What is the average cost of a UK family holiday in 2025?

John Hillman

John Hillman

The family holiday is the highlight of the year for millions of people across the UK. It's also one of the most expensive annual household purchases we make. With that in mind, here's a breakdown of what we cover on this page about the current cost of a family holiday in 2025.

Margate Old Town and beach, Kent
Margate Old Town and beach, Kent © Petert2 - Adobe Stock Image

Average cost of a UK family holiday in 2025

So, what is the "average" cost of a UK family holiday?

  • A typical one-week holiday abroad for a family of four in 2024/2025 costs in the order of £3,000 to £4,000 in total, encompassing flights, accommodation, food and activities; possibly more if taken in peak season or to an expensive destination; many UK families budget about £4,000 for their main holiday.
  • A typical domestic short break (three to four nights) might cost around £1,000 for the same family, while a full week in the UK could be £1,500 to £2,500, depending on activities. On a per-person basis, the spend is roughly £250 to £300 per trip at home versus £800+ per trip abroad.

It's important to note these are averages; individual family circumstances vary widely. Yet, the data from 2024/2025 paints a clear picture: family holidays are a substantial expenditure, often the biggest discretionary spend of the year, and they are getting more expensive.

Whether it's a £2,000 camping trip in Wales or a £5,000 villa in the Canary Islands, the treasured time together is what families are ultimately investing in.

And by all accounts, Britain's families remain committed to their holidays, making the most of their income and time off to create memories despite the rising costs.

Back to top

Annual holiday spending & travel habits of UK families

Even amid economic challenges, UK families allocate a significant budget for holidays each year. Several recent surveys paint a data-rich picture of annual holiday spending:

  • Overall annual budget - a 2024 survey by Legal & General found that families budgeted about £2,005 on average for holidays in 2024, up from roughly £1,944 in 2023. This suggests many families plan for one modest trip (or a couple of short trips) within a few thousand pounds in total.
  • Higher-spending families - by contrast, a Mumsnet survey of 500 parents in late 2024 revealed a higher intended spend among active holidaymakers. On average, those families planned to spend £6,800 on 2025 holidays, with £4,025 dedicated to their main family holiday alone. This indicates that a substantial segment of families, likely those taking bigger or multiple trips, budget in the mid-to-high four figures annually for travel.
  • Planned trips per year - many families will take more than one holiday in 2025; research conducted by easyJet in early 2025 found people planning to take three holidays in 2025 on average, including a primary trip with a £3,000 budget. Similarly, ABTA's Holiday Habits 2024/25 report showed 84% of Britons took a holiday in the past year, with an average of 3.9 trips per person. Notably, families with young children were among the most frequent travellers, averaging 6.5 trips/year in 2024; many of those were likely short domestic breaks.

In other words, the "average" family holiday spending can range widely. A cautious or single-trip family might spend ~£2,000 total in a year, whereas an avid holidaymaking family might spend £5,000 to £7,000 across multiple trips.

For context, holidays consistently rank as a top discretionary expense for UK households and one that many are reluctant to cut, even during this time of economic strain.

In a 2024 study, only 32% of people said they would reduce holiday spending to save money, fewer than those willing to cut back on eating out or gadgets.

Families clearly continue to prioritise holidays as "essential rather than discretionary" for wellbeing and family time.

"There's no doubt the cost of a family holiday has gone up, but the desire to travel hasn't gone down. What we're seeing is families being much more intentional with their choices, whether that's budgeting for one big overseas trip, or opting for two or three shorter UK breaks spread across the year.

"The average holiday might cost more now, but people are adapting. They're comparing destinations more carefully, booking earlier and looking for the best value, especially around school holidays."

Colin Carter, Director, Weather2Travel.com.

Back to top

Defining the "average" UK family (2024/2025)

Before we go any further, it's important to outline what the average UK family looks like in 2025. In broad terms, an average family can be characterised by:

  • Household income - around £34,500 median disposable income per year (after taxes and benefits). This figure fell slightly in real terms due to recent inflation and tax changes.
  • Family size - typically two parents with one or two children. In fact, 45% of families with dependent kids have one child, 41% have two and only 14% have three or more. The prototypical family unit is often considered "two adults + two children," although one-child families are slightly more common.
  • Family structure - about 84% of families with children are headed by a married or cohabiting couple, while 16% are single-parent families; approximately one in four families with dependent children are single-parent households across the UK.
  • Work & leave - most working adults have 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave by law (28 days, including bank holidays). In practice, many get a bit more: the average UK employee took ~33.9 days off (including public holidays) in the past year. This provides time for family holidays, often divided into one main summer holiday and a couple of shorter breaks.

These baseline factors (income, family size and available holiday time) set the stage for how families budget and plan their breaks.

A middle-income couple with kids and 34 days of leave collectively will budget differently from, say, those with dual incomes, no kids (aka DINKs) or retirees. With the current cost-of-living pressures, family budgets are tight, but as we'll see, holidays remain a high priority.

Back to top

Average spend: domestic vs international

Another way to look at family holiday costs is on a per-trip basis. How much do families spend on an average holiday, and how does that differ for trips abroad versus holidays at home in the UK? Official tourism statistics and surveys provide some insights.

International holidays

  • UK residents spent a mean of about £823 per overseas visit in 2022, which rose to roughly £839 in 2023 (this is per person, including all trip expenses).
  • The 2023 figure is 25% higher than in 2019, reflecting inflation and pent-up "revenge travel" spending post-pandemic.
  • For a typical family of four, that suggests around £3,300 total spend per foreign holiday in 2023.
  • Many package holidays and family trips will, of course, cluster around that average; some do it for less with savvy budgeting, while long-haul or luxury trips can cost significantly more.
  • One financial analysis site estimates "the typical family holiday abroad" costs about £3,600 in total.
  • For a two-week family holiday, the cost can easily approach £4,000 to £5,000 or more, depending on the destination; for example, one estimate put a 14-night family-of-four holiday at ~£4,792, excluding daily spending money.

Domestic (UK) holidays

  • Domestic trips (staycations) are usually shorter and cheaper overall, but it's interesting to note they aren't cheap on a per-night basis. In 2019, Britons spent around £240 per person on an average UK overnight holiday (spanning ~3.3 nights).
  • By 2023, the average spend per domestic trip was £266 per person for ~2.9 nights.
  • For a family of four, that average trip would total roughly £1,000.
  • Many UK family getaways are long weekend breaks or single-week trips, with total costs often in the low-to-mid thousands.
  • A week at a popular British seaside resort, for instance, might run on the order of £1,500 to £2,500 all-in for a family (still generally less than a comparable trip to say, Spain, mainly because there are no airfare costs).

To compare these figures side by side, consider how the typical domestic and overseas holidays stack up:

Average family holiday: domestic vs international

Metric (per trip) Domestic (UK) holiday International holiday
Average duration 3 nights 9-10 nights
Average spend per person £266 £839
Implied spend for family of four £1,000 (short break) £3,300 (typical trip)
Spend per person per night £90 £81

Domestic spend/night is derived from £266 over ~2.9 nights; actual costs vary by trip.

As the table suggests, an international holiday usually costs a family several times more in total than a domestic one, primarily because foreign trips are much longer on average and involve pricy airfares.

However, on a per-night basis, domestic holidays can be similarly expensive; often £80 to £100 per person per night in expenses, comparable to an overseas trip.

This is partly because UK accommodation, dining and fuel costs have risen; a cottage rental, petrol, meals out and attraction tickets for a long weekend in the UK might cost almost as much per day as being abroad.

The key difference is that families tend to take shorter trips at home and longer trips overseas, keeping the total spend lower for staycations.

Back to top

Cost of an international family holiday

What are the major cost components of a family holiday abroad? Here, we break down the typical expenses for an international trip.

Travel

Flights are often the first big cost for an international trip. UK holidaymakers spent about £9.93 billion on international flights in 2023, which works out to roughly £225 per overseas trip on average; inflation brings it to ~£232 heading into 2025.

For a family of four, that implies around £900 in airfares for a single holiday. Of course, flight costs vary by destination and season; European short-haul flights might total a few hundred pounds for the family, whereas long-haul flights to the US or Asia, for example, can run well over £2,000 for four people.

Accommodation

Accommodation is usually the largest on-the-ground expense. Prices vary hugely: a budget hotel or apartment might be under £100 per night, whereas a resort could be several hundred per night. As a ballpark, many families allocate £100 to £200 per night for accommodation abroad, depending on comfort level.

Over a week this can be ~£700 to £1,400. With a package holiday, flights + accommodation are bundled; a package for a family of four to a mid-range Mediterranean resort can commonly fall in the £2,000 to £3,500 range for one week, which includes these two major components.

According to analysis of ONS data by NimbleFins, UK travellers spend about £120 per person per night on accommodation, food, drink and entertainment when abroad.

If we isolate accommodation from that, it's roughly half of that bundle. So, a typical family might be looking at £600 per person for a nine-night stay in accommodation costs (£2,400 for four), though cheaper options can bring that down.

Food & drink

Eating out on holiday is all part of the fun, but it can catch up with your pocket. In the Post Office's Family Holiday Report 2024, food and drink were identified as the biggest culprits in holiday overspending.

Over 90% of parents surveyed said they spent extra on meals and drinks, averaging about £378 on dining and bar tabs during their last trip.

This was above what they expected to spend. For a one-week holiday abroad, a family of four might easily spend in the mid-hundreds on food: e.g. £50 to £100 per day on restaurants, cafés and groceries; over seven to 10 days, this totals £500 to £1,000. Self-catering accommodation can reduce this cost, while all-inclusive packages fold much of it into the upfront price.

Leisure & activities

The holiday fun, beyond food, also adds to the budget. This includes entertainment, excursions and activities for the kids.

Nearly 88% of parents in the Post Office survey admitted giving in to kids' requests for treats and activities, spending an average £202 on "extras" for the children (like beach toys, ice creams, activity fees) on a trip.

Additionally, families often pay for excursions (boat rides, guided tours), entry tickets (museums, theme parks, water parks), and souvenirs.

These leisure expenditures can vary wildly from relatively little on a simple beach holiday, up to several hundred pounds if you're packing in theme park days or special tours. Many surveys find that families underestimate these incidental costs, which then push the total spend beyond the initial budget.

Summary: average cost per night & trip duration

  • Tying the above together, foreign holidays tend to last about eight to 10 nights on average for UK travellers, with trips to Europe on the shorter side and long-haul trips often two weeks or more.
  • The average cost per person per night abroad works out to roughly £80 to £90 when all expenses are averaged; for example, one source calculates £1,312 per person for a nine-night trip including flights, which is £146 per day.
  • A family of four might spend £584 per day on a typical overseas holiday, which over nine to 10 days comes to the £5,000 to £6,000 range.
  • In practice, many moderate-budget family holidays abroad (e.g. a week in Spain or Greece) come in around £3,000 to £4,000 by limiting the duration or choosing cheaper destinations.
  • On the other hand, more elaborate or longer vacations (e.g. two weeks in Florida or a trip to Disney) can easily exceed £5,000 once all the flights, hotels, park passes and spending money are accounted for.

Key insight: international holidays incur a high fixed cost (flights) and encourage longer stays, which means more days of accommodation and spending. This is why the total bill for a foreign family holiday is, on average, several times higher than for a domestic break. Yet, families often save and splurge on that one big overseas trip because it's seen as a highlight of the year.

Back to top

Cost of a domestic holiday

When UK families holiday within the country (whether a "staycation" near home or a trip to another part of the UK), the cost structure differs in some ways from going abroad:

Accommodation

According to national tourism stats, the average domestic overnight trip involves about £259 to £266 in total spend over three nights; a substantial portion of that is accommodation.

Many families mitigate costs by travelling off-peak (e.g. a UK trip in May or October rather than the August school holidays) or by using loyalty points/vouchers for hotels.

Average cost per night & trip duration

Domestic holidays tend to be shorter breaks. The average in the UK is 2.9 to 3.3 nights per trip. Using the earlier stat, £266 over 2.9 nights implies about £90 per person per night on average.

For a family of four, that's roughly £360 per night combined, which might be, for example, £150 for accommodation + £100 for food + £110 for activities/shopping, as a plausible breakdown.

That per-night cost is on par with overseas holidays, which averaged £81 per person per night in 2023. The bottom line is that a domestic holiday isn't necessarily cheap on a per-day basis; it's just shorter.

A family that chooses a full seven-night holiday in the UK (instead of a short break) could well spend £2,000+ in total, approaching the cost of a budget flight-inclusive trip overseas. So, families weigh these trade-offs: duration, convenience and cost.

Back to top

Domestic vs international holidays

How do domestic and international holidays compare in popularity for UK families? It turns out most families try to do both if they can, but foreign travel holds a special appeal. Below, we've looked at some relevant comparisons and trends.

How many families are travelling?

According to the Post Office's report, in 2024, 68% of families with children planned to head abroad for a holiday. This aligns with ABTA data showing about 52% of the UK population took an overseas holiday in the 12 months to Aug 2023.

So, roughly half of all people (and an even larger share of families that holiday) go abroad at least once a year. The other half either only take a domestic break or don't go away at all.

Number of domestic vs foreign trips

Pre-pandemic, Brits took slightly more domestic holidays (60.45 million in 2019) than foreign holidays (58.67 million in 2019). Unsurprisingly, during the pandemic, staycations saw a boom from 2021 to 2022.

By 2023, foreign travel had rebounded (86.2 million outbound visits) and domestic overnight trips totalled around 117 million across the UK. Many individuals took multiple short UK trips, plus perhaps one bigger overseas trip.

ABTA reports Brits took on average 1.7 holidays abroad and 2.2 UK holidays per person in 2024, showing the dual nature of travel habits.

Families often mirror this pattern: e.g. a week in the sun abroad during summer and a couple of shorter breaks or visits to relatives around the UK at Easter or Christmas.

Cost considerations

Domestic holidays are generally seen as a more affordable alternative, especially during the current cost-of-living crisis. Families concerned about budgets sometimes opt to holiday at home or take one main trip abroad instead of two.

Travel industry data in 2024 noted many families shifting plans to avoid peak prices. For example, travelling in shoulder seasons or choosing destinations closer to home.

Still, despite higher costs, sunshine and overseas experiences draw millions of families abroad. The value perception can be strong: for a total spend that's not hugely more than a UK break, families can get guaranteed warm weather and a change of scenery, which the UK can't always promise.

Destination preferences

For those going abroad, Europe dominates. Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal are consistently top choices thanks to relative affordability and family-friendly resorts.

For those staying domestic, popular choices are coastal resorts (Cornwall, Devon, Blackpool), theme parks and national parks.

The appeal of domestic trips often includes convenience (no passports/airports), lower travel cost and flexibility, whereas the appeal of overseas trips is climate, culture and sometimes better value-for-money in resorts (for example, package holiday costs in Turkey or Bulgaria can be quite low).

According to the Post Office, choosing a destination wisely can stretch a family's budget. A resort in Bulgaria or Turkey offers much cheaper daily costs than one in Western Europe.

Such considerations factor into where families decide to go, balancing total cost versus experience. In short, international holidays remain extremely popular. The majority of holidaymaking families take at least one foreign trip per year, even though they cost more and require more time off.

Domestic holidays are still common, especially for additional short breaks or for those years when finances or logistics don't allow going abroad. Many families mix the two: perhaps a big trip abroad in summer and a UK getaway at Easter or half-term.

Key insight: the data shows a strong commitment to taking holidays in general. UK holidaymakers took record numbers of trips in 2023/2024 and families are a huge part of that trend, demonstrating that despite rising costs, the appetite for holidays is undiminished.

Back to top

2024/2025 trends: rising costs & inflation

It's worth noting how inflation has impacted holiday costs in 2024/2025. Prices for travel have climbed in the past few years and families are having to budget more for the same holidays.

Travel inflation

Travel expenses have outpaced general inflation in some areas. For example, the average overseas trip cost 25% more in 2023 than in 2019. Part of this is due to higher airfares (fuel costs, demand), while part is also higher accommodation and dining costs.

Domestic hospitality prices have also risen (hotel and restaurant inflation in the UK was high in 2022/2023). So, an "average holiday" simply costs more today than a few years ago. Many sources note families increasing their holiday budgets accordingly.

Cost-saving behaviours

Because of these rising costs, families are adapting. Surveys indicate more cost-conscious choices such as booking further ahead to lock in prices, travelling slightly less or for shorter durations, choosing all-inclusive resorts to control on-site spending, or holidaying during off-peak times.

A Mumsnet poll found that 60% of parents cite budget constraints as the top challenge in holiday planning. Families are also prioritising value, looking at the exchange rates and local prices.

The Post Office's Holiday Money Report compares costs of "basket of items" abroad; in 2024, Sunny Beach in Bulgaria was the cheapest resort for common holiday items at just £110 for a set of 10 items, whereas Ibiza was twice as expensive. Such differences can influence destination choice for the cost-savvy family.

Back to top

Sources

Looking for more? Don't miss further research into current travel trends and topics.

John Hillman

John Hillman

Posted on Saturday 31st May 2025

Back to top

Explore holidays in the sun for less

More holidays

Airport parking

More parking

Airport lounges

More lounges

Back to Insights Top ^