Affordable holidays: Summer holidays for around £500
by Lynette Lowthian
5 July 2008
Worried about the looming recession and credit crunch? – the following destinations are both affordable and fun.
Close to Home
Challenge the idea that the further you travel, the more exciting the experience will be. Especially if your children are quite young, why not reduce your carbon footprint and save money by staying in the good old UK? Hoseasons, for instance, has a clutch of family-friendly parks in and around the historic Cornish fishing towns of Looe and Polperro, an easy drive from the wonderful Eden Project.. Some have indoor and/or outdoor swimming pools, the accommodation, including caravans, bungalows, lodges and apartments, fits comfortably within the £500 budget for a family of four. See Take the Family's Cornwall page.
Youth Hostels
Yes, we can hear the groans go up already. But before you dismiss youth hostels as cold, draughty places with lumpy beds, check out the accommodation 2008-style from the YHA. Today’s fmily-friendly hostels offer fab facilities, including en uite family rooms.
Take Hartington Hall, a stunning manor house nestled in the Peak District – along with style and comfort for Mum and Dad, it has a games room, an adventure playground, a pets’ area, a wildlife garden, toys and a child-friendly menu, all for just £17.95 adults and £13.50 for under 18s per night at the time of writing.
Ab Fab France
If you fancy rubbing shoulders with the stars but your budget won’t stretch to Cannes or the other ritzy resorts on the glorious Côte d’Azur, less than £500 will buy you a slot at the Keycamp site at Douce Quiétude at St Raphaël. There’s loads to explore locally, and plenty of family facilities on site, including a pool complex with waterchutes and a children’s pool. A week’s stay in a mobile home in the May half-term 2009 for two adults and up to five kids costs from £494, including return Dover-Calais crossings. See Take the Family's Camping in France page.
Swap Hop
This is a clever way of getting a family holiday in a fabulous location, in someone else’s beautiful home, at a fraction of the normal cost (your accommodation will be free, so you have around £500 to spend on transport).
Your first step is to visit a home-swap website to register your home and pick a destination or destinations (membership costs around £30 a year). Try to swap with a family who have children roughly the same age as yours – then, if you have a baby, you won’t have to worry about cots, highchairs and safety gates, while if you have teenagers you can expect to find bikes, skateboards and DVDS. Your kids will hopefully feel right at home, making for a peaceful and contented holiday…
Destination Disney
If you think Disneyland Paris in the peak school-holiday time is beyond the £500 budget, think again – if your kids are under-7, you can still take advantage of the ‘Kids Under 7 Stay & Play Free’ promotion begun as part of the theme-park’s 15th birthday celebrations in 2007. Choose one of the more modest hotels, such as the 2-star Kyriad, and you’re looking at £538 during August – that’s for three days and two nights, including your Eurotunnel crossing, accommodation with breakfast, the all-important Disneyland tickets and local taxes. You pay an extra £79 each for kids seven and over. The same deal comes right down to £434 in parts of September and October.
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