Cheap family holidays

The best family holidays are those where you spend time with your family and it is not important how much money you spend.  Some of the greatest holidays we had as children were the cheap holidays like camping, there were four of us kids so we entertained each other or probably fought with each other most of the time.  There wasn’t much money to spare, so we didn’t do much that cost a lot, the money was spent on gas to get us places and the price of a boat fare.  One time we went to France and camped in the Pyrenees four of us kids on camp beds under an old green tarpaulin, while all around us, by seven in the evening the French were zipped tightly into their immaculate tents. We always cooked on a camp fire (no gas cookers for us) how well I remember the taste of pork chops cooked in an old iron pan on the fire, there’s really nothing like it.

Stay at home

If you don’t have transport of your own, don’t let it stop you having a holiday. Holiday bargains are stay-at-home holidays, make a camp in your back yard and treat it as if you’re away in foreign parts. Make-believe is always fun and the kids will have a great time. Pitch your tent, get out the splash pool and the barbecue, spread out the towels and catch a few rays, (don’t forget the sun block). Invite the neighbours and their kids for instant entertainment. Other stay-at-home holidays can include trips to the local movie theatre, visits to museums and galleries. The best way is to look in your local paper for exhibitions, festivals, walks and anything else that is free and take advantage of everything. It is a great example for your kids to see that it needn’t cost a fortune to have a really good vacation.

Activity holidays

If you have kids or teenagers an activity holiday is always a success, particularly those that are well organised. If you go to a summer camp as a family, check before you go that they cater to all age groups. It will be of no use to you to find that they only have activities suitable for 4-8 year olds if you have a 12 year old, and vice versa. Activity holidays usually have a variety of activities in water sports, mountain biking, horse riding, archery, go karting and sometimes other specialist sports. They often provide babysitting services for the younger children and discos and early evening entertainment for the young teenager. Other activity holidays cater to a specific craft work where you learn how to do craft activities like decorative glass, card making, rag rugs and glass mosaic these can be great entertainment and cater to both adult and child.

Renting a cottage or apartment

Other exceptional family holidays are holidays abroad where you may rent cottages or apartments, farmhouses or city homes. They may be beside the ocean in the country, town or city. In many areas where you rent a cottage or farmhouse, you will find that there are plenty of outdoor activities on hand. There may be hill walking, canoeing, windsurfing, horse riding and swimming during the summer and winter sports like snowboarding, skiing and sledging in the winter. Take advantage of whatever is on offer and try everything with your family.

You may wish to spend time in a new city rather than the country and very good self-catering apartments are available to rent in all the major cities of the world. They work out to be much cheaper than a hotel and you can eat when you like and what you like and generally treat it like a home from home. They are comfortable and give you much more space in which to relax. If you manage to get one near the centre of town it is easy to walk to the places of interest and take in the general ambiance of the area. There are lots of places of interest in cities, museums, art galleries, parks, exhibitions, festivals, shops and tourist interests that are specific to the city.

There are many wonderful and exciting options for family holidays, try something new and introduce your family to new and stimulating choices.