Isle of Wight in Cowes week

[Monomynous]

Hi there,

We're going to the Isle of Wight for the first time in the summer. Camping for a fortnight. The best time to go for us to go includes Cowes week. Has anyone been there (or live there) during Cowes week? How busy is the rest of the island? We don't mind some busy-ness but do the roads and attractions get chocker or is it mainly confined to Cowes? We're not anti yacht racing and would probably go to take a look but don't want it negatively impacting the whole holiday when we could pick another (though less convenient for us) week.

Thanks so much!

Cowes week is HUGE amongst the sailing fraternity. it will be very busy. I would be avoiding it if I were you.

Yes, but not sure it impacts everyehere. Cowes is obviously busy and transport/roads are busy heading to Cowes but other areas are not so bad. I would have thought prices would be steep for that week though. I would rather be somewhere larger with more options for 2 weeks.

I would say go ahead and book your holiday. Cowes will be busy and accommodation anywhere in or very close to Cowes would be very expensive (and probably booked already) but I wouldn't say the rest of the island will be much busier because it's going on. The Isle of Wight will be reasonably busy just because it's August!

I don't live on the island, but I live just the other side of the Solent and I'm a sailor so I've been to Cowes many times both in Cowes week and at other times. If you do go, then it's worth visiting Cowes (the island buses are good if you don't want to take the car, but they do provide plenty of extra parking), there's loads to see and sitting on the green and watching the huge fleets of yachts finishing their races is worth seeing whether you are into sailing or not. Have a great holiday!

Thanks for the advice, very helpful :-)