Revealed! The best-value destination for a family beach holiday
Marmaris has been named the best-value destination for a family beach holiday.
The Turkish resort is where family fun costs the least thanks to a 24 per cent slump in the value of the Turkish lira against sterling since last summer.
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A Post Office Travel Money Family Holiday Report found that holidaymakers who want to curb their spending on children's extras would be well advised to consider resorts in the Eastern Med or the Balkans where the price tag can be under half the cost in more expensive destinations in the west of Europe.
Families travelling to Marmaris can expect to receive £96 more in Turkish lira on a £500 foreign exchange transaction at the Post Office.
At £57.37 for ten beach items which include sun cream, insect repellent, ice cream, sun lounger, beach towel, pedalo and banana boat ride, the Turkish resort is one of five in the Eastern Med and the Balkans where fun in the sun has the least impact on the holiday purse.
Other affordable locations are Sunny Beach, Bulgaria (£63.56); Crete, Greece (£69.88); Limassol, Cyprus (£69.90) and Porec, Croatia (£73.75).
The only Western European resort to break that stranglehold is the Costa del Sol (£63.11), the cheapest in the eurozone.
The report also found that pester power by kids set parents back £184 on holiday, which explains why two-thirds of families who set a budget overspend by nearly a quarter. 92 per cent splash out almost £39 on ice creams, up 28 per cent year-on-year, while other budget busters are water park visits (£61), pedalo rides (£31) and beach gear like buckets and spades, swimming goggles and lilos (£53).
While the Eastern Med and the Balkans look good value, families visiting Ibiza (£97.12); Sorrento in Southern Italy (£114.17) and Nice in the South of France (£117.78) can expect pester power to have more of an impact on the wallet.
Meanwhile, when it comes to eating out, Sunny Beach in Bulgaria is by far the cheapest resort, costing £35.735 for a snack lunch and evening meal with drinks as well as a coffee, beer, wine and cola. The same items could cost three or four times as much in other resorts. In Portugal's Algarve the cost is £61.62, in Limassol, Cyprus it is £82.06 and in Marmaris, the cost rises to £83.71 for food and drink.
Families can expect to pay over £100 for the food and drink items in the most expensive resorts surveyed: Majorca (£100.70), Corfu (£116.91), Nice (£138.13), Ibiza (£144.86) and Sorrento (£163.20).
