Private Holiday Home Guide

I’ve never liked staying in hotels. While a hotel certainly can have all kinds of amenities and conveniences, I find most too impersonal and anonymous. You’re just another tourist in a never-ending stream of guests. Staying in a private holiday home is a whole different experience (not to mention a lot less expensive). Sure, it might be a cottage, house or condo the owner bought specifically to rent out to tourists, but even so, it gives you a chance to live like a local and even such a basic activity as shopping for groceries is a fun adventure in a new location, especially if you don’t know the language.

Cottage, St. James Park by Gary Knight

There are many ways to find holiday home rentals. These days, many turn to Craigslist (for everything), and they do have listings for holiday homes in many places all over the world. For similar sites in other countries check out gumtree.com for the UK, sydney.gumtree.com.au for Australia, kijiji.de or wg-gesucht.de for Germany (in German only), segundamano.es for Spain (in Spanish), blocket.se for Sweden (in Swedish), marktplaats.nl for the Netherlands (in Dutch) and expatica.com for listings in English for Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Rural French Chateau by Steve Jurvetson

There are also many sites focused solely on holiday homes for rent directly from the owner, and some even offer rental guarantees, where the renter can receive a refund if the rental home isn’t what it was advertised to be. HomeAway, VacationSpaces, CyberRentals and Owner Direct are a few sites that list holiday rentals all over the world. And if you want to bring your dog, you’re in luck. There are many listings allowing pets; HomeAway even has a Pet-Friendly category, making your search even easier. There is a site out there for everybody, regardless of whether you are looking to rent luxury vacation homes, houseboats, French castles, private islands, luxury tents, timeshares, log homes, yurts, you name it.

If arranging something on your own is a bit too scary, there are many agencies that can help you out. A good, responsible agency will inspect each property, find a perfect match for you, help you out in case something goes wrong, and also be able to give you advice on the area. Some even help you book your entire trip – flight, car and house.