questions about sun holiday's in general..

sporina

So I am trying to figure out where to go for a week in the sun in september. Its for my mate and I and at the moment we are thinking of one of the greek islands, cypress, or one of the canary islands,.


But:

1. Is is cheaper to wait until closer to the time to book a package holiday or would be just left with crap choice? We are going last week of september by the way.

2. Do travel agents use the regular fights leaving the airports or are flights organised? for example, if we wanna know what flights are available from say Cork, would these be the only fights available to us from Cork?

3. for a week away in the sun, is it generally cheaper to book flights and accom as a package or separately?

naughtysmurf

sporina wrote: »

So I am trying to figure out where to go for a week in the sun in september. Its for my mate and I and at the moment we are thinking of one of the greek islands, cypress, or one of the canary islands,.


But:

1. Is is cheaper to wait until closer to the time to book a package holiday or would be just left with crap choice? We are going last week of september by the way. If you wait until closer to the date you wish to travel, there is a reasonable chance you will get a decent deal on a package holiday but obviously your choice will be limited to what they haven't sold yet, you may get lucky with really nice accom, you may get average accom.

2. Do travel agents use the regular fights leaving the airports or are flights organised? for example, if we wanna know what flights are available from say Cork, would these be the only fights available to us from Cork? A mixture, a high street travel agent will book a Ryanair / Aerlingus flight as part of a flight & accom package for you for a fee but certainly not cheaper that what you can do it for yourself, the likes of Falcon would probably have chartered the whole plane for Falcon clients

3. for a week away in the sun, is it generally cheaper to book flights and accom as a package or separately?

Generally, I have found that I need to book 6 months in advance to get best price on flights but I tend to travel July / Aug, I would normally get two weeks accom & flights for at least the same price as one week accom & flights with a package holiday

That's my experience, hope that helps

solerina

There is really no neeed to book a package holiday for September, its very easy to do it yourself and it often works out cheaper too...and you give yourself much better choices too.

tatli_lokma

naughtysmurf wrote: »

Generally, I have found that I need to book 6 months in advance to get best price on flights but I tend to travel July / Aug, I would normally get two weeks accom & flights for at least the same price as one week accom & flights with a package holiday

That's my experience, hope that helps

I have found that early booking sometimes gets you a good price, but equally I have had great deals with only a few weeks notice. Rarely have I ever paid huge amounts more booking closer to departure....in fact the bonus if booking early isn't really price its more so that I can plan and budget for spending money etc. This week we got faxes into work from several travel agents - one offer that springs to mind is Tenerife, 1 week, s/c last week in July, €310. So last minute does seem to get bargains, but you need to be flexible on dates etc.

And further to that, if you can go last minute, esp at the end of september you would get some good deals I reckon. You will be slightly limited by choice, but for Greece/Spain etc you would get a good deal last minute. I would say you could pick up a last min bargain to the Canaries for around €300 in late september. I know you can go independent and book flights and hotel seperate, but it would rarely work out cheaper than €300, so if a cheap deal is on offer, why bother?

sporina

thanks for the substantial replies..

wow it really seems like swings and roundabouts..

well a few things:

• we are not flexible on dates - it has to be on the last week of september;
• we want an apartment as oppose to a hotel - can you book apartments without an agent easily?

Procrastastudy

Flights have traditionally worked on the basis that as the plane fills the seats get more expensive. If you're going at a popular time you need to book flights early.

Use Trip advisor, Booking.com and a like to find decent apartments (based of people's reviews) the Googlemaps (street view ideally) to have a look before you book.

cocoshovel

Dont bother with package holidays, save yourself some money and do it yourself I would recommend.

Alls I know is that flights in September to sun places are considerably cheaper than during the school holidays. I recently priced a flight to Malaga with Aer Lingus in September for €140 :eek:

sporina

cocoshovel wrote: »

Dont bother with package holidays, save yourself some money and do it yourself I would recommend.

Alls I know is that flights in September to sun places are considerably cheaper than during the school holidays. I recently priced a flight to Malaga with Aer Lingus in September for €140 :eek:

thanks for that - however I have also been told that if you book with an agent, then all transfers are organised and included etc,.. would be handy..

Jesus Shaves

sporina wrote: »

thanks for that - however I have also been told that if you book with an agent, then all transfers are organised and included etc,.. would be handy..

Check out www.alpharooms.com

Used it to book my last holiday

sporina

Jesus Shaves wrote: »

Check out www.alpharooms.com

Used it to book my last holiday

why did you choose it etc?

naughtysmurf

Just had a quick look at Aer Lingus Dub to Malaga in Sept, Travelling midweek, If I booked it now, I would pay €100 more than what I did pay for our group of 4 to travel last week July, first week Aug

Flight prices seem to me to be well up on last year although recently there was and maybe still is good value to Barca & Reus with Ryanair so maybe worth a look

Jesus Shaves

sporina wrote: »

why did you choose it etc?

It was cheaper than the usual package holiday websites, it books flight, transfers and hotels separately so you get to see a breakdown of costs.

No complaints about it