Which Isle of Wight holiday park should I stay in?

There are more than 20 holiday parks on the Isle of Wight, and many more if you include those that just do camping and touring rather than static caravans and lodges. Needless to say, they vary massively, but here's our guide to which ones are most likely to suit you, depending on whether you are after a low-cost raucous family holiday or a chance to escape the smartphone and live the simple life.

Best Isle of Wight holiday parks for family friendly facilities

If your family holidays are akin to transporting a circus complete with wild animals then I would plump for a busy holiday park with lots of facilities for children.

In my view, Lower Hyde Holiday Park has the biggest range of facilities, and it is also well located for the sandy beaches and old fashioned attractions at the seaside resorts of Sandown and Shanklin.

Sandown is a peerless seaside resort, although it isn't pierless

Lower Hyde itself has indoor and outdoor swimming pools (the former being a holiday-saver if it decides to rain on the first day of your holiday), with various activities involving rafts and the like.

There is also a sauna and spa at Lower Hyde, although you are doing a much cleverer job of parenting than us if you actually manage to use such things with children in tow. Lower Hyde also has an adventure playground, Boathouse restaurant and bar, launderette, darts and pool. They also put on things like football tournaments and archery (no shooting of siblings allowed), as well as evening entertainment.

Lower Hyde certainly isn't the only Isle of Wight holiday park though with family friendly facilities, so I would also consider:

Whitecliff Bay near Bembridge (indoor and outdoor pool, indoor soft play, adventure playground)
Nodes Point near St Helen's (indoor swimming pool, sports court, adventure playground, restaurant)
Thorness Bay near Cowes (indoor pool, sports court, adventure playground, restaurant)
Landguard near Shanklin (indoor and outdoor pool, playground, restaurant)
Orchards Holiday Park in Newbridge (indoor and outdoor swimming pool, play area, pool and table tennis)
Colwell Bay Holiday Cottages (indoor swimming pool, tennis court, children's play area)
Rookley Country Park (indoor and outdoor swimming pools, fishing lakes, bike hire, playground)
West Bay Club (indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, squash, badminton, gym, spa treatments, surfing and paddleboarding lessons)

It's worth having a read of our guide to Which Isle of Wight Town Should I Stay In? if you aren't familiar with the different parts of the Island.

Best Isle of Wight holiday park for cheap accommodation

If you are transporting a family of 11 children, three grandparents and an odd 'uncle' who isn't related to anyone, then finding the cheapest holiday park on the Isle of Wight may be high up on your list of priorities.

We did a price comparison for our top 10 holiday park guide to holiday parks and found that prices for a family of six for a week in August 2016 ranged from £423 to £1668 - although it is worth saying that there is often a big difference in the quality of the accommodation and facilities on offer (we searched in May 2016).

Nodes Point is near to St Helen's beach

We only looked at one week and went for the cheapest option for 6 people without comparing quality, but for what it's worth the top 10 cheapest Isle of Wight holiday parks were:

Fairway Holiday Park - £423 (pool and play area, 3 out of 5 on TripAdvisor)
Silver Glades Caravan Park - £530 (woodland setting, simple facilities)
Sunnycott Caravan Park - £554 (quiet holiday park, simple facilities)
Rookley Country Park - £615 (swimming pools, play areas, restaurant, bike hire)
Waverley Park - £645 (outdoor play, play area)
Fort Holiday Park - £669 (near Sandown, simple facilities)
Thorness Bay Holiday Park - £729 (busy Park Resorts/Parkdean Resorts site with indoor swimming pool, sports court, bar)
Sandhills Holiday Park- £735 (near Whitecliff Bay, simple facilities)
Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park - £739 (outdoor pool, play area, crazy golf)
Landguard Holiday Park £799 and Lower Hyde Holiday Park £799 - (both are busy Park Resorts holiday parks with swimming pools, restaurants, entertainment and playgrounds)

We did a similar price comparison for Isle of Wight campsites and found prices for a family of four ranged from £140 to £313.

Again, we only looked at one week in August in 2016, but this time it was for 4 people camping. We went for the cheapest option (no extras, such as electric hookups) so it's only a rough comparison. Anyway, the 10 cheapest Isle of Wight campsites in our comparison were:

Chine Farm Camping Site - £140 (West Wight location, simple facilities)
Carpenters Farm - £147 (East Wight, simple facilities)
Kite Hill Farm - £154 (near Wootton, simple facilities)
Stoats Farm - £161 (West Wight, simple facilities)
Brighstone Holiday Centre - £182 (West Wight, heidi hi campsite, simple facilities)
Thorness Bay - £182.70 (near Cowes, Park Resorts/Parkdean Resorts site, swimming pool, play areas, restaurant)
Compton Farm - £189 (West Wight, simple facilities)
Landguard Holiday Park - £200 (Shanklin, Park Resorts/Parkdean Resorts site, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, play areas, restaurant, sports area)
Nodes Point - £203 (East Wight, Park Resorts site, indoor swimming pool, play areas)

Best Isle of Wight holiday parks for nature

If you'd rather be punched in the face than join in with holiday park evening entertainment then you may be better looking for a park with fewer facilities and a focus on nature, wildlife and peace and quiet. As a value broad rule, you'll find more of these type of holiday parks in the West Wight as they are further from the popular tourism resorts of Sandown, Shanklin and Ryde.

Purple plant on the cliffs at Compton Bay

The West Wight cliffs are abundant with plants - like this purple thingy (Latin name: Purpleus Thingyus)

You might like to consider these quieter holiday parks (in no particular order):

Woodside Bay Lodge Retreat (posh lodges near woodland and a secluded beach)
Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park (towards the South Wight)
West Bay Club (Yarmouth)
Silver Glades Caravan Park (woodland location)
Brighstone Holiday Centre (in the quiet West Wight)
Compton Farm (West Wight)
Grange Farm (near the pretty cliffs of the West Wight)

Best Isle of Wight holiday park for beach access

everal holiday parks are right on the beach, so you can avoid the challenge of piling children, dogs, teddies and windbreaks into the car each day. Some beaches have near exclusive access for residents, by which I mean that whilst the beaches are technically open to non-residents, they are a bit of a faff to get to if you have to walk through a holiday park first.

Whitecliff Bay is adjacent to two caravan holiday parks

So, if proximity to a good beach is your priority then you won't get much better than Whitecliff Bay Caravan Holiday Park or Sandhills Holiday Park near Bembridge which both lead straight down a steep hill to a sandy beach (Whitecliff Bay). The beach looks almost foreign on a sunny day and is nice for a swim, or for games at low tide. Whitecliff Bay Caravan Holiday Park is a busy park with lots of facilities and entertainment for children, whilst Sandhills Holiday Park is a simpler park.

Other options for beachside holiday parks:

Thorness Bay has pretty much exclusive access to a fairly scrubby beach which seems popular with fishers and sunset watchers (not so much for swimming).
Woodside Bay Lodge Retreat has a woodland area which leads to a quiet shingle beach around Wootton.
Nodes Point (a Park Resorts holiday park) is a very short walk away from the beach at St Helen's which has a lovely outlook and very shallow waters for paddling (you'd need to walk out into the middle of the Solent for a proper swim).
Salterns Village Cottages is walking distance to the beach at Seaview.
Fort Holiday Park isn't quite on the sandy beach at Sandown, but is only about 200 metres away from the Esplanade towards the Yaverland end.
Grange Farm on the Military Road is right on the beach at a quiet section of the pretty West Wight coastline.
Brighstone Holiday Centre is on the cliff edge but doesn't have a path directly down to the beach.
Brambles Chine and Linstone Chine is very near to the beach at Colwell.

Best luxury Isle of Wight holiday park

Posh holiday parks don't tend to use the word 'holiday park' at all, usually picking something like 'lodge retreat' 'holiday home' or 'country club'.

The two most luxurious holiday park style resorts on the Isle of Wight are probably:

West Bay Club in Yarmouth - 100 New England style chalets, cottages and houses. Indoor swimming pool, tennis, squash, gym, children's activities.
Woodside Coastal Retreat and Woodside Bay Lodge Retreat - less facilities, but it has its own quiet beach

See our main guide to Isle of Wight lodges

The-Isle-of-Wight-Guru-Don't-Blame-Us-Disclaimer™ The information on this website is correct, as far as we know, but please do check opening times and details with attractions directly if you are planning a long journey - and please contact us if you find anything inaccurate.