keep hitting the same brick wall. We are all quite broke at the moment and just want a few days in the sun with food and booze.
Thanks in advance for any help received.

madcamels

emzie wrote: »

im looking to go to florida next year does any1 recommend a nice cheap place to book?

Don't Know is this is any help but I have found Thomas cook are about £1800 pounds Cheaper then Virgin . I Know its a charter flight but 1800 pounds. Same hotel same car same Dates.

familytravelers

bluep wrote: »

We're desperate to find a package holiday for August (anytime...7 days...10 days...14 days...whatever...!) for two adults and a 4 year old (all in one room) - everywhere seems SO expensive for summer holidays but my husband is a teacher so we don't have a choice. We're not worried where in the world as long as:
a) swimming pool
b) one room or self contained studio/apartment
c) warm/sunny/hot

Near the sea/beach would be nice but not a must.

Any ideas where we could find a deal - I've looked on Olympic Holidays but they don't have anything under £1200 for all of us which is a bit above our budget. We would prefer to fly from Manchester/Midlands but can go from Luton/Stanstead/London airports.

Don't mind doing cheap flights and separate hotel bookings but again, I've not been able to find anything under £350 each...why does having children make life so difficult?!?!? hehe

I'm not sure if this helps, but camping operators like Canvas Holidays are set up for traveling with families, offering an all inclusive price for a family, free kids clubs, some beachside locations and generally a kid friendly environment. They also have some good late deals, although August is still one of the more expensive months (prices drop quite a bit the further you get from peak times).

littledevillisa

Hi, I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned on other posts as I haven't read through them all, but another tip for trying to get a cheaper holiday deal is to be flexible on your departure airport if you can be.

Living in Sheffield, I'm prepared to fly from Leeds Bradford, Robin Hood, East Midlands, Manchester or Birmingham (if the price was really good I'd even consider others - see below). When you shop round for different airports, the same holiday can be cheaper by quite a substantial amount just by choosing a different airport. Although it may take longer to get to another airport and there will be a difference in fuel costs for different distances, weigh up the cost of saving against this. If you go in a taxi, some companies charge a fee for airports runs which is a flat rate rather than a different price per airport so it's the same whichever you go to. If you can also convince a friend or family member to be a taxi you can save some dosh there - a good deal is to repay the favours, so when you go on holiday they take you, but when they go on holiday you take them.

Previously I managed to save £200pp just by flying from a London airport rather than Manchester when going to Florida - when there are 4 adults travelling that's a big saving! We all went down in 1 car and had shopped around for parking prices at the airport to get the best deal. The fuel down there and the cost of parking was no where near the £800 we saved and added to that we would have driven to Manchester anyway and parked so the parking would have ended up costing a similar amount to London anyway. For the 4 of us including a hire car, hotel and flights we ended up paying £550pp for 2 weeks from a company that is part of the co-op travel group -this was in 2008 by the way.

I'm now looking at last minute holidays for this year for myself and my bloke and just by changing airports you can save around £50pp on already low price deals - I haven't booked anything yet, however I will still be using Martin's haggling guide even though the prices are urber cheap.

I know not eveyone will be able to do this as obviously home destinations are different for eveyone, but it is something to consider if the saving is right.

I hope this is of some use anyway.

w_gant

Teletext Holidays changed their website a few days ago and, unless I'm missing something, it's no longer possible to view a list of travel agents selling the same package holiday.

Presumably they've complained at the fact that they've been made to compete with each other and would like their cartel reinstated.

Does anyone know another site that lists the agents selling a particular holiday?

Veryskint

Hi, we would really like to go to Canada on a motorhome holiday (august) has anyone done something like this? Any tips on how to keep the cost down, and any marvellous places to go to (kids aged 5 and 8) would be most welcome.
Thanks

benno74

Hi all,

I am getting married on 30th april and am looking to go somewhere all inclusive for our honeymoon. we have a 14mth old baby so are only looking at short haul options. weve both booked off 2 weeks after the wedding but are only looking at goin for 7 nights so are fairly flexible on dates.
preferably going from manchester.

Anybody got ideas on websites to check out and when is best to be booking?
apologies if i should have posted this in another thread, if so could someone direct me to the correct thread.
Thanks,
Wayne