Travel
Family holidays and travel deals
Family holidays sit alongside days out as the biggest planning decisions parents make. This section pulls together the deal round-ups that save families the most money, starting with free child places, plus destination guides for the places UK families actually go.
Free child places
Free child places let one or two children travel and stay for nothing when they share a room with fee-paying adults. Every major UK operator runs some version of the scheme. Availability is limited and moves fast, so we track it by operator.
All free child places
Compare TUI, Jet2, easyJet and First Choice side by side, plus what to look for before you book.
TUI free child places
TUI's Kids Go Free scheme runs across most family hotels. Full guide to how it works and when 2026 dates release.
Jet2 free child places
Jet2holidays offers free child places on selected packages. How to filter for them and what's included.
easyJet free child places
easyJet holidays' free kids offer is quieter than the big two but often better value. Here's the catch.
First Choice free child places
First Choice is TUI-owned and all-inclusive-first. Its free child places sit inside the same booking system.
TUI, our travel partner
TUI is the UK's largest tour operator and our travel partner. Their family holidays cover the destinations UK families book most, from the Balearics and Greece through to Dubai and Thailand.
TUI family holidays
Overview of TUI's family offer: SplashWorld, Holiday Village, BLUE and how their kids' clubs stack up.
TUI holiday deals
Which TUI promotions actually reduce the price, which just shuffle the payment schedule, and when the real reductions land.
TUI BLUE holidays
Where BLUE sits in the TUI stack, and which resorts suit families with older children.
TUI SplashWorld
The waterpark-first family concept: what qualifies, which ages it suits, and where SplashWorld is strongest.
TUI kids' clubs
Chameleons age brackets, hours, and how the offer changes across Holiday Village, SplashWorld and BLUE.
TUI free child places 2026
The single biggest deal in family travel. Full guide to TUI's Kids Go Free scheme.
Destination guides
Where UK families actually go, with real notes on best regions by age, when to travel, flight times and rough costs.
TUI UK breaks
TUI's UK holiday villages and short breaks, and when they beat a self-booked equivalent.
Ibiza family holidays
The quiet north and east coasts: family Ibiza is not the Ibiza of the reputation.
Greece family holidays
Rhodes, Kos, Crete and Corfu compared for different ages.
Dubai family holidays
Direct flights, no jet lag, and the highest density of waterparks anywhere.
Portugal family holidays
Algarve resorts by shape of family: Vilamoura, Albufeira, Praia da Luz, Tavira.
Spain family holidays
Costas, Balearics and Canaries: five different Spains for five different weeks.
Thailand family holidays
Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi and Khao Lak for a first long-haul family trip.
UK short breaks
Weekend and midweek breaks in the UK: what works with children, where to base, and how to spot the deal without refreshing search pages for a fortnight.
Short breaks hub
Every family short-break shape covered, with rough costs and when to book.
UK breaks with kids
What actually works with children by age, and where the sweet spot is.
UK city breaks
The five UK cities that consistently work with kids.
Hot tub breaks
Lodges and cabins with private tubs, region by region.
Cheap and last-minute
Two and three-night stays under £100 a night.
Scotland short breaks
Lochs, Cairngorms and Fife for a first Scottish weekend.
Christmas breaks
Christmas-week family formats, and when the prices lock.
TUI short breaks
TUI's short-break packages by air, and where they beat a UK equivalent.
Seasonal
Why we cover travel
Family holidays are one of the largest household spends of the year, and the difference between a well-timed booking and a poorly-timed one is often more than a thousand pounds. We cover travel the same way we cover days out: with real guidance about what makes a deal a deal, and what to check before you commit.
The free child places cluster is the most useful place to start. It's the only mechanism that can knock four figures off a two-week package for a family of four, and it doesn't need a promo code, a membership, or any special access. It just needs you to know when and where operators release their allocations.