Finding a Cheap Package in the School Holidays
- Cheap Travel
- Family Travel
Finding a Cheap Package in the School Holidays
How can you find the cheapest package holiday when you are restricted to school holiday travel? I get asked this question a lot. Although school holiday travel is always going to be more expensive than term time travel (increased demand leads to increased prices), there are some things you can do to get the best deal possible.
Look to providers with free child places
Jet2holidays are great as they offer tons of free child places as well as free infant places.
Check out their Free Child Place finder here. If you have a child and an infant, you can make huge savings here. Once you have done your search using this tool, select the first day of the school holidays and then list the holidays by price, low to high. Go through each date one at a time making note of the cheapest holidays you like the look of. Be aware that different holidays will have a different upper age limit for what constitutes a child. Many will be under 12 but some go as high as 16.
Consider a villa holiday, especially if you are a large family.
You may find you can get a whole villa for the price of a budget hotel. Villas are great as you get more privacy, often your own pool and a kitchen area that will save you money on eating out. For families with more than 2 children it can often be difficult finding ideal room options, a villa means you are all together but can still have your own space. Click here to do a search for a packaged villa holiday. These include flights, luggage and transfers plus allow you to pay a small deposit of just £60pp, making the total cost much more affordable over time.
Consider missing a day of school
You can often save hundreds of pounds by travelling on the last day of school, or returning on the day the children are due to return back to school. I appreciate different schools will have different levels of leniency when it comes to doing this, but we have many members who have spoken to their school and explained the situation, and the extra day off wasn’t a problem. We recently saved a family £400 by them flying back on the first day of school.
Book early
When booking a package holiday and taking advance of Free child places, you need to get in there early for school holiday travel. Places are limited and are snapped up quickly. Especially for the most popular resorts and destinations. As you get closer to the school holiday period you will notice less free child places are available, and consequently the holiday prices go up. The other benefit of booking early is that you can spread the cost. Jet2holidays only require a £60pp deposit, with a variety of payment options leading up to the trip. For DIY bookings, you can occasionally get last minute deals to less popular destinations, for the more popular beach destinations you need to get in early.
Avoid the summer school holidays
The half term breaks in April / May / October will be much cheaper than travel in the August summer holiday. The shoulder season prices in these periods will save you hundreds of pounds when compared to peak August travel. Why not have your big trip abroad in one of the cheaper months and then do something in the UK during the August school holidays. Camping is a really cheap way to see a new place, and is an exciting thing for kids to do during the summer. We are visiting a Eurocamp this summer which was only £150 for 3 nights in France, for us all!
Choose the right board option
There isn’t a right or wrong answer as to whether you should go All Inclusive or Self catering. We always make sure we compare all the potential options in order to book the best value trip based on our plans. If we are planning to explore the destination and be away from the hotel all day, All Inclusive would likely be a waste of money. If we plan to stay at the hotel and relax, All Inclusive could be the best option. It is worth noting that not all All Inclusive packages are equal. Some hotels may simply have one buffet restaurant, whereas another may have 10 a la carte restaurants with specialty menus. Some may have limits on which alcoholic drinks are available without incurring an extra charge. Make sure you fully understand what you are paying for, so any extra costs on arrival aren’t a shock.
If you are struggling to find the right deal for you, get in touch. We love to help you find the best value holidays for your school holiday travel.
This post was written in partnership with Jet2holidays. It includes affiliate links, this means we earn a small commission for any sales made through the link, at no extra cost to yourself. Thank you in advance – Jen
