Splash out in the sea and not on your plastic
TRICIA PHILLIPS finds out where the best holiday hotspots are to cash in on a stronger pound
THERE’S good news for families jetting off for a fortnight of summer sun – the pound is increasing in value against virtually every foreign currency.
However, whether it will continue its steady rise as the school holidays get under way in July is difficult to predict.
So, before you book the family getaway you need to consider what prices you will pay at the resort – and choose a destination where you’ll get the most for your money.
We’ve teamed up with Post Office Travel Money to compare the cost of eight everyday essentials across nine popular European resorts, plus the sunshine state of Florida to see where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.
The biggest cash benefit is to be had in Turkey.
Tourism has been lean there in the past couple of years, but that could be about to change as there’s a double whammy making it much cheaper this summer.
The pound has surged against the Turkish lira – it’s now worth an impressive 23% more than last April, and for each £500 of currency you convert you’ll get almost £95 extra in spending money.
Prices locally have dropped dramatically, too.
A family of four visiting the popular resort of Marmaris for a week can expect to spend just over £420 on our barometer of essentials – seven evening meals and drinks, snack lunches, daily ice creams, two buckets and spades and a bottle of suncream.
That works out at 30% less than last year.
However, Marmaris can’t compete with Bulgaria on price. For the fifth year running the Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach remains the best bargain at £338 for a week’s holiday spending.
Despite prices rising by 24% on last year, no other resort compares on the cost of eating out.
A snack lunch and three-course evening meal for two adults and two children costs just £41 in total, 19% cheaper than Marmaris, where it’s £50.57.
While the pound’s recent rally is a good trend for holidaymakers from Britain, you need to bear in mind that it is still marginally weaker against the euro than this time last year.
That makes it vital to compare prices across the Eurozone before deciding on your final destination choice. Despite price hikes in both the Algarve and Costa del Sol of 44% and 10% respectively year-on-year, the West definitely offers the cheapest prices for the budget conscious.
Spain’s Costa del Sol, at £473 for our holiday basket, is 23% lower than the Algarve at £551. But you’ll pay at least 10% more in the East Med than Portugal.
Anyone heading to Crete will spend £610, the same as last spring, whereas Phaphos in Cyprus has shot up 18% to £674.
Outside the Eurozone, Zadar in fashionable Croatia carries a price premium at a hefty £777 for a week’s worth of holiday basics, more than twice that of Bulgaria.
The most expensive destination to head to from our Brit hotspots list of 10 is Sorrento in southern Italy at an eye-watering £910.14, although prices have remained level with last year. That’s a whopping £573 more than Bulgaria and almost twice the price you’ll find in Costa Del Sol.
The falling US dollar, currently more than 13% down on April 2017, brings with it good news for those heading across the pond to Florida.
Reduced prices in family restaurants have also sent costs spiralling down 22% to £580 for a week in the theme park capital of Orlando.
Andrew Brown at Post Office Travel Money said: “If you are planning to holiday in Europe and haven’t already booked, make sure you do some homework.
“Check prices for meals, drinks and other tourist staples in the destination you are considering.
“To get a true picture of what your trip will cost, it is important to add resort costs to the package price.
“That’s because our research shows you can save hundreds of pounds by picking a destination where the cost of living is cheaper.”