RECREATING your favourite childhood holiday doesn’t mean you have to pay modern, inflated prices.
From £9.50 stays in Great Yarmouth to £15 per night Cotswolds holidays, the Sun Travel team’s favourite childhood escapes remain remarkably cheap today. Bargains span across Europe too, with £16 flight deals and £18 per night South of France stays.
Even famously-pricey trips like Disneyland Paris can be had for a fraction of the cost by opting for off-site hotels instead of forking out thousands on on-site stays.
Here are Sun Travel’s favourite childhood holidays where the prices have barely budged and exactly how to book them right now.
Disneyland Paris
Travel Reporter, Alice Penwill
The first time I ventured into magical Disneyland Paris, I was four years old and it was in the depths of winter, so covered in snow.
But it goes down as one of my favourite holidays, getting to go on the rides and meet my favourite characters (according to my parents anyway as I can’t remember most of it).
But let’s face it, Disneyland Paris isn’t the cheapest spot to go on holiday. However there are ways to keep the cost down.
The first is choosing accommodation wisely. Rather than staying at one of the hotels on the park which are incredible, but also quite pricey, stay outside and take the train in.
Marne-la-Vallée train station is right outside the gates to the park and just a few minutes on foot to the Disney Village, and off-site accommodation often operates shuttle buses to the theme park too.
When planning accommodation, keep in mind that a room with a kitchenette will seriously cut costs too – as you won’t have to fork out for pricey park food.
For instance, StayCity aparthotels have family studios for up to four people from €299 (£259) for two nights – the rooms come with their own kitchen and the hotel has an outdoor pool, plus it’s just a free 8-minute shuttle ride to Disneyland Paris.
This means you can stock up food for breakfast, packed lunch and dinner at the local supermarket.
Or if you want to stick around at the park in the evening, check out some of the lower cost options like Hakuna Matata where you can get an adult meal for €16 (£13.67) and a kids’ plate from €10 (£8.54).
When it comes to booking travel, Eurostar offers children between 4-11 30 per cent off the price of peak travel and a discount of up to 50 per cent on off-peak travel tickets when booking with an adult.
We found a two-night stay at the Grand Magic Hotel Marne La Vallée in a family room for £410 – from there it’s a six-minute drive to Disneyland (there are regular shuttle buses). Click here to book.
Over the same two-night period, a stay at the Disney Hotel New York The Art of Marvel works out to £2,287 or £285.88pppn.
Camping in the Ardeche
Head of Travel, Lisa Minot
As childhood games go, it wasn’t the most exciting. Flip Flop Harbour – as we sisters named it – consisted of attaching string to our flip flops then creating a very impressive stone harbour to sail our ‘boats’ in and out of.
Our ‘harbour’ was actually on the banks of the Ardeche River in the South of France and as children, this was our little piece of paradise.
The river itself sits at the heart of an astonishing landscape of dramatic limestone gorges, dense oak forests and ancient stone villages.
The river winds through the Ardeche Gorges – an 18 mile canyon of pale grey cliffs that lead to its most stunning point, the Pont d’Arc, a 54-metre-high natural stone arch that spans the turquoise river.
We stayed at Camping des Cigales at St Martin D’Ardeche. Facilities weren’t the priority, as long as we had a shower block to wash off the day’s adventures and a small shop to spend our pocket money on ice creams, we were happy.
Walking across the vast suspension bridge from the campsite into St Martin D’Ardeche, you could get right down to the water’s edge at the Grain de Sel beach.
It was the hours spent swimming in the clear, sparkling waters, white river rafting through the rushing waters and simply sunbathing at the water’s edge.
Things haven’t changed much to this day.
You can still enjoy camping at the same site, with just 26 pitches now for tents or campervans with the addition of modern glamping huts and lodges to enjoy as well.
And it doesn’t come at a huge cost. In peak season, a pitch for two adults for the night is just £18. Click here to book.
Great Yarmouth
Assistant Travel Editor, Sophie Swietochowski
If I concentrate hard enough, I can still hear the screams from the rickety rollercoaster and smell the toasted sugar wafting from the candy floss machine on Great Yarmouth’s pier.
My brother, step sister and I would tease ourselves by strolling past the sweet stalls daily, just to get a whiff, despite knowing full well that this was reserved as a last-day-of-holiday treat.
We’d try to savour it, but candy floss is hardly a snack that can be relished – a fizzle on the tongue and then it’s gone.
The memories of Yarmouth’s fun in the late 90s and early 2000s very much remain, though.
We’d have spent that morning on the seafront, putting all our might into building the biggest sand castle on the beach, plunging into the sea every thirty minutes or so with whatever float Mum had bought us from the promenade.
Back then, there were no pink flamingo inflatables, it was rubber rings only for us – although we did (successfully) campaign for the smiley-faced orca one year.
Another year, I saved up all my pocket money to splurge on a personalised hairbrush I’d seen at the market. The wooden frame had been embellished with sequins and a large glitter-shaped ‘S’ – it became the envy of my classmates on my return to school.
Rainy days were no bother. These were spent at the penny slot machines in the arcade, followed by vinegar-doused chips and a show at the pier – special mention to the 2003 Chuckle Brothers performance.
We would stay in a caravan each year, but I couldn’t tell you where. Back then I didn’t care, I was too focused on whether I’d win at the claw machine (I never did).
But if you want to book an affordable getaway to Yarmouth, you can stay at Parkdean Resorts’ Vauxhall Holiday Park with The Sun’s Hols from £9.50.
The holiday park recently received a multi-million pound makeover with a new sports bar, fairground golf, Bear Grylls-themed escape rooms, upgraded soft play and more. Click here to book.
Alcudia, Majorca
Travel Reporter, Jenna Stevens
You know that annual family holiday abroad – the spot you return to year after year – to that very same hotel that you love?
For me and my family, that was a trip to TUI’S Hotel BQ Delfin Azul in Alcudia.
I loved holidaying there as a kid. Getting up on stage and making friends at the kids mini disco, playing mermaids in the pool, singing ‘Choco Choco Chocolate’ to my heart’s content.
My sisters and I would get our hair braided, and I’d soon be begging my parents for a souvenir to remember our holiday. My eyes lit up for spotty flamenco dresses and castanets, or anything with ‘I love Majorca‘ or a dolphin plastered over it.
My granddad, on the other hand, loved loading up on desserts at the all-inclusive buffet, and relaxing on a lounger with a newspaper in peace and quiet until we came back. He still visits year after year, and very much looks forward to that buffet spread!
When it comes to Spanish resorts, Alcudia is a near-perfect pick for families of all ages.
Exploring the Old Town and Roman Ruins of Pollentia keeps parents and history buffs happy, whilst Hidropark Alcudia has waterslides and trampolines adored by kids. This hotel is only a 12-minute walk from the waterpark.
It’s also remained a super affordable part of Majorca to visit, with a meal from the menu del dia at restaurants along the Bellevue Strip costing only around €10 (£8.70).
In fact, you can stay seven nights at this exact hotel with TUI from £457pp, which includes your return flights. For a week away under £500pp, that’s an absolute bargain. Click here to book.
Cotswolds Caravan Holiday
Head of Travel, Lisa Minot
It was the summer of 1976 – the last great heatwave. The unique, baking hot conditions saw an invasion of ladybirds.
And in an idyllic little bit of the Cotswolds I can vividly remember clutching an old Quality Street sweet tin, filled to the brim with the bright red bugs we’d collected on our adventures.
As a family, we’d spend many weekends in our caravan at a working farm at Grafton, a tiny historic hamlet between Clanfield and Bampton in Oxfordshire.
The farmers, Mr and Mrs Wooliams, ran a Classified Location (CL) for caravans called Grafton Hive – essentially a field that would host no more than five caravans.
The facilities were minimal – somewhere to fill up our water carrier and empty our waste. But for us as youngsters from London’s suburbia, this was pure heaven.
We had the freedom to explore the farm, riding our bikes across fields and exploring tiny streams and ancient woodland.
Mum would rustle up eggs and bacon in the caravan in the morning. Lunch or dinner was chicken in a basket at the local pub.
While Grafton Hive no longer runs as a CL there is still an alternative very close at Friars Court Island.
Part of the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s CL offering, this unique little site sits on a three-acre island with the river Thames to the south and a backwater to the north.
Sitting right on the river front, the field allows up to five caravans and you can even launch dinghies and paddle boards from the riverbank as well as fish.
Prices start from just £15 per night for a caravan and all occupants. Click here to book.
Lake District – Lake Windermere
Travel Reporter, Alice Penwill
Staycations might be on the rise again, but when I was a kid it made up the majority of my summer holidays.
Trips to the often wet and wild Lake District in the summer holidays are ones I’ll always remember.
From feeding the birds at Lake Windemere to sitting at the bottom of a hill eating sandwiches in the car because it was too rainy to outside or on the other extreme, hiking up hills in the scorching sun.
If we were feeling flush, there was also a chance to get out onto the water at Lake Windermere on one of its boat cruises or water sports activities.
Or for those who are fans of Peter Rabbit, it’s close to the World of Beatrix Potter too.
One of the best ways to keep things cheap is a long walk to see the views from Orrest Head – make sure to take a picnic to keep everyone happy.
In my opinion, no trip to the Lake District is complete without a cosy cabin because let’s face it, the weather can be very up and down.
The Rowan Lodge in Cumbria is perfect for a family of four, it’s a great place to be amongst nature and it’s near both Ambleside and Windermere.
A four-night break in October starts from £383, working out to £24 per person per night. Click here to book.
Carcasonne
Deputy Travel Editor, Kara Godfrey
Like many families growing up in the 90s, my rare holiday abroad was only ever to France every few years.
One that we still talk about to this day was our trip to Carcassonne, complete with all the troubles you’d expect of a multi-generational trip.
There was the car sickness from me and my sister (that my dad always forgot about before piling us into a 13-hour car journey), there was the lack of electrics in our villa after we arrived, and of course all of us being bitten to shreds by mosquitoes.
But despite all that, it was still one of those great holidays where we spent the days eating baguettes and exotic snacks from the local store, or playing volleyball in the pool followed by a game of cards.
While I can’t remember the exact villa we stayed at – I was barely a teenager after all – it remains a great affordable option for larger families wanting some R&R.
You can get private homes with a swimming pool for as little as £948 in September for an entire week – that works out to £33 each a night. Click here to book.
Or you can splash out and stay in some beautiful private houses on the grounds of medieval castles or glamorous apartments, if you’re happy dropping a few thousand.
(Just maybe skip the car journey if you have car-sick kids – while not an option in the 90s, Ryanair have gloriously cheap £16 flights to Carcassonne Airport from the UK).