The Premier Inn on Sandown seafront is the clear winner if you want the feeling of a seaside holiday. It's also the newest of the three so it's got a nice shiny feel to it.

Some of the rooms have sea views over the lovely sandy beach and it's close enough to the water so you can hear the waves at high tide. 

If you're not bringing a car, it's a good choice. You can get a train to Portsmouth then hop on the Wightlink foot passenger ferry or the Hovercraft (from Southsea). Both link up with the trainline which connects to Sandown. The Premier Inn is an 11 minute walk from Sandown railway station, or perhaps a bit longer if you're dragging bags.

Sandown is a traditional stick-of-rock sort of seaside resort with a pier full of fruit machines and minigolf. It isn't as posh as somewhere like Bembridge or Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight but it's well equipped with lots of family friendly things to do, such as a dinosaur museum, an animal sanctuary, a large playground, bouncy nets and watersports on the beach. Personally, I prefer Shanklin seafront to Sandown seafront as the former has a better choice of restaurants on the seafront but Sandown has plenty of good points too.

Another plus point is that the restaurant at the Premier Inn on Sandown seafront has a restaurant which does evening meals, whereas Premier Inn's hotel at Merrie Gardens doesn't do evening meals (see #2).

It also has a better choice of room types than the Premier Inn at Merrie Gardens. As well as standard rooms, there are accessible rooms, family rooms and twin rooms.

We carried out a number of price comparisons for weekend breaks for a couple during 2021 and 2022. For some weekends, all three Premier Inns were the same price but at other times there was a notable difference. The Premier Inn Sandown Seafront was either the cheapest or second cheapest on each search we carried out. 

The main downside of the Premier Inn on Sandown seafront is the lack of parking. The Premier Inn website recommends parking in the Isle of Wight Council pay and display car park on St John's Road which is about four minutes walk away. However, that's a short stay car park so you can't stay longer than three hours during the day. A better bet is the long stay car park which links up Station Avenue and York Road (there's a map here). It'll cost you about £7 a day or £50 a week to park here. 

To save you running back and forth to the car park with a fist full of change, there is a Paybyphone app which we've used before.

If you're lucky, you'll find some on street parking just along from the Premier Inn, but I wouldn't bank on it during summer.

During the winter, you will probably find some free parking so it's less of an issue. From November to February, a lot of on street parking on the Isle of Wight is free. Free! Whatever next!

As I write this, the Premier Inn on Sandown Seafront has a fairly low review score on TripAdvisor. However, it has only been open a few weeks and there are only a handful of reviews so it is probably fairer to included a link to the reviews here so you can get more up to date information. The lack of parking has been raised by early reviewers.

Pros: lovely seaside location, good choice of rooms, onsite restaurant, low prices, accessible by public transport.
Cons: the lack of parking is a big inconvenience.

The Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) isn't actually in Sandown. Sorry, I probably should have told you to sit down before breaking the news to you.

It's actually in Lake which is a village/suburb which joins up Sandown and Shanklin. You'll find the Premier Inn off a roundabout near an Aldi and a KFC. It's about as picturesque a location as it sounds. 

However, whilst it lacks the seafront appeal of the Premier Inn Sandown Seafront, it does have plenty of good points so I don't write it off.

Perhaps most significantly, it gets the best customer reviews of the three Isle of Wight Premier Inn, at the time of writing. It scores 4.5/5 on TripAdvisor whilst the Newport Premier Inn scores 4/5. As mentioned earlier, the Sandown Seafront Premier Inn is very new so it hasn't had many reviews but you can check review scores here.

Rather appealingly, the Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) has free parking whereas the Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) doesn't have parking (as mentioned two minutes earlier). 

It has a smaller range of room types - there aren't family rooms or twin rooms. There also isn't an onsite restaurant, although there is a pub almost next door which is a separate business. Lake itself doesn't have many places to eat (unless you want to risk a takeaway) but nearby Shanklin seafront has a good choice of restaurants with a view. The Isle of Wight is blessed with lots of excellent places to eat for those who are able to explore by car.

Although it's certainly not a coastal hotel, the Premier Inn in Lake is just about walkable to the beach. It's about 25 minutes walk to Dunroamin Beach which is sometimes known as Lake beach. It's actually a really lovely beach, which is sandy but isn't anywhere near as busy as Sandown or Shanklin because it's harder to access. 

If you're coming via public transport then you can get the train from Ryde Pierhead or Ryde Esplanade to Lake. The Premier Inn is about 15 minutes walk from the railway station.

In our price comparisons, the Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) was occasionally the cheapest of the three but was mostly a mid-priced option.

Pros: the best reviews, free parking and accessible by public transport.
Cons: no evening restaurant and it's in the least picturesque location​.

Premier Inn's original hotel on the Isle of Wight is their Newport branch. Over the years it has hosted lots of the acts from the Isle of Wight Festival as it is located in Seaclose Park. Paul McCartney turned his Premier Inn room into a 'mini Morocco' according to the Daily Mail whilst the Prodigy 'left their hotel rooms in tatters' according to the Mirror. I was a little surprised that Paul McCartney didn't rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight but perhaps it was too dear (Ed: groan...).

I would normally caution that Newport is not a picturesque location as it's the only inland town on the Isle of Wight. However, the Premier Inn sits alongside the River Medina so it does have some nice watery views and it's surrounded by a park. 

The advantage of staying in the middle of the Isle of Wight is that you can reach anywhere in about 25-30 minutes by car, whereas if you stay in Sandown and decide to visit The Needles you'd be driving for 50 minutes or longer if you get stuck behind a tractor.

The other advantages of the Newport Premier Inn are that it's got free parking and has an onsite restaurant which beats the other two Premier Inns on the Isle of Wight (Merrie Gardens doesn't have a restaurant whilst Sandown seafront doesn't have parking).

It also has a better choice of rooms than Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens). As well as double or accessible rooms, you can also have twin and family rooms.

If you're coming by public transport then the Premier Inn in Newport is reasonably convenient. 

You can get a bus from the foot passenger ferries in Ryde which will drop you off about five minutes walk from the Premier Inn in Newport. For days out, you'll mostly be walking 15 minutes to Newport bus station. Newport has the biggest and best connected bus station on the Isle of Wight, so that's something.

It scores 4/5 on TripAdvisor, which is slightly behind the Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens).

In our price comparisons, we found that the Premier Inn Newport was never the cheapest option of the three Isle of Wight Premier Inn hotels. However, for the dates that were long in the future it was equal cheapest or not far behind the other two.

Pros: free parking, riverside setting, onsite restaurant
Cons: not near the beach, slightly more expensive in several price comparisons

Tapnell Farm Park has always been one of our top recommendations for toddlers and junior school aged children, as it's got a good mix of things like soft play, pedal go karts, minigolf, animals and trampolines. Most of it wouldn't really have been of much interest to teenagers until the owners wisely built the Isle of Wight Aqua Park alongside the farm park. They are separate attractions but if you have two adults in the party then you'll be able to split in half and do a bit of both.

Once you have squeezed the juice out of those, I would head to nearby Freshwater Bay, which is a stony beach which is good for a picnic or for exploring. At low tide, head round the corner past the big hotel and there's a second beach where you can climb on the rocks and parents can shout things like "be careful!" and "if you sprain your ankle, I'll be livid!".

Families who like a walk can head up the hill to the Tennyson Monument, although there's a high risk of teenagers complaining about this bit or getting too close to the cliff edge.

There's a good selection of modest sized attractions along the seafront in Sandown, at the Yaverland end of the beach. Some will be more suited to younger children whilst other stuff should be suitable for the older ones. If you combine a few of them it will fill a day.

Sandham Gardens has got a good sized playground, a sports court/skate park and an impressive minigolf course with dinosaurs and a puffing volcano. There are also bouncy nets which will certainly appeal to the younger ones and might appeal to teenagers depending on their mood. 

Nearby, there is Wildheart Animal Sanctuary (previously called Isle of Wight Zoo) and Dinosaur Isle. The former will take you a couple of hours, the latter will take you about an hour. There's also a 'family golf course' called Browns. It isn't the same as minigolf, it's more of a relaxed pitch and putt in a nice seaside setting. As I write this, it is changing hands but there are plans to re-open it.

We like The Bandstand restaurant at Sandham Gardens but there are other choices.

Alum Bay and The Needles isn't to everyone's taste but I reckon there is something for most age groups, so I would head there in the morning. It's one of the windiest locations in the UK, so find a day when it isn't too blowy.

Younger children will enjoy the mini amusements and ride or filling up a plastic teddy bear shape with sand. Older children will probably enjoy the chairlift and the boat trip out to the Needles. Old dears will enjoy the National Trust's Old Battery which has a tunnel dug out into the rocks and terrific views.

In the afternoon, stick with the West Wight and head for Compton Bay which was named as one of the world's best beaches by the Sunday Times Travel Magazine.

A good day out at Compton Bay requires the perfect alignment of sunshine, moderately sized waves and a low tide. It doesn't need to be a very low tide, but at high tide there isn't much beach. I suggest that you start looking at the forecasts on your first day and figure out which day is your best bet. Plan your week around the beach days and then fill in the rest of the days with the attractions.

Once you've found the ideal time to visit, get hold of a bodyboard or two. They're about £30 each from Amazon or you can find them in some beachside shops around the Isle of Wight. Our relatives got some from the beach shop at Yaverland last time, but there are other places.

Park in the main Compton Bay car park with the toilet block and ice cream van but turn right at the bottom of the steps and walk along the beach for a couple of hundred metres. The section nearer the steps is rocky and it's also not wise to sit right underneath the taller cliffs without a crash helmet.

If it's low tide, we like to build a sandcastle, kick a football, play rounders and fly a kite. 

If it's not too busy you can light a barbecue, but a) don't do this if it's full of people as a slight breeze will suffocate the rest of the the beach and b) take your rubbish home rather than burying your used barbecue in the sand.

You can't take dogs on this beach in the summer months and anyone who attempts to will be dragged back to the ferry.

You might not want to do all of these things in one day, as it could end up pretty expensive but they're all good options for a grey day.

Monkey Haven is an award winning attraction which is relatively small but which will fill an hour or two. 

The cinema is a good size with 11 screens and is ideal for a grey day. The same complex has a KFC, a Burger King and a Pizza Hut which might keep everyone happy. Serendipitously, there's also a gym between Pizza Hut and Burger King.

Towards Ryde is a go kart track, which has race options for children and teenagers. 

For another beach day, I would try some different watersports. Again, planning around the weather is the key so look at the forecast and organise your week around them. Kayaking in a gale is not enjoyable and paddleboarding on chopping waters is like a ride on a bucking bronco. Ideally, you want very calm water and sunshine.

There are a few watersports hire places on the Isle of Wight, but the main ones are Tackt Isle in St Helens and Wight Water in Lake/Dunroamin. 

Personally, I would go for St Helens unless you are staying near to Lake as the water is very shallow at St. Helens. More adventurous kayakers might want to venture round to the beautiful beach of Priory Bay but if you're a first timer than keep it simple and stay in your depth. For younger children, parents may just want to stand in the water and hold onto the boat whilst the children squeal with excitement every time a tiny wave passes them.

Alternatively, if you don't want to try watersports then you could visit the beach at Appley. The seafront has a couple of playgrounds for the younger members of the party and a good amount of space for ball games for the older ones.

For teenagers, invest £20-£30 in a stunt kite with two handles rather than a 99p piece of rubbish with Spiderman on it. The feeling of nearly being lifted off your feet by a good kite might even make a teenager smile. 

This is a bit of a risky day which involves an activity which could go either way.

In the morning, head to Shanklin seafront and try to find somewhere to park. You may need to adopt an aggressive driving stance.

The amusement arcade is better than average and will fill an hour with most ages of children. I highly recommend agreeing a budget before embarking on an expensive journey collecting yellow tickets.

The seafront also has several minigolf courses which are nicely done and which will fill a bit of time. There are plenty of places to eat on the seafront.

In the afternoon, I would travel to nearby Ventnor and do the Treasure Trail which goes from Ventnor to Steephill Cove. Technically speaking, this is a walk (hence the warning about it being risky) but the combination of the sea views, the treasure hunt theme and the availability of ice creams at both ends of the walk should get you through it. 

We did this Treasure Trail in the howling wind and rain and still enjoyed it (to an extent). It was so cold that we started rummaging in the car for anything that we could improvise as an extra layer. My sister-in-law did the entire walk wearing a picnic blanket as a shawl and I wore a buoyancy aid under my coat so that I looked like a bodybuilder.