UK Holiday Parks

Haven runs 38 parks, and nearly all of them are on the coast. That's its big selling point: at parks like Devon Cliffs, Perran Sands and Hafan y Môr you can be on the sand within a few minutes of leaving your caravan.

Pools, kids' clubs and the evening shows are included in the price. Some activities, like archery, climbing or crazy golf at certain parks, cost extra and are worth booking ahead in the school holidays because they fill up. Caravans are graded Saver, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with a few higher grades on some parks.

In the 2026 Which? survey, Haven came out as the cheapest of the brands rated, with a customer score of 68%. In other words: good value, but expect busy parks and fairly standard caravans at the lower grades. Haven is also adding four more Wetherspoon pubs on its parks in 2026, at Cala Gran, Lakeland, Riviere Sands and Hopton.

With 65 parks across England, Scotland and Wales, Parkdean Resorts is the largest holiday park operator in the UK by number of parks. It has more of a mix than Haven: plenty of seaside parks, but also countryside and lakeside ones, and a big presence on the Isle of Wight and in Cornwall.

The most interesting change for 2026 is its all-inclusive upgrade, now offered at 42 parks. It covers three meals a day and unlimited soft drinks, including Costa coffee, from £25 per adult and £10 per child per day, on four-night Monday to Friday breaks on selected spring and early summer dates. Our take: it makes sense if you'd eat on park most of the time anyway. If you're planning days out, you'll be paying for lunches you don't eat.

Two of its east coast parks, Vauxhall in Great Yarmouth and Highfield Grange in Clacton, reopened in spring 2026 after a £10 million refurbishment.

Park Holidays UK started in 1984 with a single park at Rye in East Sussex and now has 56, including its sister brand Park Leisure. They stretch from Cornwall to Lossiemouth on the Moray coast, but it's particularly strong in Kent, Sussex and Essex, so it's a handy option if you live in London or the south east and don't fancy a five-hour drive.

Its parks tend to be smaller and a bit calmer than the big Haven and Parkdean resorts, with entertainment and pools included. Guests clearly like many of them: 24 won Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice awards in 2026. Which? members were less convinced on value for money, though, so compare prices carefully against similar parks nearby. The company was bought by investment firm Aermont in September 2026, so it's worth keeping an eye on whether anything changes for 2027.

Butlin's is a different kind of break. It has three resorts, at Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness, and the original Skegness camp turned 90 in 2026. You stay in apartments, chalets or hotel rooms on the resort rather than in caravans, and the headline is the entertainment: big-name live shows, a fairground and an indoor pool complex, all included.

Food isn't included unless you add a dining package, and those add up quickly for a family of four, so price the whole break before you compare it with a self-catering caravan. Butlin's also runs adults-only music weekends through the autumn and winter. It scored near the bottom of the 2026 Which? survey, but plenty of families go back every year for the shows alone, so it depends on what you're after.

Worth knowing: the Ocean Spa at Bognor Regis closed permanently at the end of August 2026.

If the big names put you off, the independents are where most of the best-reviewed parks are. In the 2026 Which? survey of 2,221 holiday park guests, the top three were all smaller groups:

• Potters Resorts (83%): all-inclusive breaks with shows and activities, popular with couples and older guests.
• Hoburne Holidays (81%): parks on the south coast and in the south west, built around a quieter, less crowded feel, with pools and leisure facilities included.
• Waterside Holiday Group (80%): a family-owned group with four beachside parks in the south west, rated highly for cleanliness.

Other names worth a look include John Fowler Holidays in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks in north Devon, and Away Resorts, which leans towards lodges, live music and a younger crowd. Center Parcs, with five forest villages, was the most-visited brand in the Which? survey, though it's a forest resort rather than a traditional holiday park and priced accordingly.

The south west has more holiday parks than anywhere else in the UK, and the best beaches to go with them. In Devon, Haven Devon Cliffs sits above Sandy Bay near Exmouth and is one of the busiest parks in the country, while Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks in north Devon are a favourite for surfing families.

In Cornwall, Haven's Perran Sands overlooks the dunes at Perranporth and Riviere Sands is right on the beach near Hayle. Parkdean has Looe Bay on the south coast, and Park Holidays runs Par Sands near St Austell.

Our tip: Saturday and Friday afternoons on the A30 and M5 in August are miserable. A Monday arrival is cheaper and you'll spend less of your break in a queue near Exeter.

Dorset and Hampshire are home to some of the better-reviewed parks in the country. Hoburne has several in Dorset and the New Forest, and Haven's Rockley Park sits on Poole Harbour, which is great for watersports. Further east, Butlin's Bognor Regis is the closest of the three Butlin's resorts to London.

The Isle of Wight feels like a proper getaway even though it's only a short ferry ride away. Parkdean has three parks there: Lower Hyde on the edge of Shanklin, Thorness Bay on the quieter north coast near Cowes, and Nodes Point at St Helens.

Our tip: price the ferry before you get attached to an island park. Travelling midweek and outside the school holidays makes a big difference to crossing prices, too.

The Norfolk coast around Great Yarmouth is classic holiday park country. Haven has three parks close together at Caister, Seashore and Hopton, and Parkdean's Vauxhall park has just had a big refurbishment. Potters, the top-rated brand in the 2026 Which? survey, is at Hopton-on-Sea too.

Essex is the easy option from London. Clacton-on-Sea, Mersea Island and Harwich all have parks within a couple of hours' drive, and there's a train line to Clacton if you'd rather leave the car at home.

Worth knowing: Pontins Pakefield near Lowestoft is not currently open to holidaymakers. It's being used to house workers building the Sizewell C power station.

Skegness is where the British holiday camp started: Billy Butlin opened his first camp there in 1936, and Butlin's Skegness is still going. The Lincolnshire coast between Skegness, Ingoldmells and Mablethorpe is lined with parks, most of them aimed squarely at families on a budget.

On the Yorkshire coast, Haven's Primrose Valley and Reighton Sands near Filey are two of its most popular parks, and you're close to Scarborough, Whitby and the North York Moors for days out. The Yorkshire coast is a lot more dramatic than Lincolnshire's, with cliffs and coves rather than long flat beaches.

Blackpool has two big Haven parks, Marton Mere and Cala Gran, and they're a good fit if you want the Pleasure Beach, the illuminations and the tower all within a short drive. Further up the coast, Parkdean Ocean Edge at Heysham looks straight out over Morecambe Bay, and the sunsets are excellent.

For the Lake District, Haven's Lakeland park sits on the southern edge of the national park on the Cartmel peninsula, so you can do the fells and the lakes without paying Windermere prices.

Wales has some of the best-located parks in the UK. In the north, Haven's Hafan y Môr near Pwllheli is a good base for the Llŷn Peninsula and Snowdonia, and Lyons runs several parks along the coast around Rhyl.

In the south west, Pembrokeshire is the standout. Haven's Kiln Park is a short walk from Tenby, and Lydstep Beach sits on its own bay a few miles along the coast. Bluestone, also in Pembrokeshire, is more of a lodge resort and is consistently well reviewed.

In south Wales, Parkdean's Trecco Bay at Porthcawl is one of the largest caravan parks in Europe, and its Pendine Sands and Carmarthen Bay parks sit on the long beaches of Carmarthenshire.

Scotland's parks are spread out, so think about what you want to do on your days out before you pick one. Haven's Craig Tara near Ayr is a big, lively park on the Firth of Clyde, while its Seton Sands park in East Lothian puts you within easy reach of Edinburgh.

Further north, Parkdean's Grannie's Heilan' Hame at Dornoch backs onto one of the best beaches in the Highlands, and Park Holidays has a park at Lossiemouth on the Moray coast, which gets surprisingly good weather for that far north.

Our tip: the long summer evenings are a real bonus up here, but pack midge repellent for anywhere on the west coast from June to August.