Holidaying with Young Kids (3 under 5)

TractorFactor

Pretty new to this!

We had one baby and took them in April last year (possibly the year before) to Menorca, which was quite nice.  I'm sure fully inclusive, the whole thing cost us about £1500 through TUI (flights, full board, transfers).

Now we have an additional 2 babies.

Eldest is now 4, babies have just turned 1.

I've been looking at holidays in Greece for all 5 of us and now they're coming up at £2500!  Admittedly, I now have to book during school holidays, but living in an area of the country that enjoys a week of holiday before most of the country, it's usually been a little cheaper.

Am I just looking at the wrong places or is this how much holidays are going to cost us these days?

As a side note, we don't always holiday abroad.
Next year, we actually plan to stay in the UK as we feel the 1YO's are too young to travel.  When they're 2 or 3, perhaps so.

Pollycat

TractorFactor said:

Pretty new to this!

We had one baby and took them in April last year (possibly the year before) to Menorca, which was quite nice.  I'm sure fully inclusive, the whole thing cost us about £1500 through TUI (flights, full board, transfers).

Now we have an additional 2 babies.

Eldest is now 4, babies have just turned 1.

I've been looking at holidays in Greece for all 5 of us and now they're coming up at £2500!  Admittedly, I now have to book during school holidays, but living in an area of the country that enjoys a week of holiday before most of the country, it's usually been a little cheaper.

Am I just looking at the wrong places or is this how much holidays are going to cost us these days?

As a side note, we don't always holiday abroad.
Next year, we actually plan to stay in the UK as we feel the 1YO's are too young to travel.  When they're 2 or 3, perhaps so.

I'm a bit confused.

If you feel the babies are too young to travel next year, why are you looking at holidays abroad for this year?
Next year, won't they be aged 2?

strawb_shortcake

£1500 for three people and £2500 for 5 people still work outs as £500pp so no proper increase just more people to take.
School holidays aren't cheap, we are able to go start of July next year as my Son will have completed his exams, and its not really coming up with much of a saving, but I'm probably looking at better hotels now there are fewer of us travelling 

eskbanker

TractorFactor said:

I've been looking at holidays in Greece for all 5 of us and now they're coming up at £2500!  Admittedly, I now have to book during school holidays, but living in an area of the country that enjoys a week of holiday before most of the country, it's usually been a little cheaper.

Am I just looking at the wrong places or is this how much holidays are going to cost us these days?

There isn't really the concept of a going rate for holidays, as the price will vary widely according not just to destination but also standard of accommodation, board basis, room types, departure airport, dates, etc, etc, so the fact that you're now looking in school holidays will undoubtedly have an effect if you weren't previously, but there will be numerous other factors influencing the cost too - Greece is significantly further from the UK than Menorca for a start, so flights are likely to be more expensive.

If you find a specific holiday and would like a travel agent to benchmark its price, then try this thread:

Beat My Quote! Travel Agents Thread — MoneySavingExpert Forum

NoodleDoodleMan

I doubt you'll like my take on this - but taking 3 young children on a relatively long flight to a hot country is not my idea of a holiday.

The queues at airport check in, security inspections and passport control are a real hassle for adults before adding very young kids to the equation - and that's in the UK before you board an airplane - and (God forbid) any flight delays.

I have no idea how difficult the UK arrivals procedures are at Greek airports these days, however if it's like tourist airports in Spain .................................

Then you'll likely have the similar experiences coming back home - and where UK passport control checks can cause another lengthy delay.

Apologies for negative outlook - but that's a very likely stressful scenario for parents - self inflicted IMO.

Other opinions may differ of course.

zagfles

NoodleDoodleMan said:

I doubt you'll like my take on this - but taking 3 young children on a relatively long flight to a hot country is not my idea of a holiday.

The queues at airport check in, security inspections and passport control are a real hassle for adults before adding very young kids to the equation - and that's in the UK before you board an airplane - and (God forbid) any flight delays.

I have no idea how difficult the UK arrivals procedures are at Greek airports these days, however if it's like tourist airports in Spain .................................

Then you'll likely have the similar experiences coming back home - and where UK passport control checks can cause another lengthy delay.

Apologies for negative outlook - but that's a very likely stressful scenario for parents - self inflicted IMO.

Other opinions may differ of course.

I'd agree with this - we found with young children driving holidays are so much easier than flying, you can pack what you want, stop when you need to, and they loved the ferry crossings. We usually did longer crossing eg to Normandy/Brittany and went there or a bit further down into France eg the Vendee.

We stayed in static caravans on campsites, far better than hotel rooms with young kids as you can sit outside, have a BBQ etc, rather than have to eat in a restaurant all the time which young kids can get restless at. 

Can book as packages inc the crossing eg Siblu, Eurocamp etc, or book separately, but we found with the longer ferry crossing it was often a lot cheaper to book as a package, ferry crossings booked independantly in the summer holidays are silly prices. 

thegreenone

I'm slightly confused by your last sentence.

If you go when they are two and above it will be even more expensive as they will need their own seats on the plane. But if you go when they are under two, you and your partner will have a child each on your lap for four hours.

As above a four hour plane journey with three under five is not going to be a walk in the park, however well behaved they are.  We did it with two under three (to Greece) and had two pushchairs, luggage and managed to leave a bag on the carousel.  The one that contained most of the children's clothes and nappies.  Hubby had a two hour taxi round trip back to the airport the next day to retrieve it.  I'm not saying you would that but.....  

thegreenone

Oh and if you go with @zagfles good idea about driving to France, get an Emovis Tag so you can breeze through Toll Booths and pay at the end of the month.

NoodleDoodleMan

My good buddy from Cheshire has no hesitation in saying that the very best holiday his 3 kids ever enjoyed was with Eurocamp, rather than the many beach hotels they went to before and after. 

Doshwaster

Two adults + three young children on a plane sounds like a nightmare for all involved. I really would be looking at stopping in the UK or driving to the continent.