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How to Buy Package Holidays Online in Europe: Pay Monthly Options

How to Buy Package Holidays Online in Europe: Pay Monthly Options

Want to pay monthly for a holiday? This guide covers low-deposit plans from easyJet holidays and TUI, Klarna Pay in 3 at Expedia, and instalment options for the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
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You can buy a package holiday online in Europe and spread the cost using a low-deposit instalment plan from the tour operator, Klarna, or PayPal financing. The most common route is simple: pay a deposit at booking, then clear the balance in monthly chunks before departure, with no lender and no interest involved.

What Are Package Holidays and How Can You Buy Them in Europe?

A package holiday bundles a flight and accommodation, often with transfers, into a single booking with one price and one confirmation email. You pay online, your travel documents arrive by email, and you show up at the airport. There is no gift card version of a week in Crete, but there is something arguably more useful: built-in staged payment.

Unlike most digital products, holidays are rarely paid in full at checkout. The standard European model is a deposit at booking, typically around 20 percent of the trip price, with the balance due about four weeks before departure (Check24, 2026). Many operators formalise this into pay monthly plans at no extra cost.

There are two main routes to buy. You can book directly with a tour operator such as TUI, easyJet holidays, or Sunweb, or go through an online travel agency such as Expedia, Booking.com, or loveholidays. Booking flight and hotel together as one package also triggers protection under the EU Package Travel Directive, including refund rights and insolvency cover that separate bookings do not get.

Payment Methods for Buying Holidays in Europe

Which instalment options you see depends less on your card and more on the operator you book with. These are the main options for European buyers.

Pay Monthly Plans From the Operator

Several operators run their own instalment schemes with no interest and no fees. easyJet holidays takes a deposit of £60 (about €70) per person when you book at least 28 days ahead, lets you pay in as many instalments as you like, and wants the full balance 28 days before departure (easyJet holidays, 2026). On the Beach works with a deposit followed by equal monthly payments. TUI, Jet2holidays, and easyJet holidays all charge no fee for paying in instalments (TravelSupermarket, 2026).

Klarna

Klarna appears at checkout on a growing list of travel sites. Expedia offers holiday bookings paid in three interest-free instalments with Klarna (Expedia, 2026). Pierre & Vacances supports Klarna Pay in 3 for residents of France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands (Pierre & Vacances, 2026). Center Parcs in the Netherlands offers pay in 3 or pay after 30 days with no interest and no fees (Center Parcs, 2026). Klarna's longer financing plans, up to 24 months in Germany, carry interest.

PayPal

PayPal is accepted by On the Beach, loveholidays, and many German operators such as ltur. In Germany, PayPal Ratenzahlung splits a booking into 3, 6, 12, or 24 monthly instalments after a credit check (PayPal, 2026). One caveat: PayPal Buyer Protection does not cover airline tickets, so for a package holiday your protection rests on the operator's terms and EU package travel rules rather than on PayPal.

iDEAL

Dutch buyers can pay deposits and balances with iDEAL at Sunweb, D-reizen, Prijsvrij, Center Parcs, and TUI.nl. The bank transfer is instant and free. Sunweb lets you pay a deposit first and clear the rest in instalments of your choosing up to six weeks before departure (Sunweb, 2026). From 2026, iDEAL is rebranding to iDEAL | Wero, but checkout works the same way.

Bancontact

Belgian travellers can use Bancontact at TUI.be, Sunweb.be, and Booking.com. It behaves like a debit card payment: the deposit or the full amount leaves your account immediately, with no fee. Bancontact has no built-in pay-later feature, so Belgian buyers who want instalments usually combine it with Klarna at Pierre & Vacances or a 3x or 4x card plan where offered.

Where to Buy Holidays Online

Which platform fits depends on your country and on whether you want a formal instalment plan or just a deposit-and-balance schedule.

Booking.com covers hotels, flights, and flight plus hotel packages with broad European payment support, including iDEAL, Bancontact, and Klarna in eligible markets. For hotel-only stays, many properties let you reserve now and pay at check-in, which is its own kind of pay-later.

easyJet holidays and TUI sell packages across Europe with deposit-based plans and no instalment fees. Sunweb serves the Dutch, Belgian, and French markets and accepts staged payments until six weeks before departure. In France, Sunweb runs 3x and 4x card payments through Alma, with fees between 1.65 and 2.46 percent (Sunweb, 2026).

Building your own package, for example a Ryanair flight plus a separately booked hotel, is often cheaper. The trade-off: the flight must usually be paid in full at booking, and you lose Package Travel Directive protection.

Tips and Things to Watch Out For

The balance deadline is the real deadline. Most operators want full payment 28 days to four weeks before departure. Miss it and the booking can be cancelled under the operator's terms, with your deposit and cancellation fees at stake.

Operator instalment plans are interest-free, but third-party financing is not. Klarna and PayPal monthly financing in Germany often carries interest of roughly 10 to 18 percent (Reisen-preiswert, 2026). Pay in 3 style plans are the interest-free variants.

Book as a package for EU protection. A flight and hotel bought in one transaction is covered by the Package Travel Directive, with insolvency protection and refund rights. The same trip booked separately is not.

Credit checks are coming to all instalment payments. From 20 November 2026, the updated EU Consumer Credit Directive treats every deferred payment as a regular credit agreement, so expect an affordability check before any financing plan is approved.

A monthly price is not a lower price. Paying monthly makes an expensive holiday feel cheaper without making it cheaper. Compare the total cost, including any instalment fees, against paying upfront elsewhere before you commit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nemo42
Nemo42
July 15, 20265 min read

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