This will be our fourth year of doing it this way and to be honest I don't think we'll use a big tour operator again.

1st year: booked flights with Ryanair, Liverpool/Girona, stayed at La siesta Callela de Palufrugell (camping life).
2nd year: Ryanair, Liverpool/Reus, stayed at Tora Mora near Tarragona (through Travel Republic)
Last year: Ryanair Liverpool/Girona, stayed at La Masia, Blanes (siesta holidays)

Each time used taxi transfer (Girotransfer) to and from sites. This is an excellent service, never let us down.

The first time, we were expecting something to go wrong, as we were not used to turning up at airports with a print out from the pc.......all was fine.

We were dubious of using TravelRepublic but again it was fine, just turn up with your sheet of paper and it was ok.

All in all, I would highly recommend DIY holidays, as the money you can save turns into beer vouchers

Just do a bit of research of who you are using is all I'd suggest.

We went to Costa Brava last May and it was my first compete DIY and all went well.
Flights Ryanair Doncaster to Gerona
Hotels in (1) Santa Susanna and (2)Lloret booked with Travel Republic
pre-booked coach transfer.
Santa Susanna to Lloret by train.
I hope to do similar two resort holiday this year in Costa del Sol.
Sue

I have done this a couple of times, Ryanair is the best value for money airline during peak periods and believe it or not the Ferris accomodation only option takes some beating. I would probably advise against looking for the train from Barcelona to Malgrat, it is doable but after a long flight it is probably advisable to book Girotransfer who provide an excellent service, the drivers are English and they are full of advice regarding the resort.

I've been booking DIY holidays since 2005 now and touch wood, I haven't had a problem yet. My partner and I went to Lloret de Mar last November for a week. Flights were with Ryanair from Prestwick to Girona, we stayed at the H Top Gran Casino Royal Hotel (All Inclusive), I used Resorthoppa for the transfers to/from hotel and got our travel insurance through moneysupermarket. Total price was £147 each for a week all inclusive - I don't think travel agents could match that price at all. I've just booked the same holiday for my parents - they're going from 20th - 27th Feb, £159 each for a week all inclusive.

I've also booked holidays to Benidorm & Salou through DIY - last year we went on 3 DIY holidays - Salou in May, Benidorm in September and Lloret de Mar in November. The total price of all 3 holidays would probably be the equivalent of one holiday booked through a travel agents.

The first time you go DIY is a bit daunting as you're not sure what to expect - the first year we went to Salou was May 2006 - 13 of us ended up going - total price for the holiday was £86pp for a week (Flights, 3* HB Calypso Hotel, Transfers & Insurance) - trust me, I was very worried as all of these people (my partner and family members) were depending on my good judgement that this was going to work out okay and thankfully it did. All I remember my dad saying leading up to the holiday was, "what's the catch?", in a way it was quite funny but really quite unbelievable at how cheap it was. I also remember pricing the same holiday for the same week, same hotel, transfer etc and the total price was £427pp and the woman in travel agent said, "do you want me to try another hotel to see if it's cheaper as that's a very popular hotel?"

From now on, I'd say that when the deals work out a lot cheaper going DIY then I will go ahead with it. Please don't let the initial worrying put you off as I'm sure it will work out fine. Once you've done it once - there will be no going back!

Our last Costa Brava hol was a DIY - RyanAir from Stansted to Girona, Alpha Rooms transfer, SC Eseraldas Apts (Tossa de mar) - using venere.com.

The only issues that we experienced were on descending into Girona the airport was foggy, so the pilot aborted his approach. We joined th holding pattern, and I heard the steward saying that becuase of the amount of fuel on board, we would have one more attempt, and if we couldn't land we would be redirected to Perpignan. Fortunately we managed to land!

The second, was on arrival at Esmeraldas - we were asked into the managers office - turns out they had double booked our apartment for the last night of our stay. So they asked if we minded moving to a different Apartment block - Tossa Park - but they would give us a HB upgrade (food to be taken in Esmeraldas). We accepted.

Prior to this we had a DIY hol (and a DIY long weekend) to Majorca (flights with BMI, accom buy alpha rooms).

DIY is far and away the cheaper way to holiday as long as you're armed with all the tools to research (airlines, resorts, accommodation etc) - I think you'll be hard pushed to find a better resource for all this than this website!!!!!!!

You can't top DIY for value, been doing it for four years, not ran into any trouble yet that couldn't be sorted out.

In May we are flying with Ryanair from Prestwick to Girona for £35 for both of us return. ( Granted this is the least we've ever paid )

Our apartment in Blanes is £150 for ten days, so £185 for two people for 10 days.

No travel agent could come close to that.

Not booking a transfer this year the local buses are every hour to most resorts and are fast and efficient, and they get you there much quicker than the booked transfers, as they don't stop at every hotel and resort on the way.

Happy holidays folks.

Thanks to everyone for all your replies.

I am determined to go ahead and book an independant holiday this summer. A friend has offered me the use of her apartment for the first week in July so at least I don't have to find accomodation online. I shall be taking the plunge and booking some flights later this month.

TobyG : Your holiday sounds like the bargain of the year! Have you been to Blanes before? I have. I love it. I totally agree with you, a travel agent could never compete with prices like that.

Hi candida,

Yeah i have been to Blanes before - last September, It's a lovely place.

We paid a bit more last time though something like £200 rather than £185. hehe.