Revealed! How to save more than £1,500 on your family summer holiday

Family holidays offer the chance to reset and recharge with your kids without the pressures of day-to-day life. And, according to ABTA’s Holiday Habits 2025-26 report, 65% of UK travellers say that holidays are the most important time of year, with this rising to 81% of UK travellers with children under the age of five.

But, we know that the price of family holidays and all of the extras involved can soon add up. To help you keep your costs down if you’re booking your family’s summer adventure in advance, we reveal how savvy parents can cut their overall bill by more than £1,500.

Compare family holidays to save £594

Whether you head to the same family-friendly resort every year or fancy trying somewhere new in 2026, one of the best ways to save big on family holidays is to compare your options side-by-side from a number of travel companies.

To find out what families could save by shopping around, we used TravelSupermarket’s holiday comparison tool, searching for 14-night family holidays at the beginning of the summer break.

On the day that we looked, we found savings of £548 on a family holiday to Majorca by booking a great value package from Jet2holidays, including a free child place. The package we found included flights from London Stansted on 25 July, returning on 8 August, with a 10kg hand luggage allowance and 22kg hold allowance per passenger, a 14-night stay at Zafiro Cala Mesquida in a one-bedroom park suite on a self-catering basis and coach transfers. The package price came to £4,434 for two adults and two children aged seven and nine. When we totted up all of the different elements booking separately, the price came to £4,982.

And, when we looked at the same package from another travel company, it came to £5,028.

That’s a healthy saving of more than £500 for 10 minutes of research.

Top tip: To save even more on family holidays, read our post on 7 family holiday rip-offs and how to avoid them.

Pre-book your hire car to save £279.56

When you’re travelling with kids and all of their kit, you’re likely to be fussier when it comes to the make and model of car you hire on holiday. And, especially in peak holiday periods, demand can outstrip supply pushing hire costs up and leaving many car types unavailable.

So, avoid a last-minute car hire headache by booking your wheels well in advance. We used TravelSupermarket’s car hire comparison tool to look for cars from Palma Airport on 25 July for two weeks. On the day that we looked, you could hire a SEAT Leon for £386.96 for 14 days.

We compared this to Hertz’s pay at location price, which was £666.52 for the same car on the same dates.

That’s a saving of £279.56 for shopping around and being organised.

Top tip: To save even more on car hire, read our post on the 7 car hire rip offs to avoid.

Shop around for family travel insurance to save £139.75

It can be tempting to leave buying your travel insurance until just before you travel but we advise taking out a travel insurance policy including cancellation cover as soon as you’ve booked a break. Why? If events out of your control cause you to cancel your holiday – such as redundancy or illness – you’ll be able to claim for the cost of your holiday.

The cheapest travel insurance deal isn’t always the best for you, though – always pay attention to the fine print to make sure you have the levels of cover that you need, from cancellation covering the price of your trip to medical expenses cover.

Once you know the levels of cover you need, shop around to find the best deal for you. We used TravelSupermarket’s travel insurance comparison tool and found single-trip family travel insurance deals from £64.71 including £10 million for medical costs and £5,000 for cancellation.

In comparison, an economy single trip family travel insurance policy with the Post Office cost £138.81 including £5 million medical cover but only £1,000 for cancellation. To take cancellation cover up to £5,000 cost £204.46 with the Post Office.

That’s a £139.75 saving to feel smug about, along with peace of mind that you’re protected should anything go wrong.

Top tip: If you’re planning on taking more than one family holiday this year, it might be worth buying an annual policy rather than a single-trip policy. Find out why here.

Secure your airport parking spot to save £500.01

It’s often easier to drive to the airport with kids in tow than to tackle public transport or pay for a taxi. But drive-up airport parking fees can be eye-watering. At Stansted, as an example, it costs £45 per day to drive up and park in its mid-stay car park – that’s a whopping £630 for 14 days’ parking. And spaces are limited.

Instead pre-book your spot to save. We ran a quick search for airport parking options on TravelSupermarket and found deals from £129.99 for the same 14 days. That’s a £500.01 saving for a guaranteed space.

Top tip: Save even more at the airport by reading our post 8 airport rip-offs and how to avoid them.

Please note: All prices were correct at the time of writing (15 December 2025) and are subject to change. Holidays were based on a search for two adults and two children aged seven and nine.