When To Book What: The Family Travel Year, Sorted

The single biggest thing that saves families money on holidays isn't a discount code or a secret website. It's timing. Knowing roughly when to book each type of trip means you're never the person paying a fortune in a last-minute panic, or missing out because the good stuff already went.

So here's the rough calendar I work to. Not rigid rules, just the rhythm of when things are worth booking, so you can stop guessing.

 Now-ish (late summer / early autumn)

This is prime time to book October half-term and Christmas. Both are fixed, in-demand weeks, and both fill up fast. If either is on your radar, sorting them now means you get the choice rather than the leftovers.

 

It's also quietly a good moment to start thinking about next summer. The very early-release deals for the following July and August come out around now, and for peak weeks with school-age kids, early genuinely tends to win.

 

The Luxury Family Hotel group deserves a specific mention. I have stayed at the Ickworth in Suffolk — a stunning country house hotel set in parkland with genuinely exceptional facilities for families — and I have heard nothing but brilliant things about Calcot Manor in the Cotswolds, which is widely considered one of the best family hotels in the UK. These are not compromise options. They are world-class properties that happen to be in England.

 

 Late Autumn / Winter

January is when the big summer sales land. If you didn't book summer early, this is your other good window — the New Year "let's have something to look forward to" push means lots of deals and full availability.

 

It's also the time to grab February half-term and Easter if you want them, because they creep up faster than you'd think.

 

Spring

This is the sweet spot for late-availability summer bargains if you're flexible, and the last sensible moment to lock in peak-summer if you've left it. If you need specific dates and a specific kind of place, don't leave it past spring — that's when the family-friendly options start disappearing.

 

The bit that matters more than the calendar

A few things are true no matter what month it is:

Fixed school-holiday weeks always reward booking early. Demand is enormous, and supply doesn't move, so the earlier you go, the more choice you have and the less you tend to pay.

 

Flexibility is the other lever. If you can travel slightly off-peak, or you're not tied to one exact resort, you can play the late deals. If you need an exact week and an exact type of place, you're in the "book early" camp whether you like it or not.

 

And the boring one that saves the most grief: keep a rough eye on passport expiry dates for the whole family, all year round. It's got nothing to do with deals, but it's the thing that quietly derails more trips than price ever does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Honest Conclusion

You don't need to be glued to travel sites all year. You just need a rough sense of when each thing is worth booking, so you're moving at the right moment instead of reacting at the worst one.

 

Book the fixed weeks early. Watch January for summer. Stay flexible if you want the bargains. And check the passports. Do that, and you've done most of the job.

 

Want help working out the right time to book your specific trip? That's genuinely one of my favourite things — knowing when to move, and when to wait. Come find me, I've usually already worked it out.

 

Get in touch at www.letsgo-travel.co.uk

 

*Jenny Willcock is a luxury family travel specialist and founder of Lets Go Travel. She is taking her three children to Norfolk in July and is cautiously optimistic.