Which Isle of Wight Premier Inn is best?

14/6/2021

The Isle of Wight now has three Premier Inn hotels. The newest one opened on Sandown seafront in 2021 whilst the Lake/Merrie Gardens opened in 2016 and Newport Premier Inn has been there for a few years.

To avoid confusion, I'll refer to them by their proper names which are Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront), Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) and Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight). They are all on the Isle of Wight but the last one includes the 'Isle of Wight' name to save people accidentally booking a week's holiday in South Wales - although I'm sure that would be lovely too.

But which is the best Premier Inn on the Isle of Wight?

If you just want the summary then we think that:

Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) has the best views and beach access by far and it has family rooms and twin rooms as well doubles and accessible rooms. However, the lack of parking is annoying so it's best if you are coming by public transport.
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) isn't in a nice location and it doesn't have family rooms or twin rooms. However, it has free parking and it gets the best reviews. It's a good choice if you are bringing a car and aren't bothered about the lack of an onsite restaurant.
Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) has nice riverside views and an onsite restaurant but it's the furthest from the sea. It was also the most expensive in our price comparisons. However, it has free parking and is well placed for exploring the whole Island in a week.

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Sandown Seafront

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Sandown Merrie Gardens

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Premier Inn Newport

Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront)

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 newest Premier Inn is near to Sandown Pier and has great views

It has family rooms, which aren't an option at nearby Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens)

Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens)

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 Sandown (Merrie Gardens) isn't in a pretty location but it gets terrific reviews

The hotel is about 25 minutes walk from Dunroamin Beach

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight)

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

Newport's Premier Inn isn't by the sea but it has riverside views...

...and it has a restaurant, which you don't get with the Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens)

Our Price COmparisons of Premier Inn Hotels on the ISle of Wight

For a rough idea of prices, we searched for a Friday to Monday weekend break for a couple in the cheapest room available. We searched in June 2021 and found the following price:

Three nights for two people in mid-July 2021

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £206
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £179
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £173

Late September 2021

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £231
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £164
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £165

Early October 2021

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £181
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £106
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £170

Early November 2021

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £87
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £87
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £87

Early April 2022

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £124
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £124
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £105

Early May 2022

Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) £120
Premier Inn Sandown (Merrie Gardens) £120
Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) £105

As you can see, there are some dates where the prices are the same or very similar at all three Isle of Wight Premier Inns. For the nearer dates, the Premier Inn Newport (Isle of Wight) tends to be the most expensive. The Premier Inn Sandown (Seafront) is the cheapest for the dates which are a long way away, which suggests to me that it has a cheaper starting price than the other two, perhaps because of the added cost of paying for parking.

Side by Side - how do the Isle of Wight's Premier Inn's compare?

Premier Inn name/ facilities	Sandown (Seafront)	Sandown (Merrie Gardens)	Newport
Free parking?	No (pay and display, 5 minutes walk)	Yes	Yes
Near the beach?	10 seconds walk	25 minute walk	No, but it's near the river
Value for money?	Generally the cheapest	Generally mid-priced	Generally more expensive
Types of room available	All types, including double, twin, family and accessible	Only has double and accessible rooms	All types, including double, twin, family and accessible
Onsite restaurant?	Yes	No, but it does breakfast	Yes
Customer reviews	Too early to say (at the time of writing)	4.5/5 on Trip Advisor	4/5 on Trip Advisor
Public transport links	11 minutes walk to Sandown railway station	15 minutes walk to Lake railway station	15 minutes walk to Newport bus station

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Premier Inn hotels

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