Holiday

autumn2012_2

Hi fellow moneysavers :-)

I am currently looking at booking a cheapish family holiday. My LG is 5 so she is now in school. I have looked at holidays in the half terms etc and they are all extortionate! We used to travel during term time whilst LO was in nursery. I have done the sun 9.50 before so thats the best I have come up with so far.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Spendless

Hi,

It is expensive when you're stuck to school hols.

Here are some tips I use, to find cheaper

May half term is cheaper than any of the school summer hols.

The last week of the summer school hols is cheaper than the other weeks.

Check when teacher training days are, it might mean you can set off earlier or come back later which might make a difference to the price or you might be able to use them for a long weekend somewhere.

Easter/Feb and Oct hols can vary round the country (Oct half term this year was 1-2 weeks later for us than elsewhere).

Scotland has different school hols. In the summer they break up earlier and go back earlier (from memory end of June till mid August) so either going there or maybe travelling from there would be cheaper.

TARDIS

Do you have family or friends in other areas you could visit?
I've always found this a cheap way to see some interesting areas of the UK, even places you'd not think of as holiday destinations.

starting_again_in_the_sun

If you want to go abroad, I would check where you can get cheap flights to, and then look on airbnb.

We've found this to be much cheaper than package holiday.

Jaymie_kate

Try the trivago site for accommodations. We've tried it and it really shows the cheapest rates. For airline tickets best to book months before schedule so you get bigger discounts.

cyantist

Although I don't have a school age child, my sister does and this year we are going away together during the summer holidays to Normandy. A cottage for a week there is relatively cheap (a fraction of what you'd pay for something similar here) and the ferry isn't too bad. I think often it's even cheaper during half term holidays.

peachyprice

Affordable holidays in school holidays are easily do-able, just avoid rip off tour operators.

We have been holidaying with school age children since 2000, next summer will finally be the last!

We've always booked independently, separate flights, separate accommodation, everything from villas is France, Greece, Florida, Portugal, Italy, off-season ski lodges in Switzerland, to a cottage on a stud farm in France, and a Centre Parcs type place in Belgium (at a fraction of the price).

I usually find flights that are affordable then look for accommodation that fits the budget. Switzerland, France and Belgium we drove to.

We've had some great holidays that we could afford and away from the usual bucket and spade crowds. Truly, I don't know how families afford or even want to pay prices that tour operators charge.

yllop1101

I don't have any experience of booking children's holidays, but am good at finding good deals for cheap holidays for me and my partner!
If you are thinking of going abroad, I would use skyscanner- put in your ideal dates and preferred airport into the search bar and use 'anywhere' as your destination- see where you can get cheap flights to within the dates that you want. You may be surprised at where you can go. You can obviously try a few airports or a variety of dates.

Alternatively, if you have a preferred destination but are flexible on dates, put this in and search by 'whole month', so you can see when it's cheapest to travel.

If you find a destination you would like to visit, use a site like booking.com, where you can search many hotels- my favourite ones are the places that have free cancellation, or here you don't have to pay until you arrive, as this gives you more time to save.

Alternatively, for accommodation, try sites like air bnb or home and away for villas, or check the tourist website for the area, as they may have local, independent hotels that aren't on booking.com.