The best UK holiday parks – and the worst-rated

The best UK holiday park isn’t popular Center Parcs or heavyweights Butlin’s or Haven, according to our latest survey. Instead, lesser-known names took the top spots.

Some of the best resorts offer a range of luxuries and entertainment – from safari lodges with hot tubs to elaborate water slides and spas.

But if you prefer a more traditional break with static caravans and 2p slot machines, there are some great budget options, too — if you know which brand to choose.

More than 1,700 Which? members rated their visits to holiday parks and resorts in the past two years, and the results suggest you should avoid some of the big-name brands.

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Best and worst UK holiday parks and resorts rated

The best holiday park in the UK: Potters Resorts, 87%

Beating household names to the top of the table is Potters Resorts. Operating for more than 100 years, Potters has two resorts, in Essex and Norfolk. Guests stay in bungalows, hotel rooms or suites, while facilities include a boating lake and a rifle-shooting range. Activities and West End-inspired entertainment are also part of the package – both rated five stars by visitors.

Although expensive, with guests telling us they paid £110 per person per night (pppn) on average, they thought it was a good deal, awarding Potters four stars for value for money. This sense of value is likely due to both resorts being all-inclusive, and that covers alcoholic drinks too.

One happy camper praised the ‘endless activities and fantastic shows’, while others raved about the staff, with one reporting, ‘They do everything to make you feel welcome.’

It narrowly missed out on WRP status due to its cancellation terms, which did not align with those of other WRPs.

Which? verdict: Potters is an upscale affair with absolutely everything included.

Book a holiday at Potters Resorts

Well-rated UK holiday park: Forest Holidays, 80%

• Which? Recommended Provider

With log cabins and treehouses to choose from, this Which? Recommended Provider offers forest escapes in 13 scenic woodland locations across the UK.

Food, drinks and activities aren’t included in its self-catering parks. Despite that, Forest Holidays’ accommodation will still set you back £63pppn, but that’s probably because every lodging comes with a hot tub. One satisfied customer said of the log cabins: ‘They are well distanced, so you are not disturbed, and the quietness and beauty of the forest make it feel very tranquil.’

The cleanliness and quality of the accommodation were big hits, securing four out of five stars. although for value for money it scored a middling three stars.

Activities are low-key and include nature walks, kayaking and cycling. One guest said: 'It's possibly not a holiday for anyone looking for constant entertainment and activities like [at] Center Parcs. However, if you like long walks with your dog through forests and quiet paths, hill walking, cycling or just a bit of peace and quiet, it's ideal.’ This pared-back approach explains the three-star rating Forest Holidays got for entertainment, although it scored four for the quality of its cabins, cleanliness and customer service.

Which? Verdict: Perfect for a relaxing break in nature, but the hot tub lodgings ramp up the cost

Book with Forest Holidays

Top-rated holiday park in Wales: Bluestone Wales, 77%

• Which? Recommended Provider

Founder William McNamara originally opened his dairy farm to guests in the 1980s when milk quotas threatened his livelihood. Today, this single five-star resort has expanded to a sprawling 500 acres within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Choose from spa, family or adventure breaks with a climbing wall, high ropes course and a range of watersports. There’s a Serendome with sand pits, skywalks and wacky races under a giant transparent roof, catering for kids.

You’ll pay for most activities, but a few are thrown in, such as the water splash area and play park. It gained four stars for the variety of facilities on offer but just three for the amount that are free, which perhaps contributed to its three-star value-for-money rating. Still, its range of woodland lodges and colourful terrace cottages garnered four stars, as did its customer service and cleanliness. One said: ‘Can’t wait to go back.’

Which? verdict: There may be just one resort, but families needn’t venture anywhere else.

Book with Bluestone Wales 

Well-rated holiday parks in Cornwall, Dorset and Devon

Waterside Holiday Group, 74%

• Which? Recommend Provider

A small regional brand, Waterside Holiday Group has four parks in total – three in Dorset, one in Cornwall. Each park is a little bit different: for example, Osmington is grown-up, with a country club, gym and swimming pool, while Chesil Vista has a splash pool, soft play and lots of other kids’ facilities.

The caravans are as classy as they come – they're comfortably wide, with central heating and double glazing, plus fully equipped kitchens and widescreen TVs. You can also choose a lodge, an apartment, or even glamp in a safari lodge with a private hot tub.

At £69pppn on average, though, you pay for the privilege of more upscale accommodation – and that price doesn't include any food. There are on-site bars and restaurants, but not everyone was impressed. Members gave it three out of five stars for food, with one disgruntled guest explaining they weren’t happy with the ‘high cost and poor quality of the food’.

Still, most were satisfied overall, which saw it land four out of five stars for value for money. 'It was the cleanest and best maintained holiday park we have been to,’ one holidaymaker said.

Which? Verdict: A decently-rated caravan experience in beautiful coastal locations. 

Book with Waterside Holiday Group

Prefer holiday cottages to holiday parks? Look at the best and worst-rated holiday let providers – as rated by members.

The most popular UK holiday park: Center Parcs, 69%

The most visited brand in Which?’s survey, Center Parcs has become famous for its ‘dependable’ and ‘consistent’ family-friendly forest holidays.

It has five UK parks: Elvedon Forest, Suffolk; Longleat Forest, Wiltshire; Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Whinfell Forest, Cumbria; and Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire, which provide a wide range of activities, from wildlife trails and zip lines to watersports and cycling. Rainy days are also well catered for with spa treatments, in-village shopping and free use of an indoor tropical pool.

The brand received largely favourable reviews but failed to deliver value for money – it received just two stars in this category. Survey respondents reported spending an average of £79pppn on accommodation, making it the most expensive option not to include food or drinks in the price.

It also only scored two stars for the variety of free facilities on offer. One guest said: ‘We could not use a lot of the activities because we could not afford to do so’. Still it received four stars in many other categories, including customer service, quality and variety of children’s activities and quality of accommodation.

Which? Verdict: Excellent facilities and lodgings, but it’s pricey, with only the pool and parks included.

Book with Center Parcs 

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Best value for money holiday parks

 Cheap and well-rated holiday parks:

• Hoburne Holidays, 75%, £47pppn (Which? Recommended Provider)
• Hoseasons, 74%, £46pppn

This year,  Hoburne Holidays and Hoseasons were the best options if you're on a tight budget. They were two of the cheapest parks that scored highly in our survey, and both were awarded four stars for value for money. 

Hoburne Holidays, however, passed checks to see it become a Which? Recommended Provider – and it gained the same star ratings or better than Hoseasons in every category (where there were ratings available).

Book with WRP Hoburne Holidays

Book with Hoseasons

Worst-rated holiday park: Pontins, 56%

You’ll get what you pay for at Pontins, which, despite being cheap (£38pppn), only scraped two stars for value for money.

The iconic holiday park, founded in 1946, was taken over by Britannia Hotels in 2011, the worst-rated firm in the Which? annual hotel chains survey for 11 years running.

After recent closures, Pontins now has just two remaining sites in Suffolk and Somerset.

It received the lowest score in our survey for its chalet-style accommodation – two stars – also falling down on its cleanliness and the quality of its food and drink.

One unhappy customer said: ‘The furnishings were extremely tired, the chairs and beds were incredibly uncomfortable, and the grounds within the complex were mostly overgrown.’  

Which? Verdict: Cheap but not cheerful

Discover more about Pontins