Holiday bargains for the school holidays

It's not too late to nail that family getaway without paying a fortune. Here, we round up the best of the deals for the big summer break

So, you've just got over the Whitsun break and it's already time to start planning for the school summer holidays. If you want a bargain, that is. Here are some pocket-pleasing deals to help your euro go further.

UP TO 25 PER CENT OFF ...

Greece

Stay at the boutique Almyra Hotel on the Greek island of Cephalonia with Exclusive Escapes and save up to £100 per person – that's more than 10 per cent off. The hotel has a pool and is within walking distance of the beach, with a shuttle service operating to the harbour of Fiscardo. A week here now costs £750 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights from Heathrow, transfers and seven nights' B&B. Manchester departures are also available. Details: exclusiveescapes.co.uk

Libra Holidays is also offering more than 10 per cent off the adult price of a week at the five-star Atrium Palace Hotel on Rhodes. From £779 per adult, with child prices starting at £589, the deal is based on three sharing a triple, sea-view room, including return flights from Gatwick, for departures on 8 August. Details: libraholidays.co.uk

Save up to 15 per cent on selected departures with Ionian Island Holidays this summer. Villa Arktos on Skopelos, with two bedrooms and private pool, is available to rent for a week from £654 per adult and £588 per child, based on four sharing, departing 17 July. The price includes return flights, transfers, self-catering accommodation, car hire and a welcome hamper. Details: ionianislandholidays.com

Italy

You can save more than 10 per cent on a watery adventure by Italy's Lake Garda this summer with Thomson Lakes, departing 25 July. A family of three (including a child aged between two and 11) can share a triple room for £1,855 at the four-star Parc Hotel Paradiso at Peschiera. The deal includes return flights from Gatwick to Verona, transfers, seven nights' half-board, one free entrance per person to a nearby theme park, and facilities including swimming pools, kids' play areas and sports activities. Details: thomsonlakes.co.uk

A 20 per cent discount is available this summer on 14-night holidays at three recently restored cottages on an Italian wine estate with the Invitation to Tuscany company. The holiday complex, just outside Siena and in easy reach of Florence, is set around a courtyard with shared use of an outdoor swimming pool and extensive grounds. The cottages sleep four, five or six people and cost from £2,354 for the fortnight. Details: invitationtotuscany.com

France

Canvas Holidays is offering savings of up to £150 in August on family holidays, a 12 per cent saving. For example, 14 nights at Camping Ty-Nadan in Arzano, Brittany, costs from £1,051 for two adults and up to three children sharing. The deal includes accommodation in a fully-equipped maxi tent and return ferry crossings between Dover and Calais. Details: canvasholidays.co.uk

Wake Up in France has discounts up to 25 per cent on some properties in the Vendée in the school holidays. Villa Topaz, a three-bed villa that sleeps seven, with a private pool, now costs €1,706 (£1,486) for a week in August. Details: wakeupinfrance.co.uk.

Austria

Head for the Alps this summer and you could get a 20 per cent saving on half-board accommodation at the Hoteldorf Grüner Baum in Bad Gastein. The hotel – which has a kids' club and access to lots of outdoor activities in the area – is offering free places for children up to 12 years old who share their parents' room. The price is £1,645 for two adults and a child for a seven-night stay. Details: http://tinyurl.com/kidsgofree

UP TO 50 PER CENT OFF ...

Portugal

Kids in the Med is offering savings of £2,265 per family of four – more than 30 per cent – on seven nights' self-catering at the Sheraton Algarve. Stay between 25 July and 21 August and you'll get a deal of £4,416 for two adults and two children under 12 years of age sharing a two-bedroom Pine Cliffs Residence, including return flights from Gatwick and transfers. Details: kidsinthemed.com

Italy

Quality Villas, which offers luxury private properties with pools in France and Italy, is chopping 30 per cent off the price of Villa Sassetta in Tuscany, a renovated 18th-century Italian farmhouse, with pool, that sleeps up to 14 people. A week here has been slashed from £10,250 to £7,000 this summer. Details: qualityvillasitaly.co.uk/refIT88.php

Save up to 30 per cent off Villa Marche, a six-bedroom property sleeping up to 12 people in Italy's Le Marche. Surrounded by olive groves and vineyards with its own pool and it's just an hour's drive from the airport at Ancona. Price £2,500 per week, July and August. Details: holidayhomesinitaly.co.uk/smx/searchproperty/712/villa_tolentin_le_marchehtml

Slashed prices and under-occupancy discounts are on offer from soloSicily, with savings of up to 40 per cent. For example, the contemporary Villa Elena, set on a hilltop near Agrigento in southern Sicily has a large outdoor pool, games room and outdoor dining area and has been reduced from €5,200 to €3,350 (£2,918) for a party of six. Plus a further €200 (£174) discount available on bookings made before 30 June. Details: solosicily.co.uk

Cyprus

Sovereign Holidays is offering a saving of up to £1,193 per family – a 30 per cent discount – on a holiday for four in Cyprus, departing on 2 August. This seven-night holiday at the five-star InterContinental Aphrodite Hills Resort in Paphos costs £2,775, including return flights from Gatwick, complimentary UK VIP airport lounge access, and B&B for two adults and two children sharing. Details: sovereign.com

Greece

Dream Marine is offering up to 32 per cent off bareboat charters in the Med this August. For example, a two-week holiday aboard Oceanis 393 now costs €3,487 (£3,036) sailing in and out of Athens. The luxury yacht accommodates up to six in two cabins and the price includes all safety and navigational equipment, deck equipment, bedding and galley equipment. Flights excluded. Details: dream-marine.com

Europe

P&V has launched Eurobuster deals for the summer break, taking prices back to last year's euro exchange rate when holidays were at least 22 per cent cheaper. Early booking discounts net a further 15 per cent off while long-stay deals for bookings of more than two weeks' duration can bag another saving which could add up to 45 per cent off in some cases. Details: pv-holidays.com/beatstheeuro_ms

France

Get 42 per cent off a 14-night holiday in a mobile home with Vacansoleil. For £725, a family of up to six can stay in a fully equipped Bali mobile home by a lake at the Camping la Presqu'île de Champaubert in Champagne. The deal includes midweek return ferry crossings between Dover and Calais. The offer applies to travel between 11 July and 15 August. Details: vacansoleil.co.uk

MORE THAN 50 PER CENT OFF ...

Italy

Save 57 per cent on a week in Umbria with holidaylettings.co.uk, where Prioresca House has been reduced from £702 to £300 for bookings between 11 July and 8 August. The house, sleeping up to six, is set in a hamlet within easy access of forest walks yet just 15 minutes from Spoleto, with an 11th-century fortress and a lively programme of cultural events. Details: holidaylettings.co.uk/31909

The grand sum of £10,465, almost 60 per cent, has been knocked off a week's rental of Novedieci, a country house in Tuscany just 10 minutes from Lucca. The stylish property, which has an outdoor pool and can host up to 20 guests, now costs £7,080 per week in July through CV Travel. Details: cvtravel.co.uk