Well, nothing. But maybe it is sometimes worth it?
Resort holidays have never appealed to me; there’s no local culture to speak of, and I burn in 2 seconds in the sun. We used to be backpackers, we love road trips and camping!
But we booked an all inclusive holiday on a family resort in Greece. To match the Finnish cliché we booked it on Rhodes island. Why??
When we in December toured New Zealand, we had a great holiday. We saw loads of the country, family and friends. But we also enjoyed the couple of days in between with just our family doing nothing special. We swam, looked around, played some games. It was lovely to be free of a schedule and just have time for each other. So we booked more time for each other and ourselves.
It cost a fair bit but was cheaper early May, before the high season. Also, compared to buying all meals, drinks and activities separately, i think it was a good price. The buffet tables were plentiful. The drinks were included. We certainly made full use of the opportunities: thanks to the intensive swimming both kids learned to swim 25m. They also got to try new sports like basketball and tennis without us getting the equipment for it, they went to the kids disco and we tried a family fitness class. I participated in morning yoga most days, tried aqua and dancing classes, my husband went for morning swims and runs etc.
It was easy. It was relaxing. No need to think of meals or spending as everything was payed for, where as, whenever you tour, you may have costy surprises. We enjoyed our time together and I enjoyed my opportunity to excersice and have an occasional coffee on my own.
But then our urge to see something convinced us to rent a car for a couple of days…
Free But Fun 
I couldn’t do an all-inclusive type trip myself, but I’m glad you had a great time! I want to go back to Greece and go to Finland a first time, of course!
Haha, that’s what I’ve been saying all these years 😆 I seem to have changed with life. But I still can not imagine doing *only* all inclusive holidays, I love the exploring and feeling different cultures too much.
Same here 🙂 A lot of places, like Jamaica, it’s the only option to stay safe. But then I’d rather be on my own…maybe a night or two at a nice resort though 🙂
Uuuh, Jamaica sounds awesome! Keep blogging☺
We’ve done this a couple of times, like you were sceptical but we enjoyed it. We did hire a car too though, I can’t bear to go somewhere and not see around.
I think we are alike when it comes too experiencing new places!
I’ve never really done either, I’d like to do one short one that is all inclusive so I can just stop and enjoy – but if it’s longer that a few days, I want to be out exploring and doing!! 🙂 Sounds like y’all had a great balance!
I’ve been thinking I could happily do a long girls weekend with loads of yoga and excersice
oh that sounds lovely!! I got a massage gift certificate for Christmas that I’ve been hoarding… I’m waiting for T to graduate, and then all of this volunteer work I’ve been doing will be over and I’m taking a day for ME! But a long weekend… now that sounds the best!!
Massage sounds great! To be honest, I’m not sure when a long weekend like that would take place. Maybe within 3 years? 😀 I like great plans but they don’t have to happen immediately!
We just had this very conversation with cousins from Toronto who were visiting us in Vegas. I explained we used to do all inclusive holidays in the Caribbean all the time but then… totally out grew them I suppose. We like to explore, learn, see and feel the culture, etc. Haven’t done an all inclusive in > 10 years now.
You know, me and my husband both thought this was perfect now and are happy to do it again. But neither one of is want to have ONLY this kind of holidays. And we are pretty sure we’ll outgrow them roo when kids grow older… the good thing is we made the same conclusions 😊