Frequently Asked Questions

Our single parent holidays are exclusively for single parents and their children. Being in a group of like-minded families means that our single mums and single dads have adult company and their children make friends quickly. In addition, our single parents benefit from the organisation that goes into their holiday before they even arrive: We hand pick child-friendly, star-rated hotels in beautiful locations, and will have prepared countless aspects of the holiday prior to our families’ arrival, to ensure any special requirements, room requests, aspects of the entertainment programme and other individualised features of the holiday are met. Please note that our activity and ski holidays are more structured, with daily activities on offer, while on our beach holidays the focus is more on relaxation and socialising with the other families.

Our solo holidays are aimed at singles and solo travellers in their 40s, 50s and 60s. They are hosted by a member of our team, who will look after the group organising tables for dinner, activities and excursions exclusively for our solo travellers. We only choose star-rated, high standard hotels in top locations across Europe, suitable for singles.

The single parent families and solo guests that travel with us come from all over the UK and Ireland. We occasionally have English speaking families and solo travellers living overseas joining us as well.

The majority of parents on our single parent holidays are divorced, separated or bereaved mums and dads in their late 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s. Many families travel with us every year, but a similar number on each holiday will not have travelled with us before. Although some of our single mums and single dads may naturally have a new partner, we do not allow partners on the trips, in an effort to ensure everyone feels relaxed and comfortable with the social set-up.

Most of our singles and solo travellers are in their 40s, 50s and 60s and have grown-up children, or no children, or feel like taking a break on their own without the children and want to enjoy like-minded company.

The group sizes vary on our single parent holidays, but we usually aim to take between 8 and 15 families on our summer and activity holidays. Our single parent ski holidays attract bigger groups, of anything up to 20 families, while our half-term holidays often have slightly smaller groups of 5 to 10 families.

The average group size on our solo holidays is 5 to 10 adults.

We have had children of all ages in our groups – from less than a year old to 21! On average, the children in our groups tend to be between the ages of 4 and 16, and we find they usually get on very well, irrespective of age differences. If you are worried about your child making friends, don’t hesitate to ask us about the ages of the other children booked so far on the holiday you’re interested in, and to discuss whether one holiday might be more suitable for your child than another.

A question we’re often asked! The majority of parents on our single parent holidays are between the ages of 35 and 65. Our single parent holidays are suitable for adults and children of all ages, and our activity holidays do not require a high level of fitness – they are designed to be fun for parents and children alike!

The solo travellers joining our solo holidays are mainly in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

Single parent holidays: This differs from one holiday to the next, of course, but as a rule our single parent ski holidays tend to attract dads and mums in roughly equal numbers, while the single parent beach and activity holidays have slightly more mums than dads booked on them.

Solo holidays: The same applies to our solo holidays. Our solo ski holidays attract more men than women, whilst our other solo holidays attract more women than men. But again, this can differ from trip to trip. Experience has shown us that men tend to book much later than women, so don’t let this deter you from booking early. Numbers and ratios often change in the last few weeks before the holiday.

All our holidays are hosted by a Single Parents on Holiday tour guide, whose job is to look after the needs of the group during their stay, organising airport transfers, group dinners, activities and excursions. We pride ourselves on providing experienced, hard-working and multilingual tour guides who are very often single parents themselves. Their primary role is to ensure that you can sit back and enjoy a hassle-free holiday, by making table arrangements for dinner, ensuring any dietary requirements are met, organising fun activities suitable for everyone, and assisting you with day-to-day needs at the resort.

The earlier you book the better. If you book late, some holidays might be fully booked and there will be less choice of holidays and/or flights available. It is also more difficult for us to fulfil special requirements regarding your accommodation if you book last minute. Flights also tend to come much cheaper when you book early.

This depends on the holiday you choose. Some holidays are offered on an all-inclusive basis, while others may be half-board. Many of the activities on the activity holidays are included in the holiday price, while some may incur a surcharge. For more details on what is and what isn’t included, please go to ‘Prices and Dates’ on each holiday page and scroll down to ‘what is included/what is not included’.

Please note that your flights are never included in our holiday price. Your transfer to and from your arrival airport, however, is always included in your holiday price, providing you travel on our advertised holiday dates.

We want to make our holidays as easy and convenient as possible for our single parent families and solo travellers. Not including flights means you can choose your preferred departure airport, travel times and airline, something we would not be able to accommodate if we offered a holiday package including flights. And with the abundance of flights on offer from different UK airports, you can often benefit from special offers and great flight prices, which means a more reasonably priced holiday for you than if you booked a package deal.

You can either search the main online flight search engines yourself, or contact us so we can help you find a suitable flight. We always recommend that you book your flights online as it is the most convenient and best way to get a good flight deal. We can help you find a suitable flight if you are not sure how to go about booking your flights online.

We will organise your airport transfer. You will be either picked up by our taxi company or by our shuttle service and taken to the hotel, where your host will welcome you and introduce you to the other single parents in your group if you have booked a single parent holiday or to the other solo travellers if you have booked a solo holiday.

To book a place on one of our single parent or solo holidays, you need to complete our online booking form and pay a deposit of £150 per person, which you can settle by bank transfer, debit or credit card. The balance payment will be due 10 weeks before departure.

Your money is safe and insured. In accordance with The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018 (The Regulations), all passengers booking with Single Parents on Holiday Ltd are fully insured for the initial deposit and subsequently the balance of all monies paid to us, including repatriation if required, arising from the cancellation or curtailment of your travel arrangements due to the insolvency of Single Parents on Holiday Ltd. For more information please go to our Insurance page.

Of course. An initial deposit of £100 per person is required to secure a place on your single parent or solo holiday, after which you can pay off any amount of your balance due at any time, as long as the holiday is paid in full 10 weeks before departure.

No. All costs are clearly stated on our holiday pages under the ‘Prices’ section. Our holiday price as stated on each holiday page covers your airport transfers, accommodation and board, as well as any extras stated under ‘Prices and Dates’ on each holiday page.