School Holidays

Unless you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where school holidays are arranged at a different time to the rest of the country, you may think low cost holidays with school-age children is an impossibility. However, we at Coop Travel have low-cost family holidays to a score of destinations, including Orlando, Sharm el Sheikh, Spain and Turkey, which prove it’s possible to book cheap school holidays without having to play truant!

The most popular time to take family holidays is when the schools have broken up for summer, closely followed by the Easter and Christmas holidays, and half-term breaks. Even at the peak of the season it’s not impossible to get cheap deals to popular destinations, but you need to book very early, especially if it’s a prime resort like Orlando. There are two reasons for this; first, the demand for popular locations means allocations are filled very early in the season; secondly, early bookings secure good discounts, which diminish as the season picks up.

Of course, you don’t have to book your 2012 holidays in the summer. The Red Sea resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, both popular destinations, are positively roasting in July and August, with temperatures in the 40s which are, perhaps, unsuitable for family holidays. However, come the autumn, cheap deals are widely available, many of them tying in nicely with the Christmas break. The same goes for Morocco, Tunisia, Goa and the Canary Islands.

Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus are all popular with those seeking cheap school holidays, with the spring and autumn half-term a great excuse to jet away to warmer climes. If you’re worried about having to shorten your family holidays because of work, we at Coop Travel recommend you look at last minute holidays incorporating bank holidays – Easter and Christmas are great times to snap up cheap deals, with extended bank holidays increasing the time you can spend on the beach.