Suggest a week-long holiday abroad for young couple with budget!

FionnK86

Hey

Myself and my girlfriend are looking to go on our first holiday abroad for a week. :pac: Only myself is working as she is doing her leaving :eek: Could you suggest a nice place to go (she likes the sun :rolleyes: , I like a bit of history ,though I only want to do something for myself 1 day of the holiday ) on a budget of around €400 including flights. I could go to €500-600 but will probably need a student loan and don't want to risk it as im working part-time.

We were looking at Malta or Malaga, but I am interested in anyone's opinion of any cheap destination, I have also seen good comments on Croatia

Any help guys ? Trying to be a good boyfriend :cool:

genericguy

FionnK86 wrote: »

Hey

Myself and my girlfriend are looking to go on our first holiday abroad for a week. :pac: Only myself is working as she is doing her leaving :eek: Could you suggest a nice place to go (she likes the sun :rolleyes: , I like a bit of history ,though I only want to do something for myself 1 day of the holiday ) on a budget of around €400 including flights. I could go to €500-600 but will probably need a student loan and don't want to risk it as im working part-time.

We were looking at Malta or Malaga, but I am interested in anyone's opinion of any cheap destination, I have also seen good comments on Croatia

Any help guys ? Trying to be a good boyfriend :cool:

I was going to suggest Malta - haven't been myself but a lot of friends have an rate it highly, so much so that I had been looking at it myself the other day. You'd easily do that for 500 quid.

grimm2005

€400 for 2 people for a week seems a little optimistic if I'm honest. Flights and accommodation alone would probably set you back for that alone before you factor in activities and food/drink etc.

That said it probably could be done but it depends when and where you want to go. I went to the Algarve in December a couple of years ago for €220 for 2 people, flights/accommodation/transfers included but being the off season it was pretty dead and not a lot to do, pleasant weather though. But that was a particularly cheap offer that you wouldn't see everyday.

Would you consider a shorter trip? Perhaps a long weekend city break in the summer? You could go to a cheap enough city like Budapest for example, stay in a hostel and there would be lots to do and it shouldn't set you back too much.

I'd advise to keep an eye on package holiday sites to see if any offers pop up for the typical "sun holiday" destinations and also the holiday pirates blog, you could hit upon something at the right time!

clumsyklutz

Have you considered Prague, really cheap flights and accommodation or Italy, depending on the time of year you go, you could get really good deals

d1234

Just seen this on deal rush - www.dealrushholidays.ie/holiday/66/ - maybe just check all the details and company out

Stinicker

If your budget is €400 for everything then forget it. As a seasoned traveller I would be guesstimating, €200 - €250 each for flights and about €200 - €300 for a self catering apartment which will probably be for a week. The flights vary hugely and if going for a week then you will need to carry at least one checked bag, further away destinations like Malta have higher flight prices.

Then you must factor in sightseeing, spending, €40 - €50 for dinner for two people per night would be fairly standard. Don't forget breakfast and lunch, you'd be looking at €50-€60 daily in eating out costs alone unless you slum it and eat in McDonalds each night or even brave cooking in the self catering. Taxi's, local transport, other various spending and alcohol if you two take a drink would easily spend discretionary spending to €100/day.

So 7 nights at €100/day plus €600 for flights and accommodation would bring the total to €1,300 but depending on flight prices this could go as low as €1,000 or as high as €1,500. All of this is of course presuming you are paying for everything and treating the girlfriend, chivalry and all that. However if ye split the bill 50:50 then depending on how tight you are with the spending and stay in low end accommodation you may even get the figure down to your €400 figure.

If you are paying for everything then best forget about a week long holiday and start looking at a 3 day weekend in somewhere like Warsaw or Prague instead.

sarkozy

www.hostelworld.com is the best site for searching for hostels. The cheapest way by far is to get beds in a dorm, but you'll get affordable private rooms where you might get away with paying €20 each per night. That's €140 each for 7 nights somewhere. If you do self-catering breakfast and lunch, but enjoy a couple of drinks/coffees during the day and eat out at night, you could do it within budget. It's best if you can get a private hostel room with self-service breakfast because you can stock up on lunch.

To be honest, the pleasure of holidaying in warm regions is simply sitting on a beach/mountain or in a park and enjoying local market-bought produce and some wine. Because the weather is good and attitudes to drinking can be more liberal, it's not a problem to sit out on the street, for example, and quietly enjoy a bottle of wine and some food.

So, budget-wise, you need to concentrate on better-value countries like Spain, Portugal, France, some less popular parts of Italy, Greece, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia. I would avoid Scandinavia with that budget. We went interrailing across Scandinavia in 2004 and spent NOTHING (too broke) but it still blew your budget. I don't even know what we ate in Norway other than swiped hostel food.

So your budget is doable, it's extremely tight, and this is the kind of stuff you need to be thinking about. But that's *assuming* your budget is €400 EACH, and you manage to get the cheapest flights possible to your destination (so timing will be essential, i.e. an off-peak holiday).