Cheap but good value foreign holidays

Hi all.

I need some ideas please. We're wanting to go abroad for a week. It'll be our first time in over 15 years so we're certainly not seasoned experienced travellers. It'll also be the kids first time overseas ever.

We have a few constraints. Mainly that we can only go in the school holidays.

The obvious choice is somewhere like the Spanish or Greek islands, which it might end up being, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But, my eldest son, 14, wants to see somewhere less usual. I personally fancy Germany or Sweden or somewhere. We all like interesting things, be that laid back towns and cities with impressive architecture or anything unusual, or amazing countryside or whatever.

None of us like big crowds or too much heat, which kind of marks down the 'traditional' package deal to Spain or Greece in the summer holidays.

Oh and while I've got budget for a week abroad, we're not exactly rich, so it can't be too expensive.

Any ideas please?

 

Always see/hear Croatia is a good place to go I'd like to go myself . No idea the cost though . I went to one of the Greek islands last year , it were nice beautiful blue water etc but I am not sure they is enough to do in these places for kids. I were going to Hungary Budapest before covid kicked that into touch, cheap and well recommended . I suppose it depends on what you like to do sit on beach lounging around or going for a hike exploring.

I would of thought the Scandinavia country's would be more expensive than anywhere else .

 

Trying to find a budget holiday will not be easy during the school holidays. Flights are very expensive, even more than last year. Many airlines are not back to pre covid passenger numbers. less flights the more you pay.

I have been looking for flights to Thailand, either flying out late June or the backend of August to avoid the price hikes. All European airlines are a none starter, they are at least £200 more per person than the middle east airlines, then there is the cost of luggage £80 - £120 each way. At least Qatar, Emirates, EVA etc etc include luggage in their advertised fares. Flew with SAS, KLM, Swiss, Austrian, Air France and Turkish Airways to Thailand in the past when luggage was included in the fare, now they operate like the budget airlines.

Try, lastminute.com. Just put place of departure and dates, but put "anywhere" in destination and then see what there is on offer and within your budget. Or book your flight and accommodation separately, I use Airbnb for accommodation.

 

Eastern Europe is said to be brilliant and there are some touristy resorts that make a good base for exploring. Touristy popularity tends to take prices down and services up. I'm looking around there for this summer, never been further than Slovakia so far. Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and so on sound exiting.

Baltics are wonderful and cheap, Estonia in particular has beautiful archipelago. It has a Scandi feel with a fraction of the cost but also interesting post- Soviet echo.

Nordics are dead expensive. If the budget allows, please do go and explore. Helsinki is the summer capital of the world, light nights, seafront and islands, stunning forests within 30mins local bus trip (Nuuksio ) and both Stockholm and Tallinn just a ferry hop away. Unfortunately St Petersburg is not available right now, it's beautiful.

From warmer, budget friendly places I personally like Teneriffe. Hiking around Mt Teide is great, the cities offer a lot of things to do and for that beach feeling the resorts in South have all that dolphin watching- beach- endless ice creams things very cheaply. Very, very beautiful nature and excellent climate all year round.

I'd also recommend coach trips. One summer we went for two coach trips instead of one fly-away holiday, it was very reasonably priced and fun. We visited Isle of Wight (3 nights) and Brugge in Belgium (nights in ferry).

 

Rxcellent informative post

 

Some good posts on here, thanks folks.

We saw a cheap deal advertised for Calella on the Costa brava. At first I was not really excited by it. I've been to the Costa brava region of Spain a few times as a kid, and loved it, but I'd read it's developed a lot since then and might be a bit like Blackpool by now. But I'm warming to the idea, given that it ticks the boxes of being fairly cheap, and not too hot. But also because it serves as a good base for having a look round Barcelona and Girona, two cities I've never visited, but also I think there might still be a few quaint towns and villages nearby, not to mention it's beautiful coast and it's proximity to the mountains.

I loved Minorca too, but I think it might be a bit boring for the kids?

There's some good deals for the canary Islands but our honeymoon to Lanzagrotty really put me off. It was the only holiday I've ever been on where I couldn't wait to come home, and even considered trying to book an early flight back.