The value of the pound slid recently to its lowest level in 14 months, the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland is rumbling and President Trump has completed the first week of his second four-year term. No travel agent would see these as ideal booking conditions, but early indications suggest that we’re far from being put off.
Hays Travel and Barrhead Travel have reported record-breaking sales for 2025 summer holidays and the adventure operator Incredible Journeys says that bookings on its best day this month were 34 per cent higher than its busiest day last January.
And while “noctourism” (going out at night), “calmcations” (peaceful breaks) and “new heydays” (nostalgia tourism) are among the new year’s buzzwords, the one trend dominating the travel landscape is the pursuit of value.
Few of us will forego a holiday in 2025, but money is tight and those who were going business class and five-star in a whirr of post-pandemic euphoria — we called it “vengeance travel” — aren’t talking so loudly now and don’t seem too proud to hunt for deals.
The online travel company Expedia’s forecast noted a 60 per cent year-on-year increase in searches on Hotels.com using the “all-inclusive” filter, noting that Hilton and Marriott are now offering that option. And research by easyJet reveals “people’s willingness to forego holidays in typically pricier traditional or well-established destinations, where their budget may only stretch to three-star accommodation, in favour of a five-star stay in a more affordable destination such as Turkey or north Africa or other Mediterranean options”. Those other Med options, tour operators say, include Albania, Tunisia and Cyprus, where a week in June at Peter Andre’s five-bedroom Villa Amelia is yours for £3,163 through Airbnb.
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Over the past weeks I’ve conducted detailed research into five-star room rates, short-haul package prices, the best all-inclusive deals, the cheapest spots on the French coast, bargain villas in Greece and when to book for the best deal. So if you’ve yet to decide where to go and want the biggest possible bang for your buck, you’re in the right place.
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How much have the prices of holidays gone up?
I compared the 2024 costs of 50 holidays in 12 European countries with the prices charged for the same trips this year. The sample comprised a mix of beach, villa, cruise and activity holidays. Last year the median price was £1,860pp; now it’s £1,869, an increase of just 0.5 per cent that we can probably attribute to fuel prices, inflation and operating costs.
Not all holidays, however, have seen such minimal rises. Eleven of those I checked had price rises of 14 per cent or more. The standouts included a short break in Portugal with British Airways (BA) that was up 50 per cent, an activity holiday in Greece up by 55 per cent and a luxury villa in Portugal that had gone up by 44 per cent, suggesting that some operators have either got a bad deal from their suppliers or have simply hiked the prices. The takeaway: shop around.
Where is the best package value this year?
Recent history tells us that Italy and Croatia are expensive, Portugal, Spain and Turkey are cheap and Greece is somewhere in between. But is that still true? I searched the Med for seven nights’ B&B in a four-star hotel including flights departing on June 21, and the best-value destinations were as expected: Dalaman in Turkey, with a median price of £667; the Algarve, at £815pp; and the Canary Islands, at £910pp. But there has been a shift at the top end of the table, where the Amalfi coast in Italy has dropped to second priciest, at £1,107pp, overtaken by the south Aegean — including islands such as Rhodes, Kos, Santorini and Mykonos — at £1,110pp.
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Dalyan is a citrus-farming town 20 miles northwest of Dalaman airport, on the river joining Lake Koycegiz to the sea. The lost city of Kaunos and its Petra-like rock tombs are on the opposite bank, and a ferry costing pennies takes you to the beach restaurants and vast sands of Iztuzu beach. The four-star Dalyan Resort Spa Hotel is on the river bank.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £608pp, including flights and transfers, departing on June 21 (easyjet.com)
• 21 of the best affordable holiday destinations for 2025
The best all-inclusive value
Turkey is the reigning king of the all-inclusive deal but is struggling with inflation nudging 50 per cent. In November room rates had increased by 60 per cent from the same month in 2023 but operational costs were up 84 per cent, making further price rises inevitable. However, for 2025 at least, Turkey is hanging on to its crown. The median price of an all-inclusive week in Dalaman has crept up to £955, but that’s still cheaper than in Spain (£998), Portugal (£1,120pp), Greece (£1,194pp) or Croatia (£1,254pp, the most expensive).
I mentioned shopping around, and here’s why: book a week’s all-inclusive at the Club and Hotel Letoonia with Jet2, departing on June 14, and you’ll pay £1,235pp; book it with Tui and it’s £1,087pp. The same week at the Green Nature Diamond hotel in Marmaris is £1,099pp with Tui but only £1,068pp with easyJet Holidays.
And if you fancy the Hillside Beach Club hotel in Fethiye, Tui undercuts BA Holidays’ £2,187pp by £258.
Details Seven nights’ full board at Hillside Resort and Spa from £1,929pp, including flights and transfers, departing on June 14 (tui.co.uk)
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When should I book?
In terms of value, deals, budgeting and getting the choice of rooms and flights, January is still the best time to book. Tui and Jet2 have thousands of free places for children travelling with two paying adults, even in the school holidays. They are offering up to £400 off all holidays and there are hotel-specific discounts — Tui has cut up to 31 per cent off some packages. If you don’t mind a gamble wait until May. By then the trade will know what holidays haven’t sold and new incentives will be announced. Keep an eye especially on Jet2, which last week announced “thousands” of extra seats to Greece and Turkey. If it has overestimated demand bargains will follow.
• 17 of the best all-inclusive hotels in Turkey
What about a villa in France?
Predictably, the region — Provence, Alpes, Côte d’Azur — remains the costliest part of France in which to rent a villa, even if the absence of Russians has hit landlords where it hurts. Using data from holidayhomes.co.uk, which lists properties from various suppliers, I found that the median price of a modest two-bedroom villa with a private pool in the first week of August ranges from £2,714 in Alpes-Maritime (Nice and vicinity) to £1,655 around Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
The best value in the southeast is in the blue-collar part of Le Var, west of Toulon, with a median price of £1,699; search around Sanary-sur-Mer and Bandol on the coast and the pretty villages inland from there.
Elsewhere, the lowest prices are in the north, with a median price for that August week of £1,216 in the Manche region, home to Cherbourg, St Lô and Mont St Michel.
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On the west coast the cheapest properties are on the seaward side of Nantes in Loire-Atlantique, with a median price of £1,216. The further south geographically you go, the further north the prices go, from £1,604 in La Vendée to £2,309 in Landes.
Good websites to try include vrbo.com, holidayhomes.co.uk, vintagetravel.co.uk and, for the top-end properties, cvvillas.com.
Remember that you can save a packet by going large. The median price of a two-bedroom villa in Le Var in the first week of August is £1,699 (£425pp with four sharing); for a six-bedroom place it’s £3,078 (£257pp with 12 sharing).
If you’re quick you might bag the bijou but unimaginatively named Mini T3 Villa in the village of Ollioules, just inland from Sanary-sur-Mer. In a tiny space, the owner, Marie-Claude, has created a two-bedroom villa with stepped terraces and a pool in a lush garden with views towards Mont Caume.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £1,200, departing on August 1 (vrbo.com; property 6458738)
• 19 of the best holiday villas in France
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Where are the Greek villa deals?
I looked at the median price of a two-bedroom villa with private pool in the first week in August, not including flights or car hire, on 12 of the most popular islands in Greece. I thought that Santorini and Mykonos would be the most expensive, but the results showed otherwise: Santorini was the fourth cheapest at £2,085; Mykonos ninth at £3,014. The Ionian island of Meganisi offered the worst value at £4,152, with Naxos 11th at £3,434. The top three cheapest in reverse order were Corfu at £2,062, Kalymnos at £2,026 and Crete at £1,873.
“Eastern Crete offers fabulous value at a fraction of the price of many other islands,” says Mathew Simpson, the product director at Simpson Travel. “There’s also a great choice of restaurants.” His pick is Villa Palekastro, a family-friendly, two-bedroom villa with a private pool surrounded by olive groves 150 yards from Kouremenos beach.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering from £1,375pp, including flights and car hire (simpsontravel.com)
• 28 of the best holiday villas in Greece
What price luxury?
I looked at the cost of flight-inclusive, seven-night B&B packages to five-star hotels in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece and Turkey. Struggling with those increased operating costs, Turkey is now the most expensive with a median price of £2,138pp a week. Italy comes next at £1,893pp, with Croatia third at £1,609pp. Then come Greece, Portugal and Spain at £1,590pp, £1,362pp and £1,231pp, respectively.
You can do better, though: a week in June at the five-star Gran Melia Palacio de Isora in Tenerife — with eight restaurants, seven bars, four pools and a Clarins spa — comes in at less than £900pp.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £895pp, including flights and transfers, departing on June 14 (tui.co.uk)
Go off-radar for a family holiday bargain
By Sean Newsom
Holiday in the Alps
In the Alps summer is low season and the region is packed with ski accommodation going for a song. Don’t count on unbroken sunshine, but do expect a wonderful choice of activities beyond the simple yet profound pleasures of a mountain walk.
The smart self-catering Odalys Edenarc apartments, in the Arc 1800 ski area in the French Alps, have an indoor pool. Two-room apartments cost £1,420 for a family of four for a week from August 2 (odalys-vacances.com). Buy a seven-day Hero multipass for £88pp and you get access to mountain lifts, aquaparks and more than 15 activities, including beach volleyball, trampolining and tennis (lesarcs.com). Fly to Geneva or take the train to Bourg St Maurice.
Or you can join forces with a couple of other families to make one of the swanky chalets in the OVO network affordable. Chalet Manoe in Manigod offers sensational views from its sundeck, pool, hot tub and sauna. Seven nights’ self-catering for 12 costs from £202pp from August 23 (ovonetwork.com). Fly to Geneva.
Or you could squirrel yourselves away somewhere properly remote and thoughtful, such as Val d’Hérens in Switzerland. Seven nights’ B&B in a family room at the Grand Hôtel & Kurhaus from July 26 costs from £429pp (grandhotelkurhaus.com). The hotel rents ebikes for £85 a day if you want to add a little more whizz to your wanderings. Fly to Geneva.
Head to off-radar eastern Europe
Croatia is pricey and suddenly Albania is also heading that way. But the former eastern bloc is full of surprises — and splendour. Head inland and prices fall away sharply too.
For a heady dose of Romanian history, head to the 18th-century Count Kalnoky Transylvanian Guesthouses in Miclosoara. Child-friendly but impeccably antique, they’re also the starting point for all kinds of guided summer adventures, including riding and bear-tracking. Seven nights’ B&B in a suite for four from August 2 costs £404pp (transylvaniancastle.com). Fly to Bucharest or Brasov.
In Slovenia there are already high-season discounts to be had in Kranjska Gora, at the foot of the spectacular Julian Alps. With Balkan Holidays, seven nights’ half-board at the four-star Ramada Hotel & Suites from July 27 costs from £753pp, including flights (balkanholidays.co.uk). The price includes access to the Larix wellness centre next door.
Have a Scandi summer
Despite all the talk of coolcation summers last year, heading north rather than south is still a canny move in the hunt for bargains.
Take the elegant beach town of Tisvildeleje, on the Danish Riviera in North Sealand. It’s a place of blond sand, forested bluffs and chic, family-friendly cabins — such as Merete Carolyn’s two-bedroom garden property. Seven nights’ self-catering from August 2 costs £1,096 for four, including the use of her bikes (airbnb.co.uk/rooms/25766947). Fly to Copenhagen.
In Sweden, Responsible Travel’s six-night, self-guided Stockholm Countryside tour is a fast and multifaceted adventure, with cycling, canoeing and hiking around the rural hinterland of the capital. Given that the trip includes camping, steamboat crossings and farmhouse stays, the £823pp price tag for six nights seems very reasonable (responsibletravel.com). Fly to Stockholm.
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