Getting a big deal on family holidays

Looking for a great family break on a modest family budget this summer? Join the club. Here's what SANDRA O'CONNELLfound

Off season

One way to bag a bargain is to go out of season. For ski resorts, that means summer. Pick the right one and there’s still plenty to see and do.

The village of Saas-Fee in the Swiss Alps offers fresh mountain air, stunning scenery and flower filled meadows a la The Sound of Music. There is mountain biking and horse-riding and even the added advantage of summer skiing for powder hounds.

What’s more, a week’s stay for a family of four starts starts at £730 (€828) in a good quality hotel with pool and wellness centre – and that’s half board.

- familyski.co.uk

Turkish delight

Sunworld is offering seven nights in the attractive Turkish town of Bodrum for a family of four for €1,095, including flights.

Flying from Cork on Saturday, June 11th, it’s a self-catering deal at the Mandarin Garden, a pretty, low-rise apartment complex with a balcony overlooking nicely planted gardens and a large pool area, just five minutes’ walk from Bitez Beach.

- sunworld.ie

All-in breaks

The great thing about all-inclusive breaks is that once you’ve paid for your holiday, you’ve paid for your holiday.

Holidaysonline.ie has a great one to Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, staying at the Coral Sea Resort, in a double room with garden view. Based on four sharing and flying out from Belfast on June 1st, the per person cost is €546 – all-inclusive.

The Coral Sea is a popular spot for families with good on-site facilities, including two pools and a bar right on the white sandy beach.

- holidaysonline.ie

Campsites

Campsite holidays are terrific for kids and Kelair Campotel is a great little Irish operator whose mobiles are always spick and span (you have to leave them pristine or risk losing your deposit) with great extras as standard including decks and barbecues.

Domaines des Ormes in D’Ol de Bretagne is a great spot for kids, with good playgrounds and a visiting circus for younger kids plus high wire adventure activities for teens.

A week’s stay for five, from June 4th to 11th costs €399.

- campotel.com

Cruising

If you can bag cheap flights to Majorca, MSC Cruises has a good value family offering of a seven-day jaunt round the Med, departing June 1st for a week.

Sailing on board its boat MSC Lirica, you’ll stop at Marseilles, Genoa, Ajaccio, Civitavecchia (Rome), Salerno in Italy and La Goulette – the port for Tunis.

It’s possibly the inclusion of this last destination that has it showing such a good price but right now you can book an inside cabin through Cruise Holidays for €572pp, based on four sharing.

- cruiseholidays.ie

Disneyland

How about a short, sharp shock of holiday fun rather than a traditional two-weeker?

You’re guaranteed to enjoy yourself at Disneyland Paris and this summer you can bag a two-night stay, with three days worth of theme park passes for a family of four from €409.

The deal represents a discount of 25 per cent off the normal hotel BB rate for adults, while kids under 12 stay and play for free, including free breakfast, lunch and dinner at Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe.

- abbeytravel.ie

Costa del Sol

The same firm is also offering late deals – even at this early stage – to a variety of Mediterranean holiday resorts, including a June 1st departure to the Holiday Village Costa del Sol, Spain.

A popular spot for families, there’s a beach club and kids’ entertainment. A seven-night stay for a family of four is €1,815, or €2,443 for two weeks.

- abbeytravel.ie

Family of five

One of the most irritating things about the travel trade is the insistence that all families consist of two adults and two children. Prices start to mount pretty quickly when you have more kids. Here’s one based on a family of five, staying at the Delfin Azul Hotel in Alcudia, Majorca, for a week in June, priced at €486pp – or €2,430 in total.

This includes flights and half board accommodation, so you’ve only to stump up for poolside snacks during the day. The hotel is a 10-minute walk from the beach, with nice shallow waters perfect for tots, a playground and a kids’ club, plus entertainment at night.

- falconholidays.ie

Villas

Of course, now you’ll tell me they’re primary school kids so of course you can’t go until July at the earliest.

Well, villas can offer great value in high season for larger families. Stay at the Colina Apartments in Colina del Paraiso on Spain’s Costa del Sol for €1,097 for a week, sleeping five.

Book flights too (departing July 9th) for a week at the same location for €2,904, both from James Villas.

- jamesvillas.ie

Ibiza in July

Clickandgo has some good prices this July too, including a week’s stay at the three-star Torremar apartments in Ibiza’s Puerto de San Miguel, with a package price of just €387 per person, including flights, for a family of four departing the second week in July.

- clickandgo.com

Ferry to France

Brittany Ferries and campsite specialist Keycamp have teamed up this summer to provide savings of up to €230 on Cork to Roscoff crossings, based on the price of a standard car and up to five passengers for departures sailing out and back between June 4th and 25th. You’ll have to factor in on-board accommodation on top of that, but it’s still a fair whack off the top.

- keycamp.ie

Water slides

Nothing keeps kids happier than water slides, which makes Panorama’s Aquamania packages well worth checking out for families.

At the time of writing a week’s stay for a family of five at Paloma Grida Village in Belek, Turkey – this is a beachfront property with a spaghetti junction of chutes and plumes – was €3,614 on an all-inclusive basis, including flights.

- panoramaholidays.ie

On the quiet side

For something a little bit quieter, you can get a fortnight’s half board in Malta, staying in the Seaview hotel just off the prom in the resort town of Qawra, flying out from Belfast on July 9th for €708pps, including flights and transfers.

There’s a kids’ pool and evening entertainment three times a week.

- latedeals.ie

Later in August

While you typically pay a hefty premium in August, you can get surprisingly good value if you hang back until the second half of the month.

For example, a family of five can stay for a week in the Niza Apartments in Gran Canaria – modest but nice – departing Saturday, August 20th for a week for just over €400pp (€2,008 in total) including flights.

The apartments are located in Puerto Rico, quieter than but not too far from Playa del Ingles with sheltered waters more suited to kids.

- panoramaholidays.ie

Book direct

You can also get great value by booking direct from a property owner, though if possible, try and get a personal recommendation.

A family of six can bag a two-bedroom apartment, sleeping six, 200 yards from the beach at Les Issambres, near St Tropez on France’s Côte d’Azur, for €680 a week in July – that’s just over €100pp.

The trick then is to get cheap flights into either Nice or Cannes with Ryanair and Aer Lingus.

At the time of writing it was still possible to get a flight from Dublin to Nice for €45 in early July.

- holidayhomesdirect.ie/10848

Marbella

On the ever popular Costa del Sol you can book a three-bedroom, two bathroom apartment sleeping five right beside a blue flag beach in Marbella, with pool, sea and mountain views, for €600 a week in high season.

It’s in Playa del Arenal, in eastern Marbella, a 10-minute bus ride from the centre of town. If you can negotiate with the owner to arrive on a Tuesday, you can still get flights to Malaga, 35 minutes away, from €75 with Aer Lingus.

On a Saturday, expect to pay €165 each way or €129 out and €85 back with Ryanair on the same dates (July 2nd to 9th).

- spain-holiday.com (ref 3041)

Orlando for less

Not sure how you’re going to square this with the school principal but, if you are prepared to brave it for a bargain, you can get to Disney Orlando departing May 9th for two weeks from €509pp based on two adults and two kids under 12.

You stay at the Champions World Resort close to Disney, with free transport to all the Disney theme parks, Sea World and Universal Studios, including return flights with Delta. The same package in June will cost €822pp.

- americanholidays.com

Cannes do

Finally, if you are going to ferry it, check out the discounts currently available from Pierre et Vacances, the French company known to Irish investors for their sale and lease back schemes.

At the moment it is offering discounts of up to 40 per cent on a range of properties throughout June and July. This can net you an apartment in Cannes, staying at the Residence Cannes Villa Francia, with large pool and panoramic bay views, for €1,264, a saving of €800 on the brochure price, for a 14-night stay. The property sleeps five.

- pv-holidays.com