Any ideas for cheaper holidays?

[Chislenko]

Could I just add, away from the usual haunts you will get a damm good holiday in Montenegro for that money.

Often overlooked but a nice place, Tivat especially with direct flights.

 

[DCLane]

+1 for Montenegro, just not Budvar as it's quite touristy.

 

[Chislenko]

+1 for Montenegro, just not Budvar as it's quite touristy.

Would echo that, same for Kotor. We stayed just outside Tivat and it was very nice. Only a ten minute taxi from the airport. We hired a house with it's own pool as we are not fans of shale beaches which of course a lot of the coast line is. Budvar and Kotor easily accessible by bus or hire bike if you want a day at these places.

 

[swee'pea99]

We just got back from a fantastic week on Kefalonia - flight from Stansted, accommodation at a nice little hotel with big, spotless rooms, a good-sized, immaculate swimming pool, and friendly people (and a doggy, who rushed out for an ear-ruffle on every return) - we had a balcony overlooking the sea 'n everything - £515. All in. Yes, for both of us.

I know, I was surprised.

It's not even like we did anything clever. Without wanting to sound like an ad, I stumbled on Firstchoice.co.uk, and found that by searching on cheapest first, we pretty soon found that option, read some reviews, couldn't see a catch, and booked. And that was that.

Oh, one tip for the top: a fortnight before we went I googled 'should I book my hire car before I go or when I get there?'. To cut to the chase, we found ourselves being given the keys to our brand new Fiat Panda (1300km on the clock) at the same time as the couple at the other end of the counter. They were renting the same car (persuaded, they said, by 'the good price', having trailed through a few of the dozen or so car-hire offices at the airport). They were paying £280 for ten days (admittedly including 'excess cover'). We'd paid £22 for a week. Plus the £21 we'd paid for the excess cover before we left, making a grand, all-in total of £43, for a brand new car, for a week.

I know, I was surprised.

Book early, kids!

Absolutely stunning place, in passing. A full array of snapshots at the link above, but for a taster, the lttle town of Assos...

And it was like that every day

Firstchoice.co.uk

I do not work for the company, nor am I being paid for this endorsement. Innit.

Have a nice holiday.

PS When I first posted this I had talked about Tui.co.uk. My wife pointed out that we didn't in the end book through them, we booked a holiday through firstchoice, which turned out to be (I'm pretty sure) a Tui holiday, flying on (I'm certain) Tui.Air. I hope that's cleared that up.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

We just got back from a fantastic week on Kefalonia - flight from Stansted, accommodation at a nice little hotel with big, spotless rooms, a good-sized, immaculate swimming pool, and friendly people (and a doggy, who rushed out for an ear-ruffle on every return) - we had a balcony overlooking the sea 'n everything - £515. All in. Yes, for both of us.

I know, I was surprised.

It's not even like we did anything clever. Without wanting to sound like an ad, I stumbled on Firstchoice.co.uk, and found that by searching on cheapest first, we pretty soon found that option, read some reviews, couldn't see a catch, and booked. And that was that.

Oh, one tip for the top: a fortnight before we went I googled 'should I book my hire car before I go or when I get there?'. To cut to the chase, we found ourselves being given the keys to our brand new Fiat Panda (1300km on the clock) at the same time as the couple at the other end of the counter. They were renting the same car (persuaded, they said, by 'the good price', having trailed through a few of the dozen or so car-hire offices at the airport). They were paying £280 for ten days (admittedly including 'excess cover'). We'd paid £22 for a week. Plus the £21 we'd paid for the excess cover before we left, making a grand, all-in total of £43, for a brand new car, for a week.

I know, I was surprised.

Book early, kids!

Absolutely stunning place, in passing. A full array of snapshots at the link above, but for a taster, the lttle town of Assos...

View attachment 775448

And it was like that every day

Firstchoice.co.uk

I do not work for the company, nor am I being paid for this endorsement. Innit.

Have a nice holiday.

PS When I first posted this I had talked about Tui.co.uk. My wife pointed out that we didn't in the end book through them, we booked a holiday through firstchoice, which turned out to be (I'm pretty sure) a Tui holiday, flying on (I'm certain) Tui.Air. I hope that's cleared that up.

Sounds brilliant!

Would you say hiring a car is necessary there, or just nice to have? I usually prefer public transport, assuming it’s available, but at that price it would be nice to have the freedom.

Also, did that price include transfers and checked-in luggage? I can see a lot of cheap deals but none includes those things.

Edit to add: Which hotel did you pick, if you don’t mind me asking?

 

[Alex321]

We just got back from a fantastic week on Kefalonia - flight from Stansted, accommodation at a nice little hotel with big, spotless rooms, a good-sized, immaculate swimming pool, and friendly people (and a doggy, who rushed out for an ear-ruffle on every return) - we had a balcony overlooking the sea 'n everything - £515. All in. Yes, for both of us.

I know, I was surprised.

It's not even like we did anything clever. Without wanting to sound like an ad, I stumbled on Firstchoice.co.uk, and found that by searching on cheapest first, we pretty soon found that option, read some reviews, couldn't see a catch, and booked. And that was that.

Oh, one tip for the top: a fortnight before we went I googled 'should I book my hire car before I go or when I get there?'. To cut to the chase, we found ourselves being given the keys to our brand new Fiat Panda (1300km on the clock) at the same time as the couple at the other end of the counter. They were renting the same car (persuaded, they said, by 'the good price', having trailed through a few of the dozen or so car-hire offices at the airport). They were paying £280 for ten days (admittedly including 'excess cover'). We'd paid £22 for a week. Plus the £21 we'd paid for the excess cover before we left, making a grand, all-in total of £43, for a brand new car, for a week.

I know, I was surprised.

Book early, kids!

Absolutely stunning place, in passing. A full array of snapshots at the link above, but for a taster, the lttle town of Assos...

View attachment 775448

And it was like that every day

Firstchoice.co.uk

I do not work for the company, nor am I being paid for this endorsement. Innit.

Have a nice holiday.

PS When I first posted this I had talked about Tui.co.uk. My wife pointed out that we didn't in the end book through them, we booked a holiday through firstchoice, which turned out to be (I'm pretty sure) a Tui holiday, flying on (I'm certain) Tui.Air. I hope that's cleared that up.

Firstchoice are nowadays a subsidiary of Tui.

 

[swee'pea99]

Sounds brilliant!

Would you say hiring a car is necessary there, or just nice to have? I usually prefer public transport, assuming it’s available, but at that price it would be nice to have the freedom.

Also, did that price include transfers and checked-in luggage? I can see a lot of cheap deals but none includes those things.

Edit to add: Which hotel did you pick, if you don’t mind me asking?

I'm with you on preferring public transport, ideally, but I don't think it's really an option in somewhere like Kefalonia - it's thin on the ground, infrequent, and probably not going where you want to go. And at forty odd quid, the freedom is a no-brainer IMHO. The standard of driving also seems fine, and the mountainous terrain and windy roads encourage sensible speeds/behaviour.

The price, to answer your specific questions: no, and no.

We both took carry-on luggage. I don't need much on the beach 😎. I took my regular small backpack, my wife had a proper 'regulation' jobbie; we both had plenty of room for everything we needed.

As for transfers, having discovered the price to get taken on a coach, whenever it happens to leave, along with 14 other couples and three families, for a two hour odyssey via seven other little hotels to be significantly above that of getting a brand new car for a week, and starting now, again it wasn't really a contest.

The hotel was called Aristomenis Studios, and it was lovely, and so were they. Especially the doggy - he was just adorable. But, again, independent transport. Somewhere it said it was a 20 minute walk to the beach. It wasn't. It was a long way. And it was too hot and dull on-the-road to want to do it even once. And it's uphill on the way back 😳. No, a car is a must.

Kefalonia is not your classic Greek island. None of that whitewash and blue shutters. A massive earthquake in 1953, reduced pretty much the entire island to 18" of rubble, and it shows. Not that anything's ugly or unsightly, it's just a bit...1950s+. No-one even went there till Captain Corelli's Mandolin. And in truth there's not a great deal by way of 'things to do/see'. But it's lovely, and you're never far from a lovely (completely undeveloped) beach.

We would have gone to any of a fair few Greek islands, but we certainly didn't regret going for Kefalonia.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Anywhere without a beach is usually cheap. If you go to a site like we love holidays, select airport/region and date, sort cheapest first. E.g. ski resorts in august, no-one goes when there's no snow, so I saw 7 days including flights and hotel for £247 each. Think it was places like Toulouse and Andorra

 

[Chislenko]

Anywhere without a beach is usually cheap. If you go to a site like we love holidays, select airport/region and date, sort cheapest first. E.g. ski resorts in august, no-one goes when there's no snow, so I saw 7 days including flights and hotel for £247 each. Think it was places like Toulouse and Andorra

I like your thinking