UK Caravan holiday’s, affordable fun or the pits?

[Slowdownyouredoingfine]

My (young) kids love them. Lots for them to do, most affordable way to get away during the school holidays. I went a lot as a kid and always had fun so it might be a bit of nostalgia for me, but some people seem to hate them. A lot of judgment around the type of people that go (some truth to that.) What do you think? Are they that bad? 🤣 Would/Have you gone on one?

Well our caravan holiday has just cost us £870 for the week, that’s absolutely ridiculous!

My teeth are itching reading the title.... someone please come and remove the apostrophe for me

My kids love staying in a tourer on holiday parks with their grandparents. Cleethorpes and Thornwick Bay are big hits. Probably because grandparents book them in to loads of activities, climbing, water sports, take them to the beach, treat them to sweets and ice creams and then make a big deal of the evening entertainment…grandma loves a dance!!! Completely not my thing, but even at 10 and 12 they’re already looking forward to this years summer trip! We have a motor home so do trips several times a year but typically stay on less commercial sites and do beach days, walking, biking, sightseeing type day outs, with a focus on being outdoors and enjoying nature.

Our dc loved a haven holiday back in the day. Dh and I booked a last minute break on a holiday park last year. We booked a lodge style caravan. It was huge and had everything you could need including a dishwasher and washer dryer. Full sized bath and walk in wardrobes. It’s just the constant noise on these parks that’s the problem but to be expected. We are going again this year though as it was really good value for money

I can't lie - we absolutely love our Haven holidays in Porthmadog.
We opt for the best grade caravan we can (opted for Gold this year and paid £15 extra so that we can have a washing machine in the caravan - I'm a bit of a laundry freak and love doing the washing, plus it means coming home with clean clothes ready to put away) and we don't bother with the play passes as we always find loads of things to do off-park such as days on the beach, exploring caves, country drives, visiting castles, the harbour etc.
Just returned from a 3 day break in Pwllheli and we're off to Porthmadog for a week in June and then again in September - I just love the easy drive, no passports, no waiting around terminals, no delays etc.
I think I was put off going abroad because every time I used to, there were always delays regardless of how we travelled and I'm an impatient sod.

It's ok if you get the double bed. The tiny singles are alright for small children but no fun as an adult.

Affordable fun!although we stay in the higher end accommodation at Haven a few times a year so more amenities such as washing machine.You get a larger caravan too.

I've been on three caravan holidays...

One as a child with my family, freezing cold in Ilfracombe at Easter, fog and nothing to do. Couldn't wait to go home.

One as a student with 11 other students. Cold, wet but brilliant

One as a group of friends in my late 20s, Glorious weather, horse riding in the New Forest, again brilliant

Love Porthmadog and Pwllheli. Our oldest is trying to convince me to cancel our man holiday booked to go back again this year 😅

What sort of prices are you paying for a week? I’m not a caravan person and prefer a basic s/c holiday in France. You can find small houses for c€500/week. Ok you’ve got travel costs too.

I can’t think of anything worse - even as a kid I would have hated that kind of environment.

I never went in a caravan holiday growing up but I did go through an approximate five year phase of taking my DC on one each year for about 5 years. We went on lots of other holidays and then added a caravan (Haven ) holiday. They were fun, we were fortunate to have a big budget for activities, days and dinners out and we’re mostly lucky with the weather in a UK summer type of way.

I loved them as a kid.

my kids loved them when small. Very child friendly holidays especially if close enough to a beach that you can pop out to the beach and back multiple times in one day.

we’ve actually got a caravan holiday booked for Easter on the Norfolk coast - I do a lot of walls swimming and love the idea of being able to swim every day by just walking (wheelchair ing) down to the beach and my mum is looking forward to all the bird watching. Dd is planning on lying on the beach in the (hopeful!) sunshine.

we’re actually considering buying a static.

We have been on a number of caravan holidays - I think they are great, especially if you have children or a dog (or both)! We tend to do a mix of self catering and eating out/takeaways. Now that the children are grown up we go and stay mid-week. Even if the weather is not good we always find plenty to do (being National Trust members). Out of season you can easily get four nights for less than £100.

We have a static that we use regularly year round in addition to holidays elsewhere at home and abroad.

So, definitely not the pits.

Honestly don’t buy a static. They are money pits.

A caravan they sell you for £20k even if you sold it back one year later will only be 5k tops. Gas, electric, water, electrical test, gas safety, insurance, drain down as some want it professional(read more £££ in their pocket). If you are on bottle gas most sites will only let you buy from them which again they mark up. Decking the same. Good pitches with good views can be 6k a year rent more in some places.

Unless you’re personally going to be there as a second home every weekend and holidays or you plan to build some kind of rental empire it’s just not worth it.

Some sites have age limits and those 20k caravans will be close to the end of their lives you’ll need to upgrade to a 40k-100k one. Also the rent to off set costs if you let the site do it will take every good date of the year leaving you with the scraps and often damage promised to be fixed.

It’s an unregulated business with a license to print money for the land owners. Even if you buy on a little private site that’s fine to start till they sell up to a large corp and then you’re snookered again.

We've booked to go away to a Haven Park. 2 adults and 2 teens. The teens actually asked if we could do a caravan holiday again.

The caravan looks pretty spacious and we've made sure everyone has their own bedroom.

We don't intend to stay on site all of the time and we'll be out sightseeing most of the days. I'm really seeing it as base with a pool, amusement arcade and a bit of evening entertainment if we fancy it.

Fingers crossed that it's not crap.

Ah thank you.

that’s good to know.
it would be for the whole family so for my mum and my (moved out, adult) ds and me and dd. I can see between the three adults it getting quite a lot of use but yeah. The site fees look… interesting.

Honestly don’t buy a static. They are money pits.

That isn’t a given. Ours doesn’t owe us much.

It cost £1800 twenty years ago and has a few more years left in it yet.

You’ve been lucky and must be on a private site.

Im talking about the big known brand named sites.

Our little private site got sold to a big named one and everything changed.

edit to add. And yes I agree loads of life in most statics but again big named sites don’t like over a certain age as they say for appearances (again read money in their pocket)

The worst one I ever looked at said they only allowed vans under 10’years. Most seemed to say 15years.

We went to Haven in Perranporth most years when the kids were young, usually in June or September to it was cheap and the kids loved it.
The entertainment in the evening was handy for us too, the kids could run around with other kids while we sat and had a drink.
I'm not a fan of hotels anyway so would never choose that kind of holiday, I like more than just one room and having to find places to eat out all the time so we tend to stick to holiday cottages or a caravan.

We've since bought our own static in mid Wales on lovely quiet site now the kids are a bit older and we are restricted to term times and love it, it's a home from home.
We do around 60- 70 nights there every year then hire a van near the sea for a week.

It's not the caravan itself that makes a holiday good or bad it's the site you choose.

I loved caravan holidays as a child but i will never stop in a caravan again. I went on a caravan holiday a few years ago and it was awful. The on site restaurant was a rip off. I did try some restaurants nearby but they were not much better. I ended up cooking and the caravan cooker was really slow. I would have been better off going to work unpaid.

we go camping but not in a caravan - when we camp we try to avoid the mobile home lot....

Where is that for? It seems really high, I was looking for seven nights in August and highest price I was quoted was £600 and I thought was high. That’s a crazy amount.

We camp too, so the mobile home lot might be closer than you think.