by New research by Which? at the expense of the summer holidays thrown up a few surprises. When looking for the best value packages this summer, he found the cheapest place to book was the Greek island of Kalymnos, with an average price of £847 per person for a week’s stay, including flights and transfers , in early August. Two other Greek destinations – the island of Thassos at £862 and Lefkada at £935 – filled the next two spots, followed by the Costa Brava in Spain (£952).
Surprisingly, not a single resort in Turkey or Portugal made the top 10. This is despite the fact that other recent surveys have identified that both countries have the lowest local prices in resorts.
So what do these results really tell us about finding the best value holiday this summer? I have to say they are really surprising. It’s not only counter-intuitive that “low-cost” countries like Turkey and Portugal aren’t very much in the league table. I would also expect, for example, that some of the major destinations on Mallorca or the Costa del Sol would do well. After all, there is a huge range of accommodation and a large number of flights available and you would expect that competition to pay dividends for the consumer.
But far smaller, quieter and far more attractive destinations lie behind them. Kalymnos is a tiny island with quiet beaches and small resorts that you can only get to by ferry from its much busier and more developed neighbour, Kos. Thassos and Lefkada fall into a similar category of Greek islands (I know Lefkada is not a whole island, but it counts as one).
Meanwhile, the string of resorts on the Costa Brava is, in my book, the most attractive of all mainstream Spanish destinations. What is more, Which? he points out that even some of the best of these are cheaper than the most advanced examples. Holidays in Malgrat de Mar, for example, are cut above its more popular neighbor Lloret de Mar, yet Which? he found that it was Malgrat that offered the lower prices.
The overall survey seems to show the power tour operators have in negotiating hotel rates and scheduling flights to lesser-known destinations. For those who prefer to avoid the big familiar names that attract large numbers of British tourists every year, this is an attractive find. It’s also a useful tip for bargain hunters.
But, as ever, we must strike a note of caution. It’s not as simple as saying that smaller, lesser-known destinations always offer the best deals. The Venetian Riviera and the Amalfi Coast also did well on the Which? list. Perhaps the explanation for this is that the former, a British favorite in the 1970s, has perhaps fallen out of fashion, although the steep hills and small beaches of Amalfi are not ideal for families and are not so popular with British travelers in high summer.
We must also be aware of the limitations of research. Which one of them? He approached the subject with a very broad brush, analyzing a lot of data (about 4,500 holidays in 15 countries), but only selected those from the two biggest tour operators – Jet2holidays and Tui. It was also insightful – only the prices in March were considered for a departure booked on or around 3rd August 2024. Price comparisons outside of high season may differ.
And, more importantly, there was no need for such a comparison. It included accommodation of all standards and did not distinguish whether the price included a single room, breakfast or half board. So the results could be influenced by the fact that somewhere like Kalymnos might have much more basic accommodation than somewhere else or tend to offer single room or B&B prices.
In conclusion, the old cliché free and cheerful seems to have been given in one way or another. A separate league table compiled by Which? which looks at the cost of all-inclusive holidays (including all food and drink in the price) found much less variation between destinations. Traditional budget destinations such as Tenerife, the Costa Blanca and Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast dominated. For what seems like a classic sun and sand package, high numbers and big hotels seem to keep costs down.
Which one of them? prices of 4,558 package holidays were collected from the UK’s largest tour operators – Jet2holidays and Tui – in March 2024. The analysis included Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Portugal, Spain (including the Balearic Islands). and the Canary Islands), Turkey and the Channel Islands.
The average price is based on a seven-night holiday including flights and transfers, departing on or about 3 August, based on two people sharing a double or twin room. Which one of them? only destinations with minimum holidays, and those in resort areas (other than cities) were included. Not all destinations were on sale with both Jet2 and Tui.
