Save: £10s
Many smaller cities and even some of the popular bigger ones such as Paris, Vienna, Venice, Amsterdam and Rome have relatively compact centres. Plan your sightseeing carefully and you can save on all those bus and tube fares.
9. Stand your ground
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Food and drink in a Continental European café is always much cheaper if you stand at, or lean on, the counter, rather than taking a seat at a table. An espresso in Rome, for example, might be €1.50 at the bar but €4 seated.
10. Walk around the corner
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Restaurants and cafés near the big sights invariably charge a tourist premium. A cappuccino in Venice at Caffè Florian in St Mark’s Square costs €15, but you can buy one in a café in the Castello district for €4.
Family holidays
Hattie Garlick
11. Take packed lunches to the airport
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Four soggy sandwiches, two weak coffees and a couple of juice cartons will easily top the £20 mark inside departures. Not a celebratory start to the holiday. So, take a packed lunch instead (swerving the soup course – no liquids allowed).
12. Forgo the swimming pool
Save: £1,000+
A private pool is the ultimate familyholiday accessory – but comes with a hefty price tag. For example, in Sardinia, we found one James Villa property with a pool that would cost a family of four £4,000 for a week in August, and a very similar pool-free option on its books for £2,500. It constitutes a mammoth saving, especially when both are only a short distance from the same sandy beach.