Where to go to beat the credit crunch?

Ten of the best family-friendly recession-busting holiday destinations for the coming season

1. Lanzarote

Watch, admire and be glad it’s not you out there: what some call the world’s toughest Ironman competition takes place in Lanzarote on Saturday 23rd May 2009 – a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km bike ride and then a 42.2km marathon run all under the blistering Lanzarote sun. Why is it so tough? Lanzarote has one of the most equable climates in the world – and it’s great to bask in temperatures in the high 20s Celsius when all you have to do is lie on a beach, but try exerting yourself to this extent and the sun becomes merciless.

If you’re more of an active participant than a spectator, you’ll be glad to know that there are fiestas in different towns in every month between May and November.

2. Cyprus

The annual International Festival of Arts ‘Kypria’, coming up in September and October, features local as well as visiting artists performing ballet, flamenco, theatre and orchestral music at venues across the island.

There’s also Kataklysmos, or the Flood Festival, which takes place in Cyprus every year in June, 50 days after Orthodox Easter. It’s connected to the Christian religion but in Cyprus also to Greek mythology. Water is the main focus of the festival. All the coastal cities organise concerts, games and other events near the waterfront. Be ready to get wet at Kataklysmos!

3. A Caribbean cruise

Cruising may not strike you as the best way to have an economical holiday, but some companies are offering excellent deals on winter cruises. Check out companies that are holding sales, especially deals for children sharing their parents’ cabin. Big savings are to be made.

4. Budapest

The recession has hit Hungary hard: many people have lost their jobs and the national currency, the Florint, has hit rock bottom. What this means is that a holiday in the capital, nicknamed the Pearl of the Danube, can be cheaper than in any other city in Europe. Costs in restaurants and shops in the main tourist area near the Chain Bridge are higher than elsewhere, so, for lower prices, head a little further back from the river.

As the city awakens from its winter sleep and the blossoms start to grace the trees, along comes the spring festival, a fortnight of music, art, theatre and dance in the city’s finest Baroque buildings. A boat trip on the river is relaxing and interesting at any time of year, as well as inexpensive – around £10 for a two-hour cruise. Budapest has an extensive network of buses and trams and a three-line underground, offering a journey for a flat fare of about 30p. A £22 Budapest Card gives unlimited public transport for a weekend and free or cheap access to museums and attractions.

5. Goa

According to Thomas Cook’s annual Holiday Cost Of Living survey, which looks at prices of daily essentials in sixteen popular tourist destinations worldwide, Goa is still far and away the cheapest option. Here, a cup of coffee costs less than a tenth of what it does in the UK and you can stay in a five-star hotel for around £30-40 per person per night, in a guesthouse for £2 pppn or in a beach hut for – well, almost for a song.

Goa is best known for its magnificent beaches – but take care, as the undercurrents can be dangerous. Don’t, though, neglect to visit the wonderful towns, admirable for their lovely settings, their cathedrals, basilicas and crumbling, Portuguese-style residences and their winding lanes. The market towns of Mapusa and Anjuna are also worth a visit for their colourful and cheap clothes, local produce and souvenirs.

6. Botswana

According to figures compiled for This is Money by NatWest, the pound has strengthened by 12.4% against the Botswana pula in the last year, making this an appealingly inexpensive destination.

Of the thousands of attractions in the country, let us suggest the Maun Environmental Educational Centre, an area of 2.5 square kilometres on the eastern bank of the Thamalakane River, which aims to provide schoolchildren with an appreciation of wildlife and the bush. From the office there, you can pick up maps of the four walking trails and game hides where you can observe lechwe, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, zebra, warthog and other species. Or take a family safari to learn survival skills from the Bushmen of the Kalahari or view the wildlife from a dugout canoe or a four-wheel-drive vehicle in the famous Okavango Delta.

7. Japan

Good news for travellers to Japan: sterling is 12.3% stronger against the yen than it was a year ago.

If your children are 13 years or more, consider canyoning, a thrilling activity for which you need no previous experience and no special equipment, other than the wetsuit that will be provided for you. Destinations include extremely popular, easily accessible and scenically beautiful Fox Canyon. Take a half- or full-day course in canyoning and experience the excitement of navigating waterfalls, drops, whirlpools and natural chutes and of swimming in crystal-clear pools. Alternatively, go snowshoeing in the winter wonderland of the beech forests and glaciers of the Minakami mountains.

8. Spain

Ever beloved of Brits, Spain remains a super holiday destination, offering great value for money. In the UK you’d be hard pushed to find a good three-course meal for only £11.50, but that’s the average price in Spain.

The Costa Brava and Costa del Sol are old favourites for beach holidays, but for something a bit different, try the Costa Dorada, where the sun, sea and sand are just as glorious but there are also some fantastic family-friendly resorts, the world-class Port Aventura theme park and two splashtastic waterparks. The ‘gold coast’ is two hours’ flight from the UK and an hour’s drive south of Barcelona, one of Spain's most cosmopolitan cities. Resorts include Salou, the top hotspot, Cambrils and La Pineda; and for a day trip full of fascinating history head for Tarragona, the ancient Roman capital of Spain.

9. Turkey

Still a bargain, Turkey is outside the Eurozone and remains one of the best-value family holiday choices. Turkey – where West meets East, Europe meets Asia – is a place of year-round festivals, wonderful, child-friendly Mediterranean beaches, charming villages, waters perfect for sailing and, so they say, more Greek ruins than there are in Greece itself. More to the point, everybody adores children in Turkey and spoils them rotten.

Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, when the weather is hot but not unbearably so, the flowers are in bloom and the resorts fairly quiet. The Aegean coast is a region with great accommodation choices for families, including stylish five-star hotels with spas and kids’ clubs, brilliant activity holiday centres and self-catering apartment complexes. While you’re there, head for the world-famous, 3,000-year-old city of Troy, whose impressive stone walls bear witness to the military significance of the citadel. Children, maybe not quite so taken with history, enjoy playing on the huge reconstructed wooden horse at the entrance to the site.

10. Cuba

Cuba is a poor country that has recently experienced a sudden boom in tourism and is one of the most popular destinations in the Caribbean. Holidaymakers can expect good deals here in bars and restaurants. Because of the American embargo, nearly everything that people eat there has been grown or caught on the island: the fruit and veg will be fresh and usually organic, the meat will have come from a local ‘free-range’ farm and the fish will probably have been caught that day.

The old city of Havana is a remarkable place, filled with crumbling mansions, narrow streets, cobblestoned plazas and sixteenth-century fortresses, all reflecting its Spanish colonial past. The people who live here, descended from slaves, pirates, colonists, seafarers and planters, have generated unique forms of music, dance and song that you can hear everywhere you go. Of course you’ll have to give the children their fill of beaches, which are gorgeous, but you can make the sightseeing fun for them by travelling round by horse and carriage, ‘coco-taxi’ (a motorbike rickshaw) or cycle rickshaw or by taking a taxi, which is likely to be a 1950s American Buick, Chevrolet or Cadillac. If you want to go out in the evenings, your guesthouse owner will usually lay on babysitting for just a few pesos.