MARTIN Lewis has revealed how Brits can avoid school holiday travel price hikes.
The cost of flights, hotels and package holidays always rocket when kids are off school – but there are several ways to lower your travel costs.
Martin Lewis has explained how to slash your holiday costs during the school holidays
In the latest MoneySavingExpert newsletter Martin Lewis said: “Fortunately, some simple tricks can help you fight back and turn the tables on sky-high prices for family trips abroad.”
The consumer champion said to look out for cheap booking dates to assess when different regions have their school holidays.
For example, in 2023 most Leicestershire schools break up for summer on July 12, while most others do so around July 22.
And the MoneySavingExpert team calculated the difference when travelling before other schools break up for the holidays.
The MSE teams found that a week’s holiday in a three-star hotel in Majorca, including flights from Birmingham, cost £384 per person leaving on July 13.
But on July 23, the same holiday jumped to £540 per person.
Martin said: “Most schools in Scotland break up earlier (this year it’s around June 28), so if that’s you, consider going away sooner rather than later.”
You can use the Gov.UK’s school holiday dates tool to find out when schools in your area have their holidays.
But that’s not the only trick to bring your travel costs down. Martin said that households should “check other countries’ holiday dates” too.
He said: “For example, book Disney World when US kids are back at school in August – a family Disney stay was over £130 cheaper than in late July.”
And households can slash the cost of their flights when they opt to fly from Scotland during the last two weeks of August.
Martin said: “As Scottish schools generally start back earlier, you can make big savings by flying the family out from Scotland instead.
“We saw the same holiday flying from Glasgow for £700 less than flying from Manchester.”
How else can I save on travel costs?
There are plenty of steps you can take to make sure you’re not spending more than necessary on holiday.
In terms of flights, you can find flights to Spain, Italy and Germany, all for less than £30.
To help you look, use comparison sites so you don’t miss out on the cheapest offer.
Google Flights, which is free, also has some great tools to help you find the best deal.
You can also use sites and guides to help you find bargain hotels, like The Good Hotel Guide, which has a special deals section on its website.
To make sure you’re getting the best deal with your hotel, check out prices throughout the year.
And if you’re on a booking site, always check the direct rate with the hotel – to make sure you’re not paying more than you need to.
It is also important to note that plenty of mobile network providers are re-introducing roaming charges now that the UK has left the EU.
You’ll want to make sure you know how much you could be charged for using your phone on holiday.
It could cost up to £6 a day depending on who you’re with, and this could see you rack up a big bill if you’re on a lengthy getaway.
The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) is also useful for making sure you get free healthcare across the EU.
Your GHIC is not a substitute for travel insurance as it may not cover all health costs and never covers repatriation costs, but it’s still worth looking into as a safety net.
Make sure that you’ve got enough cash to cover your holiday.
Getting an insurance payout is often not as straightforward as it should be so you’ll need some cash ready to hand or a credit card to cover you in emergencies.
