Cheap Package Holidays

You can slash the price by checking comparison sites, tour operators and flash-sale sites

First, benchmark a decent price on the web. To get an idea of the type of price you should be paying, start by searching the major package holiday listing sites. All the sites below allow you to filter your options and, if you can be flexible, search for dates around the one you want to see if it's cheaper.

• TravelSupermarket for speed and range. TravelSupermarket* covers all the big tour operators such as Thomas Cook and Tui (formerly Thomson), plus sites including Expedia, Love Holidays and On the Beach, which allow you to be more flexible about picking your own flight and hotel.

• Ice Lolly for extra breadth. Ice Lolly* covers some of the travel firms that TravelSupermarket misses and allows you to search holidays from up to eight airports at once.

• Flash-sale sites for cheap short-lived deals. You'll need to be ready to pounce for this one, but flash-sale sites offer great deals which beat comparison sites for a short time only. Holiday Pirates is one which has stonking deals on holidays, flights and hotels – also check Travelzoo* and Secret Escapes.

• Try BA holidays for last minute flight and hotel deals. Some deals with BA Holidays can work out cheaper than flights alone – great if you can be flexible on dates and destination. It also has a range of filters including average temperature and TripAdvisor ratings which can help narrow down your search.

• Traditional tour operators incl Thomas Cook, Tui and Virgin Holidays. While some traditional tour operators' offers will be included in the comparison sites above, it's worth checking direct as well – the likes of Thomas Cook*, Tui, First Choice*, Virgin Holidays and Olympic* can often have last-minute deals you won't find elsewhere.

  Remember, tour operators buy holidays in advance (usually around a year ahead) so they need to shift 'em. If you can be flexible and wait until the last minute, you could bag a real bargain. Plus tour operators' sites sometimes offer extra perks such as upgrades with certain hotels, or early booking discounts.

However, often for the real bargains it's about getting on the phone to late specialist travel agents to see what they can find. And remember tour operators make holidays, travel agents just sell them, so the same holiday can be different prices at different agents. See our holiday haggling tips below.

Book late for the best deals...

Booking late is the cheapest way to get a package. 'Late' means no more than 8-10 weeks before departure, when the bargains flood in.

The reason's simple. Tour operators have chartered the planes and reserved the rooms, and, if they don't shift 'em, they lose money. The later you leave it, the more desperate they are to flog empty rooms, so the price drops further.

Yet the later you wait, the more you need to be flexible about dates and destinations. So if creche facilities or a specific hotel are must-haves, be careful.

If you just want anywhere hot and cheap, leave it very late, ie, the week before you go, and you may get elegant trips for dirt-cheap prices.

... or book early for special offers and discounts – great if you need particular facilities

The other way to get discounts is to book further ahead, because many tour operators offer early booking codes or discounts. These can include £100-per-couple discounts or buy-one-get-one-free weeks.

Here is one of the top codes out there at the moment, though check for others too. Don't be sucked in by marketing hype – first, use a comparison site to compare costs for the holiday you're after. Then see if you can bring down the price with this offer:

• Thomas Cook – £150 off £1,500* on long-haul holidays with the code LONGHAUL. Valid on Thomas Cook, FlexibleTrips and Airtours-branded holidays, flying with Thomas Cook Airlines. Thomas Cook says it doesn't currently have an expiry date.

'Free' child places

These operators are offering free child places for this summer when you book for adults, though availability may be limited. When we checked, you could combine them with the discounts above:

• First Choice* – free child's place includes flights, hotel, entertainment and all-inclusive food and drink. You can only get one free child place per two full-paying adults in each hotel room, apartment or villa.

• Jet2holidays* – includes flights, check-in baggage, accommodation and coach transfers. If your group has two full-paying adults in a hotel room or villa, you'll get one free child place. If you're a family of one adult and two children, one child will be charged the full adult price and the other will have the free child place.

• Tui – includes flights, hotel, transfers and food and drink. You can only get one free child place per two full-paying adults in each hotel room, apartment or villa.

All-inclusive can be better value

All-inclusive deals typically include all meals, snacks and drinks (though not always alcoholic ones), and sometimes transfers and luggage too – costs which can quickly add up.

According to the Post Office, a meal out for a family of four costs about £50 in Europe – that's about £350/week in evening meals alone. It varies by destination though – for example, a week's evening meals in Italy could cost around £930, whereas in the Algarve the average is £341.

So if you don't mind eating in the hotel it's worth weighing up if you can save by going all-inclusive, factoring in local costs and exchange rates. Sometimes it's only a little more and you can make big savings overall – for example, we found a week's self-catering break in the Canary Islands for a family of four for £430pp, while a similar hotel on an all-inclusive basis was only £34pp more.

The last two weeks of summer are cheaper

Take a holiday when others can't, such as travelling before the school holidays in May and June to family destinations such as Florida, and you'll get a better price.

If that's not an option, prices for package holidays drop rapidly towards the end of August – this is likely to be because most people want to go as soon as they can, according to ABTA (the Association of British Travel Agents). And many people don't want to be away the week before schools go back, so if you can leave it to the very last minute you'll likely save.

Look for out-of-favour destinations

Heading to once-in-vogue holiday hotspots that are no longer so popular can be a holiday MoneySaver. If demand's off the boil, massive hotels can lie virtually empty.

Right now for example, political instability means holidays to Turkey can be cheap, and holiday comparison site Travelsupermarket says "in Turkey's coastal resorts along the Med, it is business as usual with tourism continuing on as it always has". Always check the latest Foreign Office guidance before booking though.

The same applies to destinations off the beaten track that aren't popular with the masses yet, though capacity at these may be more limited. Opting for Bulgaria rather than Greece, for example, can help save, while Sri Lanka used to be a cheap option for tropical package holidays (though it's now becoming more popular).

If you don't fancy a package, city breaks tend to cost less in summer, as cities are less obvious destinations.

Package holidays can be cheaper than flights if you're heading to a popular resort

If you're going away specifically for seven, 10 or 14 days to a traditional holiday destination, package holidays are often best. They can sometimes be much cheaper than booking a scheduled flight... even if you DON'T want to use the hotel.

Eg, we found flights for a 10-day trip to Florida for £564 per person – a package holiday for the same dates was just £486 per person. It won't always work, but it's worth a try.

A holiday is usually two weeks at most – don't spend all year paying for it

We all deserve a holiday now and then but do remember it's only two weeks a year for most – a holiday you spend the rest of the year worrying how to pay for isn't relaxing, nor helpful for long-term finances.

Try the free Budget Planner for help and to see if you can afford it (it's worth applying the Money Mantras before you book too).