According to the latest research by Hoo, the hotel room offer platform, the spring half-term is the most expensive school holiday to take a trip away while Easter ranks as the most affordable when looking at the cost on a per day basis.
Hoo looked at the cost of heading away to 10 major holiday destinations based on the price of return flights and accommodation, as well as how this differed across each half-term based on a five-day trip and a 14 day stay during the longer Easter, Christmas and summer holidays.
The big three
It’s not surprising that of all the options considered, the longer two-week breaks will cost you more overall. Taking a 14 day trip over the Christmas break will set you back the most with the total cost across all destinations analysed averaging £2,838.
Christmas is followed very closely by a two week holiday during the summer school holidays, costing £2,832 in total.
Easter was the most affordable time to take a two week holiday abroad out of the big three, costing a total £1,988 on average.
Half-term breaks abroad
When looking at the price of hotels and flights when heading abroad during the half-term breaks, the most costly was the spring half-term at an average of £1,399.
The summer half-term ranked as the next most expensive mid-term break (£1,330), with a holiday during the autumn half-term coming in as the most affordable (£1,264).
Most expensive per day
Although it is clear that two weeks away would of course require deeper pockets than a five-day trip, the research by Hoo also looked at the average cost per day across all school holidays to see which required the biggest budget in this respect.
The research shows that the most expensive school holiday is, in fact, the spring half-term. Heading away during this half-term break works out at a cost of £280 per day, while both the summer (£266) and the autumn half-term (£253) also rank in the top three most expensive school holidays.
The most affordable time to travel during the school holidays based on the cost per day is Easter, with an average cost of £142 per day. At £202 and £203 respectively, the summer and Christmas holidays work out pretty much the same.
Hoo Co-founder, Adrian Murdock, commented:
“Gone are the days of kids completing workbooks on flights to their term-time holiday destinations as today, taking your child out of school for a holiday can land you in hot water.
As a result, demand for breaks during the school holiday periods is understandably high and it’s actually the half-term periods where you’re going to pay the most when it comes to the cost of your holiday per day.
More people booking flights and hotels during a shorter period, compared to those longer holiday breaks, which really drives up the level of activity and so prices hit their peak. If you want the best half-term deals, book in early..”
