What a Pesach program will cost your family

Across the programs on this site that publish a starting rate, the range runs from $4,050 to $21,999 per adult for the full eight days, with a median of about $7,950. Southern Europe opens lowest, the American mountain and desert resorts sit at the top, and Israel is the deepest market but the one where most programs quote on request rather than publishing. Flights are never included.

Typically 40 to 60 percent of the adult rate, varying by program, by age and by room configuration. No operator publishes a single number, which is why the calculator on this page shows a range rather than a total. Infants are often free or nominal, and teenagers are frequently charged close to the adult rate — those two ends of the scale are worth asking about specifically.

Flights, almost always. Beyond that, the items most often outside the headline rate are room-category supplements, resort or service fees, Chol Hamoed excursions, the tea room in some programs, spa and golf, and gratuities. Ask for the all-in number per adult and per child before comparing two programs — one quoting all-in and one quoting a base rate are not the same figure.

Because the whole community travels in the same two weeks. Pesach fares peak harder than almost any other period on the calendar, and for a family of six, six peak-season tickets plus baggage frequently runs into five figures. That is routinely larger than the gap between two programs' rates, and it is why a drive-to program in the Catskills often works out cheaper overall than a cheaper program in Greece.

On published starting rates, southern Europe. Greece opens lowest at $4,050 per adult, with Spain from $5,150 and South Africa from $5,400; Greece also has the widest spread, up to $11,000, so the destination tells you much less than the individual program does. But cheapest on the rate is not cheapest on the trip. Add flights for the whole family and a US drive-to program can beat a European one, while Israel's programs often price competitively and then lose it on the airfare, which peaks harder to Tel Aviv than anywhere.

Serious inventory opens between Sukkot and Chanukah, and the most requested room categories — connecting rooms and family suites — are usually gone by January. Late availability exists but rarely at a discount in the categories families need. Booking early buys the room you want more reliably than it buys a lower price.

That depends entirely on what it is replacing. Against a Pesach at home it is buying eight days without cooking, kashering or cleaning, and for many families that is the whole point. Against a regular family holiday it is expensive. Our honest breakdown walks through the comparison, including the case for not going.

No. The site is completely free to use, there are no booking fees, and we are never paid by a family. Tell us what you need and matching programs come back to you directly with their best price.