Bargain Holidays with Groupon and Wowcher

A Brief Introduction to Groupon and Wowcher

I know Groupon and Wowcher probably wont be the first websites you think of when booking a holiday, but they probably should be. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up booking through them, but if you do you'll have hopefully found an absolute bargain.

Here's the thing, if you've ever used Wowcher or Groupon before you'll know what to expect, a seemingly random selection of deals ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Who really needs 60 toilet rolls at any time? And where in earth do people store them all? Or who buys a telescopic ladder on impulse? I'll tell you who, the same people who go to LIDL and ALDI to browse the middle shelves. 

And here's the thing, they aren't wrong. A bargain is a bargain. Sure you may not need 60 toilet rolls at the moment, but it's not like they have expiry dates, and ultimately you'll end up using them eventually so why not get them for the price of 20? Plus you never know another pandemic might hit and everyone might start hording them again for no apparent reason.

The truth is if you just go on Wowcher or Groupon knowing what you want there's a fair chance you wont find it, however on the odd occasion that you do you'll be so glad you checked it'll make all the other visits worthwhile. They are also worth browsing for the sake of browsing, sure you might end up with a steam mop that you'll never use which seemed like a good idea at the time, but at least you wont have spent too much on it.

Groupon and Wowcher Holidays

The travel deals are a lot like everything else on the sites, you'll either see something you really like, really cheap, or you'll have a quick browse decide it's not for you and move to somewhere like Lastminute.com or Jet2 and book your holiday the traditional way. The point is you've not lost anything by having a quick look, and you could save a fair amount of money.

Before I book any holiday I quickly browse Wowcher and Groupon just to see what's on offer. This is especially useful if you just want a short break. The good news is prior to buying your voucher you'll know the flight times, hotel and everything else so you can easily check to see if it's a genuinely good deal, but it usually is. 

What you wont find on either site is a huge amount of options. Sure you can find most the best city break locations and sunniest beaches in Europe and beyond. However they will only be offering specific dates and a limited number of hotel options. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you want to go to Amsterdam and can travel anytime they'll probably find you something, on the other hand if you're looking for a specific date you may struggle.  Still check though, you might get lucky.

There's not many sites that can offer the kind of deals you'll get on Groupon and Wowcher. If you play your cards right you could spend as little as £70 for a couple of nights in Amsterdam or Budapest, and you could easily blow that on just the flights booking normally. It really is potluck whether you'll find something you want on any given day of the week, I'm a big fan of trying my luck occasionally though. So next time you're looking to go away just give these sites a quick glance. What have you got to lose? And if you're feeling really lucky you can always take a gamble...

Do you feel lucky punk? The mystery holiday giveaways

Both Groupon and Wowcher periodically offer Mystery Holidays. These really are for the gamblers amongst you. You pay £99 to be sent on holiday somewhere, it could be anywhere for anything from 2 nights to 7. The question is though how far can you go wrong for that price? And in fairness it can't actually be anywhere. You wont pay £99 and end up in a caravan in Skegness, although you could end up in Disneyland Paris which I personally think would be much worse.

Just to give you a taste of what you could get for £99 this is the list of locations currently on offer with Wowcher's Mystery Holiday...

 Mystery Destinations

American Destinations
- 7 Nights CANCUN with flights
- 3 Nights NEW YORK with flights
- 3 Nights LAS VEGAS with flights

Asian Destinations
- 3 Nights DUBAI with flights

Caribbean Destinations
- 7 Nights BARBADOS with flights

European Destinations
- 2 Nights ICELAND with flights
- 4 Nights PRAGUE & BUDAPEST MULTICENTRE with transfer and flights
- 2 Nights DISNEYLAND PARIS INC. PARK TICKETS with flights
- 3 Nights ALL INCLUSIVE GREECE with flights
- 3 Nights ALL INCLUSIVE CROATIA with flights
- 3 Nights SWITZERLAND BERNINA EXPRESS with flights
- 2 Nights TALLINN with flights
- 2 Nights RIGA with flights
- 2 Nights MUNICH with flights
- 2 Nights SOFIA with flights
- 2 Nights ATHENS with flights
- 2 Nights VIENNA with flights
- 2 Nights AMSTERDAM with flights
- 2 Nights VILNIUS with flights
- 2 Nights BERLIN with flights
- 2 Nights BUDAPEST with flights
- 2 Nights PRAGUE with flights
- 2 Nights DUBLIN with flights
- 2 Nights KRAKOW with flights
- 2 Nights WARSAW with flights
- 2 Nights BARCELONA with flights
- 2 Nights MADRID with flights
- 2 Nights IBIZA with flights
- 2 Nights MALLORCA with flights
- 2 Nights COSTA BRAVA with flights
- 2 Nights COSTA DEL SOL with flights
- 2 Nights COSTA DORADA with flights
- 2 Nights RIGA with flights
- 2 Nights PARIS with flights
- 2 Nights BUCHAREST with flights
- 2 Nights PORTO with flights
- 2 Nights LISBON with flights
- 2 Nights ALGARVE with flights
- 2 Nights MALTA with flights
- 2 Nights BRUSSELS with flights

I think we can agree that there isn't a bad location in there, well other than Disneyland, so why not give it a go?