Best bet is to book your flights first. I'd subscribe to be sent emails from the budget airlines which serve your local airport. As soon as you get notification that the flights are on sale book them asap, then you can search for accommodation.

I agree - do not commit to anything until you know you've got flights. With most of the budget scheduled operators this isn't likely to be soon, probably closer to Christmas. Be wary of Tour operator based airlines or those whose main business is for tour operators, they may offer flights earlier and then change the times when the TO finalises the hotel plan. Book direct with the airline.

The website of the local council tourist office is here. The district covers more than Magaluf (see the list under Zones) so if something does look good just make sure you haven't strayed into another town's section! In the "Staying in Calvia" section Magaluf is on page 3 - or rather III as the page links at the top are marked! The streetmap is linked from the "Touristic Information" section. I wish a few more councils were this well organised!!!

Has anyone got a rough idea of return flight prices to palma? i understand prices change but i havent a clue really.
Am i advised not to book until around xmas then? im a little concerned that we will be limited for accomodation by then or am i being a little paranoid?

This is why i have bottled diy hols in the past because im used to having confirmation of where we are staying as i usually book 12 months in advance.

Lloyd

Don't know where you're flying from so can't say about price. If it's a Ryanair route it could start at 99p +luggage +tax each way if you get in on the first day of sale. Easyjet will be more like £19.99 +luggage +tax each way but will be available for longer. Flybe/BMIBaby may be a bit dearer and sell out slower. The trick is to get registered with the airlines for email alerts and keep watching each airline on this site for news of things that have slipped through the email net. The first thing to do is check which routes are of use to you and find out who does them.

And no, you're not being paranoid - you've been conditioned by the Tour Ops into handing over money 12 months in advance to help their liquidity. Would you give anyone else money that far ahead?? Calm down, take a deep breath and ask the question - if the hotels are all booked up by the end of the previous summer season where is the market for all the flights that go on sale in December? Will there really be enough people with prebooked accomodation hoping that an airline will fly them from their best airport on the day they need, to justify running so many scheduled routes?

Once you get your flights which should be out later this year I can't see you having any problems looking for accommodation in Magaluf in July.

Out of interest I've just done a search on http://www.alpharooms.com and put in 4 rooms for July this year, for 2 weeks and got 302 results, so by booking after the flights are bought you'll probably have even more choice.

one bit of advice do not rely on getting emailed the new flight schedules from the low cost carriers as they do not email you even if you are on their subscription lists ive found this out in the past for example easyjet have now released their winter 2008 schedules and two weeks later the prices have started rising and ive still not been emailed by them despite being subscribed to their mailing lists with two e mail addresses .We have had many diy holidays during the last five years, but to get them cheap really does involve lots of research trawling the flight providers and also the many hotel providers and when you do find a suitable hotel always do a search to see if you can get a money off code / voucher , as they can knock off a little bit more off your hols