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10 Best Caravan Holiday Parks In Scotland - 2022
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but Scotland's a big place so don't expect to see every inch of it in a week's caravan holiday.
For remoteness and mountainous scenery, I'd travel to the Highlands which include the Grampian Mountains (home of Ben Nevis). If you're more adventurous then try the Islands of Skye, The Hebrides, Shetland or Orkney. As a general rule, Scotland becomes more remote as you travel north.
For a more accessible holiday with city sights I'd consider Edinburgh or Glasgow in the 'lowlands' (i.e. the southern half of Scotland).
As a general rule, you'll find Scottish holiday parks are a little bit cheaper than those in most of England so there are some good deals to be had.
We've picked out 10 of the best by looking at price, location and reviews.
For remoteness and mountainous scenery, I'd travel to the Highlands which include the Grampian Mountains (home of Ben Nevis). If you're more adventurous then try the Islands of Skye, The Hebrides, Shetland or Orkney. As a general rule, Scotland becomes more remote as you travel north.
For a more accessible holiday with city sights I'd consider Edinburgh or Glasgow in the 'lowlands' (i.e. the southern half of Scotland).
As a general rule, you'll find Scottish holiday parks are a little bit cheaper than those in most of England so there are some good deals to be had.
We've picked out 10 of the best by looking at price, location and reviews.
1. Seton Sands Holiday Park near Edinburgh (busy coastal Haven park, indoor swimming pool)
**Winner: best value caravan holiday park in Scotland**
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Haven is one of the biggest names in the UK holiday park market and we reckon Seton Sands is their best caravan park in Scotland. It also owns Craig Tara on the West Coast - see our comparison of the two.
Reviews are typically around 4/5 or slightly higher for Seton Sands and it’s a big, family-friendly site with plenty of facilities. There’s an indoor swimming pool, which is useful if the weather isn’t up to scratch. It also has daytime and evening entertainment (if that's your thing), archery, golf and soft play amongst other fun and games. The beach is on your doorstep. It's well located for a visit to Edinburgh but you'll be in the car for a long time if you want to visit one of Scotland's main national parks (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs is a couple of hours away). There's loads of family-friendly things to do in Edinburgh including Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland. Price: £724 for a family of four for a week in a standard chalet in early August 2022. |
Seton Sands is a good-sized family friendly holiday park with positive reviews...
...and a local beach with plenty of space for running around
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**Haven Offers: Summer Holidays 2022 from £629 + Easter 2022 from £149**
2. Silver Sands Holiday Park near Cairngorms (beachside, small indoor swimming pool)
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Silver Sands Holiday Park is a long drive if you’re travelling from England. You can expect to spend about seven hours occupying the children if you’re coming from Manchester. It’s about half that time from Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Once you arrive, you’re rewarded with a lovely beachside setting next to a lighthouse. The park leads directly onto the beach and if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see dolphins. Surfing is also an option, if you can cope with the water temperature… It’s a wide open beach rather than a cosy cove, but there’s plenty of space. The resort is mid-sized, with facilities including a small indoor swimming pool, a good-sized playground, a gym, minigolf, restaurant, takeaway and bar. If you want to explore, you can get to the Cairngorms in about an hour or Loch Ness is about 90 minutes in the car. Reviews average 4/5 on TripAdvisor or slightly higher on Google Reviews. The park was taken over by Park Holidays in 2021. They’re one of the biggest caravan holiday park companies in the UK with more than 40 resorts. Price: £813 for a two bedroom caravan for a family of four in August 2022. It sleeps six people, including a couple in the lounge. If you filled it up it would be a bit cosy but you’d be getting a peak time holiday for £19 per person, per night. |
The caravans at Silver Sands Holiday Park are overlooked by Covesea Lighthouse...
...and it's right next to a long sandy beach
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3. Haven Craig Tara Holiday Park near Glasgow (huge resort with big swimming pool, multiple activities)
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Haven's Craig Tara Holiday Park is big. Very big.
Many years ago it was a Butlins holiday park and it's roughly twice the size of Haven's other holiday park in Scotland (Seton Sands, mentioned earlier in this guide to Scottish holiday parks). The swimming pool at Craig Tara is called Splashaway Bay and it had a big refurb in 2015. It's large and has waterpark-style things such as slides and buckets which dump water on your head. You'll want to visit at least a couple of times during your stay. There are six places to eat out, including big chains like Burger King and Papa Johns. There are several playgrounds, crazy golf, a nine hole golf course and crafty activities. It also has lots of adventure type activities which you pay extra for such as zip wires, aerial adventures, a climbing wall and a bungee trampoline. It's right by the coast, but the beach isn't the sort of place where you will be riding donkeys or buying a stick of rock. It's a mix of shingle and sand but is nice for a walk. In terms of location, Haven Craig Tara Holiday Park is about an hour from Glasgow or about four hour's drive from Manchester. It's less convenient than Haven's Seton Sands if you're coming from the North East of England. Customer reviews for Craig Tara are 4.2/5 on Google reviews or 3.5/5 on TripAdvisor. That's a little bit behind Haven's Seton Sands. Craig Tara was also slightly more expensive in our price comparisons. Price: £876 for a week in a standard caravan for a family of four in August 2022. That's the price for 'stay and play' which means you can use all the facilities. It's about £150 cheaper if you just want accommodation. You can upgrade to posher caravans with sea views. See our guide to the different grades of Haven accommodation. |
Haven's Craig Tara has a big swimming pool which was refurbished in 2015...
...and it's easy to access this dog friendly beach from the holiday park
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4. Eyemouth Holiday Park near English border (cheap, beachside, access to nearby swimming pool)
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Eyemouth is a family friendly holiday park which gets very good reviews (4.5/5 on TripAdvisor) despite having more basic facilities than some.
The park was part of the Park Resorts chain, which is now part of Parkdean Resorts (are you keeping up?). It's not far from the English border on Scotland's east coast so is an easy one to visit for a weekend if you live in Northern England. It will take about an hour to get to Edinburgh for a day out. Onsite you'll find a sports court and play area, as well as a bar and restaurant. There's no swimming pool onsite, but you do have access to a local indoor pool included in your stay (so I'm afraid you can't get away with walking back to your caravan wearing a towel). You can also walk to the beach easily. Price: £989 for a week in a 'Lighthouse' caravan for a family of four in August 2022. |
There are terrific sea views from Eyemouth Holiday Park...
...and a good choice of two bedroom and three bedroom caravans
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5. Blairgowrie Holiday Park (basic facilities, lodges, hot tubs)
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If you want non-stop entertainment and knobbly knee competitions...don't stay at Blairgowrie Holiday Park
However, if you want a simple holiday park with decent reviews and slightly posher accommodation than most parks then it's worth a look. It's in Perthshire, about 40 minutes from the Glenshee ski resort in the Cairngorms. You can even hire your skis from the holiday park if you want to. If you want to travel to Edinburgh or Loch Lomond it's about an hour and a half in the car. There's an outdoor play area for children, but it's more of a pleasant base for exploring. Customer reviews are a very impressive 9/10 at the time of typing. The accommodation is lodges rather than caravans, but the prices are similar to some caravan parks. Price: £886 for a week in a two bedroom caravan in August 2022 for a family of four. |
If you want a quiet holiday park with good reviews...
...then Blairgowrie is an appealing option
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6. Nairn Lochloy Holiday Park Highlands (busy Parkdean park, indoor swimming pool, beachside, good reviews)
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Eyemouth isn't the only Parkdean Resorts holiday park worth considering in Scotland. We've also picked out Nairn Lochloy Holiday Park for our top 10, although Grannie's Heilan Hame and Tummel Valley Holiday Park have also got their plus points.
Grannie's Heilan Hame and Nairn Lochloy are both in beachside locations in the Highlands in North East Scotland whilst Tummel Valley Holiday Park is in the centre of Scotland. There isn't a great deal between them in terms of facilities, but Nairn Lochloy just edges it on visitor reviews (8 or 9/10) and it offers a good mix of scenery. Some of the caravans are practically on the beach whilst it's only a 40 minute drive to the Cairngorms National Park or Loch Ness. All three have got indoor swimming pools, adventure playgrounds, crazy golf and places to eat amongst other things to entertain children for five minutes. One other factor to consider is that if you're travelling from London, it's an extra two hours to Nairn Lochloy compared to Tummel Valley. If you find travelling with children to be as much fun as root canal surgery then you might prefer the option with the shorter drive. Price: £979 for a week in a 'Mull' caravan for a family of four in August 2022 |
Nairn Lochloy is a good-value beachside holiday park...
...with caravans for 2-8 people.
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7. Auchenlarie Holiday Park South West Scotland (family-friendly, indoor swimming pool, kids' club)
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Auchenlarie is a fairly large holiday park with a big range of facilities and accommodation.
It's near to the English border on the Scottish South West coast, a couple of hours from England's Lake District. We've included it because of its combination of strong reviews, competitive prices, gorgeous beachside location and family-friendly facilities. Onsite you'll find an indoor swimming pool, sauna, gym, children's club, crazy golf, play areas and places to eat. Galloway Forest Park is nearby if you fancy exploring although bear in mind it's a long way from the Highlands (Ben Nevis is a five hour drive, for example). Reviews average about 8.5/10 or 9/10 and there are posh lodges or cheaper caravans depending on what sort of holiday you are looking for. It's certainly one of the cheaper holiday parks in Scotland. Price: £1050 for a week in a gold caravan for a week in August 2022 for a family of four. Bronze caravans are cheaper, but they weren't available for the dates we checked. |
The location of Auchenlarie Holiday Park is spectacular...
...with a secluded beach next door to the park
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8. Loch Lomond Holiday Park (lochside, idyllic, hot tubs, basic facilities)
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Loch Lomond Holiday Park is so close to the water's edge that you might get your feet wet when you step out of your accommodation.
Onsite facilities are basic but this one gets rave reviews (9/10 or higher generally) because of its location and good value lodges, which are slightly more solid than caravans. The park has a play area and games room and you can hire things like bikes and kayaks rather than attempting to carry everything on the roof of your car. Don't expect things like swimming pools and children's entertainers here though, it's all about the idyllic location. It's run by a company called Argyll Holidays which has a handful of holiday parks across Scotland. Loch Lomond is roughly an hour north of Glasgow, on the boundary between the Highlands and Lowlands. Price: £1035 for a week in an Argyll Lodge for a family of four in August 2022. You'll pay a lot more if you want a hot tub and more luxurious accommodation. |
Loch Lomond Holiday Park doesn't have many onsite facilities, but the scenery is fantastic...
...and you can get a hot tub with a view
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9. Nethercraig Holiday Park Perthshire (peaceful park, basic facilities)
**Winner: cheapest caravan holiday park in our top 10**
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Nethercraig is certainly in the 'tranquil' category when it comes to holiday parks. Don't expect an entertainer called Clive Crocodile to provide childcare here.
Instead, you get easy access to the Cairngorms and good quality caravans in a very peaceful area. There are acres of private woodland to explore, assuming you can persuade your children to put down their smartphones for 30 seconds. The Royal Family's holiday home - Balmoral Castle - is about an hour's drive north and Peter Pan author JM Barrie's birthplace is about 20 minutes away. There's a choice of lodges and caravans. They all get good reviews but the caravans are a couple of hundred pounds cheaper in high season. Reviews are outstanding with an average of 4.5/5 on TripAdvisor when I checked. Reviews: £709 for a week in an Angus caravan for a family of four in August 2022. |
Nethercraig is another simple resort without lots of entertainment...
...but the local scenery isn't bad
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10. Ben Nevis Holiday Park Fort William (mountain climbing base, good reviews, hot tubs, basic facilities)
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Ben Nevis Holiday Park/Lochy Holiday Park is an excellent base for attempting to climb Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the British Isles). It was previously called Lochy Holiday Park.
It's only three miles from the mountain's visitor centre and the park has some impressive views which will have you unpacking your walking boots with gusto. It might be the mountain air talking, but visitors rave about it, with average reviews of 9/10. The park itself doesn't have a lot on offer in terms of facilities (besides a playground) but the lodges and caravans get strong reviews. There's a good choice of fishing, boat trips and mountain biking in the local area for adventurous types or those outdoorsy parents who go hiking with a 9 month old baby on their back. I always imagined I'd be like that, but in reality we consider a successful day out to be a trip to the swings and roundabout... Price: £1005 for a week in August 2022 for a family of four in a 'Highland' caravan. |
Ben Nevis Holiday Park is well located for a hiking holiday...
...and you can spend the evenings recovering in your hot tub
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Price comparison of 10 of Scotland's best caravan holiday parks
We compared prices for a week in early August 2022. We searched in November 2021 for the cheapest price available for a family of four, including two adults and two children aged 10 and 12. Of course, prices will vary a lot depending on availability and so on, but for what it's worth, here's our top 10:
- Nethercraig Holiday Park - £709
- Haven Seton Sands Holiday Park - £724 **Winner: best value caravan holiday park in Scotland**
- Silver Sands Holiday Park - £813
- Haven Craig Tara Holiday Park - £876
- Blairgowrie Holiday Park - £886
- Nairn Lochloy Holiday Park - £979
- Eyemouth Holiday Park - £989
- Ben Nevis Holiday Park - £1005
- Loch Lomond Holiday Park - £1035
- Auchenlarie Holiday Park - £1050
Images from Haven, Park Holidays, Snaptrip and Booking.com
