A recent Times article revealing that France has been labelled the most expensive holiday destination in Europe has prompted a huge reader response. While some tour operators and readers have snubbed the idea, seeing it as “practically libellous,” others agree that French expense had gradually risen above and beyond the expected holiday costs.

To join the debate, leave your comments below.

Martyn Sumners, Association of British Travel Organisers to France: "Labelling France as “significantly less family-friendly” is not just wide of the mark, it is practically libellous. We would be interested to see the exact examples used by the Post Office for comparison in this survey. Holiday destinations, such as Brittany, Normandy, the western coast, are cheaper than Paris or St Tropez. Also, why include car hire, when a typical family will take their own to France? If you remove car hire from the figures for France it will clearly be the best value destination by some margin. Being able to take a car full of essentials is one of the many attractions for a family and with peak channel crossings still available for under £40 each way per car it is much better value, easier and less stressful than taking the family to the airport. Airport parking could cost that alone."

Brian Rees, P&O Ferries: Last time I looked at a fish menu in Greece I nearly fainted at the cost. You can eat a seafood platter fit for a king in France priced sensibly because it is normal fare. A modestly priced Menu du Jour in France offers incredible value. Some of the most appealing attractions are free such as the great surf beaches on the Atlantic. The Alps are spectacular by most standards. And it’s France isn’t it? That’s the point! To sip a glass of Champagne in Champagne, you have to go to...Champagne, just a three hour drive from Calais where you'll see stunning scenery at this time of year when the vines are in full growth.

The French are activity mad and incredibly family orientated. Just one example is the parc de loisirs all over the place that just scream out to families, and they're free. You pull up, get the baguette and brie out of the car that you’ve bought for a couple of euros, picnic amidst it all and wonder why anybody would put a family through a package tour to Greece. As for the price of petrol, almost half the cars sold in the UK are now diesels. Every time we diesel drivers fill up in France we get a pleasant surprise as it is still cheap compared to the UK.

Iris Matthews, Matthews Holidays: I have just taken time out to price up car hire in Spain, Greece, Turkey and France - each time for an Economy grade car. Car Hire prices taken from actual quotes on the Europcar website: Barcleona Airport £131; Athens Airport £245; Anatayla Airport £247; Nantes Airport £241

Another less than accurate comparison, in my view, was the cost of visiting various attractions. The actual prices, according to their official websites, are fairly consistent:

Alhambra Palace (Spain): €12.00 per adult and €6 to see the gardens. Children over 8 pay the adult price; Acropolis (Greece): €12 per adult, children under 19 go free; Eiffel Tower: €12.00 per adult and €6.70 per child (3-11 years) to go as far as the summit. To go to the second stage is €7.80 per adult and €4.30 per child; Ephesus: You need to join a specialist tour because it is such a large area to cover.

Daniel Johnson, siblu holidays: The favourite family attractions in France such as huge beaches, pretty towns and stunning scenery are absolutely free. Our bookings at siblu holiday parcs are up this summer because our customers are finding lots of great value deals. A week in August at Domaine de Kerlann in Brittany, for example, costs from £987 for a family of up to five staying in a two-bedroom mobile home (that’s less than £200 per person and includes Dover-Calais ferries). This is at a holiday parc with indoor and outdoor pools, sports pitches, tennis courts, playgrounds, three different children’s clubs and entertainment in the evening, all of which is free. This compares really well to the real cost of a family beach holiday in Greece or Spain, where many of these extras won’t be included.

Mark Hallett, Grape Escapes: I would challenge the fact that cultural sites are more expensive in France. The cost of entry to a world class chateau in the Loire Valley versus UK castles is a case in point:

Chambord in the Loire Valley high season adult €9.50 - Leeds Castle adult £15; Chenonceau adult €10.00 - Warwick Castle adult £17.95; Villandry adult €9 - Tower of London adult £16.50; Amusement parks are less of a saving but still cheaper than the UK; Futuroscope adult €33 v Alton Towers adult £35; Parc Asterix adult €39 v Chessington World of Adventures £32

Graham Howard: I agree absolutely with Tom Chesshyre’s article on France last Saturday. We recently spent two weeks over there, a week in Provence and a week around L’Ardeche region. What we found was that in a couple of instances unleaded fuel was even more expensive than in the UK. We quickly found that the cheapest places for fuel, by far, were supermarkets. Breakfasts in our hotels we considered a rip-off; the prices ranged from €10.50 to €14. We considered this way overpriced for a (usually) small croissant and pain au chocolate, small baguette or piece of baguette, coffee and preserves. We quickly found cafes far more reasonably priced for this, especially away from the main tourist streets. One thinks of mainland Europe as having a café culture, but we found, especially in smaller provincial towns, that it was difficult to get a coffee in a Starbucks type outlet. There seemed to be mostly bars, with no snacks on offer. So, in this regard we think that the UK has overtaken France. We now seem to have more cafes than they do, with a wider range of food and drink available.

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