Best time to book Oct half term holiday?

x_missymoo_x

Hi there,

I've had a search and trawled through the last few pages of threads but can't see anything similar. I'm intrigued with the whole 'last-minute' deal thing after a work colleague told me about a bargain half-board break to Turkey she got in the August summer holidays for £250pp by booking on the Thursday and travelling that Sunday. OH and I are desperate to get away as we have a baby due in April and so we are thinking that an October holiday would be our last chance of escape, and of course we would like to do it as cheap as possible

We are looking at the October half term holiday, departing 25th or 26th Oct for 7 days. Unfortunately I work in a school and so I'm limited to this week only We have the money already to book a holiday but what we are yet to decide is whether to book something now if we see it, or leave it until a bit later. Destination is not a real factor, although the further away we could get the better I suppose to try and guarantee the warmest temperatures, preferably mid 20s+. Current prices on Thomas Cook (just to get a feel for prices) are looking like £300-£500 for Spain, Balearics and Portugal, with a few Turkey holidays around the £500 but nothing under £500 for Greece or Cyprus.

Obviously I know you don't have crystal balls and can't predict how prices will change, but just from your experiences or knowledge what would you recommend? Are prices likely to go down if we leave it as late as possible even though its a half term week, or should we just take what we see when we see it?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

zagfles

It'll depend on a lot of things, for instance if we have horrible weather in the next month or so more people will want to get away or if we have an Indian summer less people will.

Where do you live? It's not half term in Scotland, we've had some cracking deals from Glasgow in the English October half term, inc to Greece. Last time think it was about £1000 cheaper for the 4 of us - minus about £200 for airport hotel, petrol, parking, meal out etc and we treated it as part of the holiday so an extra day for £800 less Better flight times too.

If there's just 2 of you the saving will be less...but may be worth considering if you live in the north of England.

stephb34

You can't really compare the bargain she got to what your looking for as there are 7 weeks to choose from in the summer holidays and generally only 1 week at October half term. Beware of choosing one of the countries that charters fly to only in the summer period as the last week of October a lot of the places have closed down ie the greek islands, Balearics, Turkey other than flying into Antalya so you could end up in a ghost town.

HHarry

Weather is going to be a bit hit and miss that time of year. We've done Malta, Majorca and Cyprus in the October half-term. Had one great and one poor week in Malta, a horrible week in Majorca, and two good weeks in Cyprus.


If you're sitting in the pouring rain in Spain (on the plain) the extra money to have a better chance at the weather will seem worth every penny.


As for when to book, can't offer much advice. I've always said we're going to book last minute, and then book early! If you need Sat/Sun-Sat/Sun then that may limit some of your options with packages which fly mid-week. And as Steph says, that's about the changeover point for the flight schedules, so you may end up with an even more limited choice of flights.

deva

I've been searching too and about to book.
2adults, 10 year old and baby. Kos comes in about £1250 ai.

I wouldn't usually do ai but know resorts tend to shut down. Would have rather not done long flight with baby but she was great to Spain and hope weather will be better.

There are options you just need to know your priorities and what's available.

Use skyscanner for flights from your local airport and then check weather

mandragora_2

Greece can be hit and miss in the Oct half term hols. I've given the Canaries a quick look for you; you can get return flights from around £300 if you can get to Edinburgh or Glasgow - English flights are around £450-500. It's not especially cheap, but it is a better bet for decent weather than the Med, in my experience. You couldn't blag the Friday off could you? It makes a difference of about £100 a flight, which was lucky for me, as we break up a day early this time around. Once you've got a flight, build your own package of accommodation, transfers etc based on what you can afford/are willing to pay. We've gone for half-board in Lanzarote and a hire car, and created a lovely looking holiday for about £1400 for both of us, in a smart hotel. There were savings we could have made with accommodation, so it could be done for less.

Good luck, and enjoy it, whatever you decide to do!

x_missymoo_x

Thank you so much for all your replies, its great to hear all your opinions and advice.

For those suggesting Scotland for a bargain, unfortunately I am down South - Luton, Gatwick and Stansted being my 'local' airports, so I'm afraid a flight from Scotland won't be feasible

I agree with you all about the weather being hit and miss in Oct. I've been to Portugal on a family holiday and the weather was changeable, so the further away we could get the better if possible.

deva - out of interest, where did you get your holiday price from? I would be interested to have a search with just the two of us and see what comes up.

Also mandragora - thank you for searching for me Where are you looking? I never think to book things separately, I've always gone for the easy option of the package deal but perhaps I should be more MSE and book separately! I have no idea if I could get the Friday off, my gut feeling is that its a no and I don't know if I've got it in me to pull a sickie

deva

I use skyscanner for flights then travelrepublic for accomodation this time. Thomson have a few flights at great prices. For two of you trivago may be useful

ManAtHome

Would second Trivago - Travel Republic do come up cheapest a lot of the time, but we got a better deal from Booking.com this year (via Trivago).

ldeadman1980

For the past 3 years me & mine (5 of us) have been away for the October hols, we have been Portugal, Turkey & Ibiza none have cost over £300pp AI & i always book about 4-6wks before, Try the usual low budget airlines & then Travel Republic for a hotel, You could also try Fleetway Travel & Love Holidays, Ive booked with both before & never had a problem

x_missymoo_x

Thank you for the suggestion of the websites you use, particularly Fleetway and Love Holidays, I'd never heard of those before.