9 nights in Pernera, Cyprus for less than £650 how?

This is how we booked 9 nights in Pernera, Cyprus for less than £650 over Easter. We are staying in a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 4 star villa with private pool in our favourite area in Cyprus, which is only 5 minutes from Protaras. We flew with British Airways . Airport lounges both ways. We have done this for less than £650, here’s how so you can use the same tricks.

First things first, timing and planning are key, you don’t get these prices a few weeks before you travel. You can start planning for next Easter now. Easter Sunday falls on 12th April next year, so you too can book 9 days away,  but only take 4 days off work. We booked our flights using Avios last May. We booked the Villa last June.

British Airways are flights £35  plus 17,000 Avios each. So that’s £70. It’s easy to collect 17,000 Avios. Have a look at the Intro to credit and charge cards and intro to Air Miles articles. Cyprus is a great flight to use your miles on. There’s never any cheap flights to Cyprus and even though it’s a 4 and a half hour flight, it’s still within Europe so the £35 British Airways flat charge applies. Remember too that booking this way means that baggage is included and you can make changes up to 48 hours before for a small fee.

If I was booking this flight a few weeks before departure with BA then it would cost £886 each with no baggage and no flexibility. Yikes. Cheapest with other airlines is Wizz Air which comes to £801 including cases, not sure if Wizz Air even has reclining seats – a must for my back. Again no flexibility. I would much prefer the peace of mind you get when booking with one of the Major Airlines. See my Booking flights and hotels separately need to know article here.

Next was the Villa. Pernera is our favourite location, like the little brother of the main resort of Protaras, quieter, more charming, but only 5 minutes away. We could have booked an apartment for much less – Coralli Spa at the other end of Protaras is a favourite of ours. But booking so far in advance we decided to go for a villa in case any of our (grown up) kids decides they wanted to join us.

Also we love to have the extra space, private pool and garden. With an apartment we would have had a small balcony and had to share the pool etc with kids as it’s half term. We wanted privacy. There’s loads of options, you can chose what suits you and be ready to book when the deal is right.

So then the lounges, both Taz and I have the Amex travel rewards card – 2 free lounge passes included. We have used these free ones for this trip. Flying economy on BA means no food included, though you can buy M&S sandwiches for loads of money on board. Even if you spend £20 on a lounge visit it’s so worth it. You can eat and drink what you like from a great selection, you have comfy seats and charging points, if your flights delayed, no problem, you’re in the lounge. No wandering around duty fee spending money unnecessarily. We will do a full review of the Larnaca lounge on our way back. Do subscribe to be notified when this is posted. Also check out our latest round up article here for lounge and other travel offers

Sometimes package holidays are the best deal like our booking Las Vegas article here.

Sometimes you are best off booking a cheap flight from Jacks Flight Club and making a great holiday out of it like in our article here.

Sometimes you can stay at home, save loads of money and have the best time – if you do it the Mind over Money Matters Way. Like this How to have an awesome weekend without going anywhere.

Whatever you decide to do, wherever to want to go, there’s a Mind over Money Matters way of finding the best deal, maximising your Joy and maximising the value.

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