This country is the best value destination for family holidays

Sunny Beach in Bulgaria has overtaken Marmaris, Turkey, as the most affordable destination for a family holiday, according to new research.

A study compared the cost of 10 essential items, including meals, drinks, and sunscreen, and found Sunny Beach offered the best value for British tourists in 2024.

At just over £110 for all 10 items, Bulgaria’s most popular Black Sea resort beat 15 other top family holiday destinations including the Algarve, Ibiza and Lanzarote to be crowned as the place where tourists will get the most value for money in the Post Office Travel Money Family Holiday report.

It edged in front of Mamaris, the winner of last year’s best value holiday hotspot, by £7. The study found that inflation in Turkey had pushed the cost of the 10 items up by 17.6 per cent in the past year, which caused Mamaris to lose the position it held in 2023.

While there was a 9.8 per cent rise in prices in Sunny Beach over the same time period, the report found that there were many savings to be enjoyed compared to Turkey. For example, a bottle of beer in Sunny Beach is £1.50 cheaper than in Mamaris, a bottle of suncream is £4.23 cheaper, and a three-course family meal with wine and soft drinks is also £4.23 better value.

If a family eats out for seven nights, that’s a saving of £29.61 over the course of a holiday.

Both destinations offer a host of child-friendly activities alongside beautiful beaches. Sunny Beach boasts a long, sandy coastline perfect for building sandcastles and splashing in the waves.

Anyone thinking of heading to Ibiza should be prepared to spend significantly more with the average cost of the 10 items double that of those in Sunny Beach. At £229 for the same 10 items, the report found that the Balaeriac island was the most expensive destination of all of the 16 countries studied.

The positions of the resorts in the table were closely connected to inflation, with the report finding that prices had risen in three-quarters of the holiday destinations. Five out of the 16 places saw rises of more than 10 per cent, with Mamaris, Ibiza, Cofu, Madeira and the Algarve the worse affected.

However, four destinations saw prices fall. Lanzarote, which was 13th most affordable in 2023, is now seventh most affordable with an average basket spend of £155.

Laura Plunkett, Head of Travel Money at the Post Office, said: “Even though sterling is stronger now than last July, price inflation across Europe means that families need to allow for increases in meals, drinks and other tourist costs in their spending budget. Doing some holiday homework before leaving home could help to reduce the chances of busting the budget while abroad.”

For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast