Woolacombe bay holiday park or ruda holiday park? I can't decide

[Curlylocks1207]

Has anyone here been to either woolacombe bay holiday park or ruda holiday park? Or even better, both!
I'm looking at staying in Devon with my family in June, I love the sound of Ruda because it is so close to the beach but..... the reviews are pretty bad regarding accommodation, sounds like the caravans can be pretty rough. That is the main thing putting me off.
Woolacombe looks like a more well kept park, better accommodation and they have the outdoor pool but it sounds like it's a bit of a trek to the beach!!!!
I can't decide where to go, I love the idea of just parking up and walking to anything we want to, like the beach, a shop etc but..... I would I would be gutted if we payed quite a lot of money to end up staying scuzzy place(at ruda, so many bad reviews are about the course condition of the caravans)
I'm not too worried about having extra activities at the site, it will he handy if the weather turns out absolutely awful but I am hoping we will be lucky with the weather and we can spend more time at the beach.
Anyone that has spent time at either or both of these places would be great to hear.
It might help me actually make a decision and book somewhere before they all get booked up 😂

We went to Ruda years ago
Yes it is right on the beach , very popular with wind surfers

We went the last week of the Summer holidays and not the Holiday Parks fault but it tipped it down every day apart from the day we arrived .
The swimming pool was busy and you had to queue in one hour slots
The walk to the town had very narrow roads and sometimes no pavements .
We went to the nearest Tesco to stock up .
The rain on the caravan roof was so noisy and the seagulls stamping about .
We spent a load of time playing board games . There were activities - archery , quizzes etc
Often the sea was too rough to go in.
DC enjoyed it though !

Thanks for your reply, that is very helpful.
I didn't actually know that about the road to the village.
Also the weather has passed my mind, hopefully it will be nice in June but could also chuck it down.
Woolacombe would be better if weather is rough as more on site.
I had wondered about the sea in Ruda as its so popular with surfing and windsurfer, if its rough most of the time so not the best for kids to swim.
Kids would prob be happy anywhere hey, but as a mum these things are on my mind.
What was the food like there?
And what kind of accommodation did you have if you don't mind me asking?
Was it OK?

Have you looked at Twitchen House? Lovely walk to the beach and indoor/outdoor pool.

part of the same family of parks as Woolcombe Bay.

Not either of these sites, but Ladram Bay holiday park in Devon sounds like it would suit you

I’ve been to Woolacombe Bay twice and I’m going again in May. There’s so much for the kids to do, the pool is great and the accommodation has always been lovely.

the beach is a bit of a trek but only because it’s down a steep hill. We just jump in the car and drive down, takes 2 minutes and there’s a cheap car park at the beach. You could walk it, it just depends on the ages of the children. I was with my 75 year old mom and my 6 year old daughter so the car seemed easier!

We've been to Ruda twice, I really like it. I love just walking to the beach, everyone did a bit of body boarding in the shallows, and kids loved the sand dunes and the flat sandy beach. (People leave their body boards by the bin areas at the holiday park or by the exit to the beach rather than take them home (!) so you can easily get one for free or buy anywhere locally. I was appalled a lot the waste) We liked having the option of indoor pool and liked the site amenities. The caravans were fine from memory, one year we did the cheapest, one year a tier or two two better - they have a lot to choose from .

Not been to either holiday park, but visit the beaches there regularly. In terms of the beaches - all the North Devon beaches are good for surfing: Saunton Sands, Croyde & Woolacombe.
That said, unless the sea is rough it’s perfectly fine to swim in. Most of the surfers tend to go further out or along from the crowds. There are Life guards on each beach so you can aim to swim in between their flags.
That being said, Woolacombe beach, specifically the far end away from the town (called Putsborough Beach) as really lovely. The water is a lot shallower for longer, so great for swimming or body boarding. The surfers tend to head to the middle or further out.

I went to Ruda about 10 years ago, so my information might not be up to date.

We stayed in one of the flats next to the beach. Sadly we just had the view of the carpark.

It really wasn’t a cheap uk holiday, but really annoyed me was that after shelling out a fortune to be there was having to pay to use the swimming pool. Because it was a wet week we had to queue outside in the rain for up to an hour at a time to use the pool.

At the other end of the beach I have also been to the Unison park and that was much better value

We have been to Woolacombe a couple of times, but found Woolacombe Sands holiday park to be much more competitively priced to the Bay park. The swimming pools were nice without being over crowded

Although the walk to the beach is longer than at Ruda, the caravan also had a sea view, which was a bonus over the Car park view we had at Ruda.

Woolacombe sands is much closer to the centre than Woolacombe bay. Very clean and good facilities

Thanks for everyone's comments. Even after reading them all I still can't decide 😅 😂
It sounds like either will be nice from what you have all said.
Landrum bay looks absolutely lovely but a bit more pricier then what I was thinking but will definitely remember that one for the future.

I went to Ruda last year and it was ok! Check in was a bit of a nightmare and the entertainment/bar area gets sooo busy in the evening as it is quite small for the size of the park. I believe it has been taken over by John fowler recently so I am not sure what changes will happen because of that. We never walked to the village as it was down a country path and the beach I would say that I preferred woolacombe beach to Croyde beach though, so I’d probably stay closer to that, as it had more facilities near by (ice cream shops, lunch places, beach shops) so better with children.

@jade3081 I have looked at the twitchen site, also looks nice.
I watched a video on YouTube of the walk through the woods to the beach, the wall does look lovely.
Realistically how long does the walk take?
Because on the website it says that the walk from the woolacombe site is shorter (15mins) but is apparently a lot steeper.
I had wondered if we stayed at the woolacombe site then could just park at the twitchen site for the day and walk from there 🤔
The reason I thought about staying at the woolacombe site over twitchen is because of the view. But the walk to the beach does look nicer from there

Do they still run the bus from Woolacombe Bay? We've stayed at Twitchen many times (but not in the last year or so) and when the kids were younger we bought passes for the week and generally walked down to the beach and caught the bus back. It went to Woolacombe Bay as well on a circular route.

@Twintrouble1234 do you mean a local bus?
The site doesn't have their own bus if that's what you mean. I asked them about this as I had seen other people saying about buying a ticket for the week and it can take you between sites or to the beach.
I haven't looked up local buses but I will do that.
I am even more torn now, it's a mindfield looking at different sites, working out how far from a beach, different accommodation prices.
Have even looked at Cornwall now.
Am kind of stressing myself out I think because I am just wanting to have a lovely time with my kids and trying to find the perfect solution to keep all happy. I have a 4, 6 and 11 year old and possibly my 17 year old step daughter so all wanting different things and there will be complaining about having to walk far to the beach from some of them.
If it was just me I would happily hike every day to get to an amazing beach.
I think I will just go with woolacombe bay now, so tired of looking and I guess there is a but of everything there and near by.

@Curlylocks1207 I think it’s was a 10 min walk but you are at the opposite side of the beach to the town., but close to the place on the beach that serves amazing curry!

we went during school summer hols so didn’t want to be messing round with car parking etc

We went to Woolacombe bay two years ago. It was clean, and kids liked the pools, the food was decent too. I don’t recall the beach being a trek. I think we just went in the car. The kids liked the bingo. All in all we had no complaints

Go to Woolacombe every year. Stayed at the park too. It’s a great place honestly for kids. The beach there is really well lifeguarded too and the facilities being in front of the town are great. The Jube pub and others very family friendly and the site itself is really clean, well run with lovely views. Ilfracombe tunnel beaches is a great day out but you need to hit it at low tide really.

Thanks, looks like woolacombe bay is the place to go. It does seem to tick all the boxes. And what I am thinking is, you just never know the weather. Am hoping it will be a beach day everyday but if the weather is not good then lots there to keep kids happy

Trying to decide on accommodation there now.
Obviously a lot cheaper to get a silver caravan but want a balcony so I think to step up to gold with a balcony is an extra £200

Go gold, the balcony is really nice. I did go platinum there I think but one thing I would say is the chalets are nice and spacious (only two bed though)