Ultimate budget holiday challenge!

kaz0705

I'm hoping you lovely MSE-rs will be able to help me.

I'm about to book my first summer holiday in 3 years and have realised I've become so money conscious that I can't bring myself to pay more than £300 for 10days.

Yep, I know that's pretty low but I'm hopeful its possible (eternal optimism has got me this far!) and am looking for suggestions and advice.

I don't mind getting the 'worse' flights (late nights/ very early mornings etc) and we will just take carry on (why pay £100 [ryanair quoted me that for ONE checked in bag return!] when you can spend £20 getting beach towels ands suncream out there?).

Similarly, we are both more than happy to get public transport places. One of my favourite starts to a holiday was getting a 7am slow ferry from Pireaus Port to a Souvala after a 2am arrival at Athens. The horror of the 5 hour wait was forgotten as soon as we were napping on the top deck with the morning sun on us!

So... I have no real preference where to go. I looked at flights to Croatia last night, thinking it would be a great historical place to go- with beaches!- but apparently the rest of the world has got there first! All the accommodation was VERY expensive.

But the big challenge is the timing. Living in west London and working SE London made me decide a long time ago that I would not be around for the Olympics. Little did I realise that the rest of London would be thinking the same- and didn't even consider the school holidays on top of that!

So, we're looking for a departure date between 29th July and 1st August for 10nights max. 9 is fine... 7 is a little too little for our first holiday in three years!

I want traditional, ideally. A nice family run place is ideal.

Any secret towns/ villages/ websites anyone can recommend?

I found one holiday to a great-reviewed SC place in Greece for £290 on teletext but, having called a number to try and get the best price (following the haggling on here) no one seemed interested in my business. In fact, the quality of customer service with the three places I rang was so poor that I couldn't bare to break my budget for any of them!

Any suggestions for places very much recommended- off the beaten track is a well worn phrase but not destroyed by tourism or drunken brits abroad would be nice!

Thanks in advance!

Oh, and a final note: we are happy to book the day before, if that means getting a super cheap deal. What's the BEST deal you've had at late notice???

mcfisco

Cheap Ryanair to Girona ~£80 each

Then just find somewhere on the Costa Brava, Begur etc.

kaz0705

Thanks.

I had already looked at that area (got airmiles so can fly BA to Barcelona) but didn't really want to spend all my time in a city....

So any specific suggestions for quiet places with a brilliant beach that won't break the bank??

I'm happy to research, using a google map, all the places along the coast but there are so many!

So suggestions welcomed!

Thanks.

lexilex

Try Cosmos. I've just recently booked a holiday to a Greek resort I've wanted to try for a few years but it's always been too expensive. We got a bargain with Cosmos. I don't know if it's still on but there's was also a £25pp code for Greek holidays.

As for booking late deals, that was my intention for this year. We were originally hoping to holiday end of this month and I have been monitoring prices for a few months. If anything prices seem to have gone up the nearer its got. Whether thats something to do with the rubbish weather I'm not sure.

Doshwaster

One of the cheapest holidays I've ever had was a long weekend in Santander (the town in northern Spain, not the bank!). Just booked Ryanair flights for 99p each way (this was before their silly charges came in) and a cheap B&B.

The north coast of Spain is a lot cheaper than the "costas", less developed and less ruined by mass tourism. You just have to be a little lucky with the weather as it can be unpredictable.

forfinchley

Hi

Croatia isn't expensive. Me and my boyfriend went for 9 days last year for just over £200 each including flights and accommodation. Don't go for hotels but guesthouses, b&bs or apartments. For flights we went with budget airlines and booked about a month in advance. We got a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the sea in the centre of hvar island for only £14 a night each.

You can find them on tripadvisor and all the main accommodation sites.

richardw

You got great advice in your other thread, why didn't you sort something out from that?

kaz0705

Sorry Richard, only just seen your comment.

I asked this as a wider ranging thread (i'd hoped) being that the SC holiday i'd seen was for Greece. Was looking for other people's experience of booking last minute holidays- and where the deals are.

As it is, I've managed to hit my budget of £300pp which I'm quite pleased with! Flights to Barcelona then will get the train to Tossa de Mar (well, indirectly). 7nights there (1* hotel but excellent reviews on several sites) then one night (but two full days) in Barcelona.

Relieved its all sorted and now refusing to look at any of the last minute holiday websites in case a 5* AI offer comes up for a brilliantly reviewed hotel for something stupid like £200!

waynedance

Opposite end of the budget scale for me, just booked 7 nights in August for 4 in Perranporth Cornwall 100 yards from the beach for £705, doh!!

Not one for going abroad been once when I was 18, now 36.

getmore4less

£300 for 10 days is creaping close to a cruise holiday

So if you have food budget on top of the £300 add that you might find one(food included on a cruise).

annie_d

Well done Kaz and of course, Barcelona has a beach too! Good planning. I am just rubbish at that.