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Average Cost of a Holiday Abroad 2026
Whether we’re tired of braving the summer weather in Wales or just like to collect stamps in our passports (not that they do that anymore, but...), Brits like to travel abroad. When planning your next holiday, it can help to know the average cost of a holiday abroad. How much do other people spend on airfare, hotels, food & drinks and entertainment? We delve into the details to help you budget for your next holiday.
Table of Contents
- How much does a holiday cost, per person?
- How many nights away can you afford? See these calculations.
- FAQs
Average Cost of a Holiday per Person
According to NimbleFins analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics, the average per-person cost of a 9-night holiday abroad is now £1,389 for 2026. Of this, our team calculates an average of £280 is spent on airfare and another £123 per night (or £1,109 total over 9 nights) is spent abroad on accommodation, food, drink and entertainment.
Historical data from the ONS Family Spending report indicated that holidaymakers spent around equal amounts on accommodation as they did on food, drink and entertainment—although in recent years this ratio has fluctuated. If the split is still 50/50, that would mean spend of around £60 per night on accommodation and £60 per night on food, drink and entertainment.
We arrived at these figures after analysing data from two Office of National Statistics publications: Travel Trends 2024 and Family Spending 2024, then adjusting the cost figures for inflation through December 2025.
| Cost of 9-Night Holiday Abroad in 2025 | Per Night | Total per Person |
|---|---|---|
| Flights | n/a | £280 |
| Accommodation, Food, Drink & Entertainment | £123 | £1,109 |
| Total - 1 Person, 9 Nights | £1,389 |
Cost of a holiday by number of nights away
Not everyone is lucky enough to go away for 9 nights. What is the average cost of shorter holidays... or longer? Below, we've calculated the average cost based on the figures above for holidays of varying lengths—both without and with airfare expenses.
For example, a 5-night trip abroad costs around £896 all-in, on average (including airfare). While a two-week holiday would cost just over £2,000 on average. Of course, people book holidays that are cheaper than this—or a heck of a lot more expensive!
| Average cost of a holiday abroad, by number of nights | Accommodation, food, entertainment | Total cost, including airfare |
|---|---|---|
| 5 nights | £616 | £896 |
| 7 nights | £863 | £1,142 |
| 9 nights | £1,109 | £1,389 |
| 11 nights | £1,356 | £1,635 |
| 14 nights | £1,725 | £2,005 |
Average Cost of a Holiday for a Family of Four
The cost of a holiday for a family of four is not usually 4X as expensive as a holiday for one—NimbleFins calculates that the average holiday cost for a family of four is around £3,891.
While you do need to buy 4 airplane tickets (unless you have a baby that sits on your lap), kids are typically cheaper to feed, they don’t drink alcohol and efficiencies can be found in accommodation expenses, such as booking a family room with multiple beds. Kids do raise the cost of the holiday over that of a solo traveller, obviously, but a family of 4 should not be paying 4X that of a solo person.
So what's a ballpark figure for the cost of a family holiday? Let's make some back-of-the-envelope calculations. First, assume that a family of 4 still has to buy 4 plane tickets—that would cost around £1,118 in total, on average. Then if we say that a family of 4 actually pays 2.5X as much as one person for accommodation, food, drinks and entertainment, then the cost of these for 9 nights would tally to £2,773, bringing the total holiday cost to £3,891.
Adding together the flights and the other expenses bring the average holiday cost for a family of four to £3,891. This is a rough figure, but you get the idea and can make your own adjustments as needed.
| for 9 nights | Per person cost | Multiplier | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airfare | £280 | 4 | £1,118 |
| Accommodation, Food, Drink & Entertainment | £1,109 | 2.5 | £2,773 |
| Total | £3,891 |
Average cost of a holiday abroad, per night
In early 2025, NimbleFins estimates the average spend per night once abroad to be £123 for accommodation, food, drink and entertainment (excluding airfare). Or £152 per night for an inclusive tour (which includes airfare and accommodation, and possibly food, drinks and entertainment).
The figures are an estimate for 2026 and reflect 2024 Travel Trends figures from the ONS adjusted upwards by inflation through the end of 2025, to give the best estimate possible for early 2026.
How many nights can you afford to go away? The more, the better, of course! Let's run some calculations to help get a handle on how far your holiday budget can go.
How many nights away can you afford?
Some simple calculations can predict how far your budget will go—meaning, how many nights away you can afford. For these calculations, we assume average per-night spend of £123 for food, drink, entertainment and accommodation, plus £280 for airfare.
If you were to spend these average amounts, then a £1,000 budget would cover 6 nights away, for example. A £1,500 budget could see you through a solid 10 mights.
| How many nights away your holiday budget can buy | |
|---|---|
| £500 budget | 1.8 nights |
| £1,000 budget | 5.8 nights |
| £1,500 budget | 9.9 nights |
| £2,000 budget | 14 nights |
| £2,500 budget | 18 nights |
Please use these figures as inspiration for how to look at your holiday budget and adjust according to your own needs. And keep in mind you might incur additional expenses like airport/visa fees, transport, travel insurance, etc.
How much can you afford to spend per night on a holiday?
Average per-night and airfare prices vary a lot from one trip to the next. So another interesting way to think about your holiday budget is to consider how much you can afford to spend per night, given your overall budget and the number of nights you want to be away.
This is a fun exercise because knowing your per-night budget will help guide you towards countries that might best suit your wallet.
Use the table below to see roughly what you can afford per night; the calculations show nightly holiday spend for accommodation, food, drinks and entertainment (but not airfare!) for different total budgets and nights away.
Note, this section does NOT include airfare! (You'll see why in the next section, where we compare per-night holiday costs by country.)
For example, a holiday budget of £1,000 for accommodation, food, drink and entertainment (not airfare) for 7 nights away equals spending of £143 per night.
| How much can you afford per night (pn) for your holiday? | £500 total | £1,000 total | £2,000 total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days | £167 pn | £333 pn | £667 pn |
| 5 days | £100 pn | £200 pn | £400 pn |
| 7 days | £71 pn | £143 pn | £286 pn |
| 9 days | £56 pn | £111 pn | £222 pn |
Now that you know your per-night budget for accommodation, food, drink and entertainment, where can you head for £143 per night? Or £111? It will depend partly on if you have extra cash set aside to pay for the flight or if you need to include flights in this as an all-inclusive tour. Not surprisingly, these holiday costs vary significantly by destination country.
Cheapest holiday destinations
NimbleFins analysed data from the ONS and found these are the cheapest holiday destinations.
Romania tops the charts for cheapest per-night costs (£44 per night or, £58 per night for all inclusive). Next cheapest (on an all-inclusive basis) are Tunisia, Brasil, Lithuania and India (all under £90 per night, inclusive).
These countries might be most cost effective for those who want to maximize their time away for a given budget. But these are not the most popular—more on cheap AND popular destinations below!
| Cheap holiday destinations (cost per night) | Holiday (without airfare) | Inclusive Tour (includes airfare) |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | £44 | £58 |
| Tunisia | £70 | £69 |
| Brazil | £94 | £79 |
| Lithuania | £80 | £79 |
| India | £58 | £89 |
| Other China (not Hong Kong) | £69 | £96 |
| Pakistan | £58 | £99 |
| Morocco | £96 | £101 |
| Turkey | £95 | £105 |
| Poland | £77 | £111 |
| Slovakia | £98 | £111 |
| Sri Lanka | £91 | £116 |
| Canada | £116 | £121 |
| Bulgaria | £93 | £121 |
| Spain | £99 | £122 |
Note, the per-country figures were not rounded up by inflation since 2024, because inflation figures vary from one place to the next.
Most expensive countries to visit
Including flights, the most expensive countries to visit for a holiday are Luxembourg, Japan (and some other places in Asia), Switzerland, Sweden and South/Central America—plus Barbados, UAE, Austria and Italy. Per night costs in these countries range from £109 (Sweden) up to £196 (Barbados and UAE) for accommodation, food, drinks and entertainment.
Including flights, the most expensive inclusive holidays are to Luxembourg (~£333 per night all in) and Japan (~£272 per night all in).
| Most expensive holiday destinations (cost per night) | Holiday (without airfare) | Inclusive Tour (includes airfare) |
|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | £119 | £333 |
| Japan | £126 | £272 |
| Rest of the World | £244 | £244 |
| Other Asia | £139 | £224 |
| Switzerland | £149 | £222 |
| Sweden | £109 | £221 |
| South and Central America | £84 | £219 |
| Barbados | £196 | £217 |
| United Arab Emirates | £196 | £216 |
| Other Caribbean | £187 | £215 |
| Austria | £155 | £204 |
| Italy | £138 | £203 |
Top 15 most popular holiday destinations
The most popular destinations for UK residents to travel to are Spain, France, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Nearly 15 million holidays were taken to Spin in 2024 (more than the next three most popular countries, combined!).
There are almost as many visits to the 15 most popular holiday destinations (45.2 million) as there are people in the UK (69.3 million).
| Top 15 most popular holiday destinations | Number of holidays taken |
|---|---|
| Spain | 14,990,000 |
| France | 6,281,000 |
| Greece | 3,312,000 |
| Turkey | 3,196,000 |
| Italy | 3,108,000 |
| Portugal | 2,763,000 |
| North America | 2,196,000 |
| United States | 2,011,000 |
| Netherlands | 1,500,000 |
| Germany | 1,123,000 |
| Morocco | 1,094,000 |
| Republic of Ireland | 1,082,000 |
| Cyprus | 1,052,000 |
| Belgium | 737,000 |
| United Arab Emirates | 717,000 |
Cost to visit the 15 most popular holiday destinations
Of the 15 most popular holiday destinations from the UK (see the previous table), the cheapest to visit are Turkey and Morocco, while the most expensive to visit are the UAE and USA.
Visitors to the most popular destination, Spain, spent an average of £99 per night for accommodation, food, drink and entertainment; holidays to Turkey set visitors back slightly less, at £95 per night.
At the other end of the spectrum, the UAE and USA cost visitors around £196 and £159 per night for accommodation, food, drink and entertainment, respectively.
| Daily cost of 15 most popular holiday destinations (excl airfare) | |
|---|---|
| Spain | £99 |
| France | £124 |
| Greece | £125 |
| Turkey | £95 |
| Italy | £138 |
| Portugal | £107 |
| North America | £153 |
| United States | £159 |
| Netherlands | £141 |
| Germany | £130 |
| Morocco | £96 |
| Republic of Ireland | £119 |
| Cyprus | £103 |
| Belgium | £149 |
| United Arab Emirates | £196 |
This doesn’t include flights.
Are package holidays cheaper?
It seems to vary by country, among other factors.
A check of the data above shows that the average per-day cost to holiday in Brazil, Lithuania and Tunisia could be cheaper for those on inclusive tours compared to other types of holidays—despite air or train travel to/from the destination being included in inclusive tours.
FAQs
How we calculated the average cost of an international flight
The Family Spending Report says there was £14.9 billion spent on international airfares by UK households in the financial year ending 2024. Travel Trends says there were 55,441,000 air trips abroad that were to visit friends or relatives or go on holiday (excluding inclusive tours) that same year.
Dividing £14.9 billion spent on airfare by 55,441,000 air trips equals a cost of £268 per trip for the year ending March 2024. Applying inflation figures through December 2025 (the latest available in February 2026) to this increases the cost by around 4.2%, for an estimated cost of £280 per air trip abroad heading into 2026.
Protecting Your Holiday
Top tip for travellers: Buy travel insurance as soon as you book your trip. If you wait, you could miss out on cancellation cover which is one of the biggest reasons people claim on their policies. Some travel insurance companies have policies starting from under £10, and the average cost of travel insurance starts from £5 to £20 for a single trip depending on your destination. Travel insurance can save you hundreds, thousands or even more should you need to claim.
Those heading on a cruise can read our article on cheap cruise insurance companies.
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