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3 best Pontins holiday parks - 2021

Pontins is a big name in the budget holiday park market and is one of the cheapest options you’ll find for a holiday in the school summer holidays.

You can easily find a self catering holiday in August for a week for less than £350 for a family of four. 

However, reviews vary grateful between Pontins' six holiday parks in the UK and some of them are only for adults. We've picked out the three best, based on price, location, reviews and facilities.

For our price comparison, we looked for a holiday for a family of four in August 2021.

1. Pontins Prestatyn Sands North Wales - best for cheap family holidays

Pontins Prestatyn Sands is a family friendly holiday park with plenty to do onsite and beaches nearby. In our price comparison, Prestaytn was the joint cheapest option out of four fairly similar Pontins holiday parks (the others were Camber Sands in East Sussex, Southport on Merseyside and Brean Sands in Somerset).

Customer reviews average about 5/10, putting it slightly ahead of the other three which score closer to 4/10. Sand Bay in Somerset and Pakefield in Suffolk score better but they're aimed at adults.

​Facilities onsite at Pontins Prestatyn include a skate park, swimming pool, and playgrounds. It's a coastal holiday park, so you can walk to the beach.

​There's also the usual evening and kids' entertainment you expect from a Pontins holiday park (Pontins' Bluecoats dressed as giant dogs etc).

Price: £329 for a week long holiday for a family of four during August 2021. We looked for a 'popular' self catering apartment (i.e. bronze grade). Price doesn't include any food or bedding.
Pontins Prestatyn Sands accommodation
Pontins Prestatyn Sands was the cheapest Pontins resort in our price comparison...
Pedal karts at Pontins Prestatyn Sands
...and it scores about 5/10 from reviewers (all images from Pontins)

2. Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park Suffolk coast - adults only

We think Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park in Suffolk is Pontins' best option for adults who want half board or a fully catered holiday. When we checked, Pontins was just offering adults-only breaks at Pakefield in 2021 so it's not an option if you're bringing children.

Average customer reviews give it 6/10, which puts it slightly ahead of Pontins' family-friendly parks. 

​Onsite, it doesn't have quite as much to do as some Pontins holiday parks but there is entertainment in the form of bingo, sequin-clad singers etc. There's a swimming pool and places to eat onsite.

Pontins Pakefield doesn't have much self catering accommodation, so you'll need to pay for half board at least, which adds to the cost of a holiday for a group of four.

In terms of location, it is right on the coast about 10 minutes drive from Lowestoft. You can walk to the beach.

Lowestoft has a fairly decent range of attractions including Pleasurewood Hills theme park, Africa Alive Adventure Park and East Anglia Transport Museum.

Price: £756 for a week in a 'Standard' apartment for four adults in August 2021, including half board (i.e. breakfast and evening meal). Our search was based on four adults, as there weren't any family holidays at Pontins Pakefield when we checked.
Accommodation at Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park
Pontins Pakefield Park scores 6/10 from most reviewers, putting it ahead of other Pontins resorts...
Beach near Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park
...and it has a pretty beach nearby.

3. Pontins Sand Bay Holiday Park Somerset - adults only

Pontins Sand Bay in Somerset tends to get the best reviews of all six Pontins holiday parks, averaging about 6/10 or 7/10 from customers.

The catch is that it's an adults only holiday park all year, and is particularly recommended for 50+ (i.e. probably don't organise a stag do here, unless The Lads happen to be big fans of Motown-themed weekends).

Onsite, it's got an indoor swimming pool with a sauna, a ballroom with a dance floor and evening entertainment (live music, cabaret). There's also a café and bar, bowls, darts and a TV lounge. 

​You can walk to the beach or if you want to explore further, the famous pier at Weston Super Mare is about 10 minutes by car.

Lots of the breaks at Sand Bay are themed and are three or four nights, rather than a full week.

Price: £378 for two people, staying in a standard apartment for a week for an 'ultimate tributes' themed stay in August 2021. Includes breakfast and evening meal. 
Pontins Sand Bay Swimming Pool
Sand Bay is an adults only Pontins resort

What about Pontins Brean Sands, Pontins Camber Sands and Pontins Southport?

To be honest, there isn't a great deal to choose between four of the Pontins Holiday Parks, so you may choose based on how near it is to you.

Camber Sands in East Sussex (2/5 on TripAdvisor), Prestatyn Sands in North Wales (2.5/5 on TripAdvisor), Brean Sands in Somerset (2/5 on TripAdvisor) and Pontins Southport Holiday Park (2/5 on TripAdvisor) all get pretty similar reviews. That's some way behind holiday parks from rivals like Haven and Park Resorts/Parkdean Resorts but prices are considerably lower (sometimes as much as half or a third of the price in peak season).

All four of those Pontins parks offer:
  • swimming pools (though generally not big splash parks or anything like that)
  • various kid-friendly things onsite (playgrounds, minigolf or inflatable things etc)
  • somewhere to eat
  • easy access to a beach
  • entertainment

Pontin Prestatyn Sands made it into the top 3, because it was slightly cheaper than the rest. We looked at the price of a week long holiday for a family of four during August 2021 for a rough price comparison.

First, we looked at self catering options in a one bedroom ‘Popular’ apartment:Then, we looked at the cost of a half-board holiday for a family of four in August 2021.
Prices based on two adults with a 5 and 7 year old apart from Pakefield which was four adults. As you can see, there's a £30 difference between Southport and Brean Sands for self catering.
Images are from Pontins

Other guides from the Holiday Park Guru

Holiday-Park-Guru-Don't-Blame-Us-Disclaimer: All the information on this page is accurate, as far as we know. However, facilities at holiday parks change so please check with the park before booking.