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3 best Pontins holiday parks 2019

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 £300 for a family of four. 

However, reviews vary grateful between Pontins' six holiday parks in the UK. 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 2019.

1. Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park, Suffolk - best for families who want food included

We think Pontins Pakefield Holiday Park in Suffolk is Pontins' best option for families who want half board or a fully catered holiday during school holidays.

Average customer reviews give it 6/10, which puts it slightly ahead of Pontins' other family-friendly parks. For much of the years it is an adults' only park, but during school holidays it is open to families.

​Onsite, it doesn't have quite as much to do as some Pontins holiday parks but there is a playground and crazy golf. There's also entertainment in the form of bingo, sequin-clad singers and Pontins Bluecoats dressed as giant dogs. There are also places to eat onsite.

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

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

There's no swimming pool onsite, but Lowestoft has a fairly decent range of family friendly attractions including Pleasurewood Hills theme park and Africa Alive Adventure Park.

Price: £777 for a week in a 'Classic' apartment (i.e. Silver grade) for a family of four in August 2019, including half board (i.e. breakfast and evening meal). Our search was based on two adults and two children, aged 5 and 7.

2. Pontins Southport Holiday Park Merseyside - best for cheap holidays

Pontins Southport Holiday Park in Merseyside is a big and busy holiday park, with plenty to do onsite. In our price comparison, Southport was the cheapest option out of four fairly similar Pontins holiday parks (the others were Camber Sands in East Sussex, Prestatyn Sands in North Wales and Brean Sands in Somerset)

Customer reviews average about 5/10, putting it slightly behind the quieter and more expensive parks at Sand Bay in Somerset (adults only) and Pakefield in Suffolk. 

​Facilities onsite include a bouncy castle centre, go karts, crazy golf, a skate park and trampolines. The onsite swimming pool is only a basic one, but Splash World Southport isn't far away. It's also a coastal holiday park, so you can walk to the beach easily.

​There's also the usual evening and kids entertainment you expect from a Pontins holiday park.

Price: £259 for a week long holiday for a family of four during August 2019. We looked for a 'popular' self catering apartment (i.e. bronze grade). Price doesn't include any food or bedding.

3. Pontins Sand Bay Holiday Park Somerset - best for adults

Pontins Sand Bay in Somerset tends to get the best review of all six Pontins holiday parks, averaging about 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 cafe 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: £178 for two people, staying in a 'classic' (Silver) apartment for a 70s tribute themed three night stay in August 2019. Includes breakfast and evening meal. 

What about Pontin Brean Sands, Pontin Camber Sands and Pontin Prestatyn Bay?

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, Prestatyn Sands in North Wales, Brean Sands in Somerset and Pontins Southport Holiday Park all get pretty similar reviews of about 5/10 from visitors. That's some way behind some 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 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

Pontins Southport Holiday Park 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 2019 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 2019.
Prices based on two adults with a 5 and 7 year old. As you can see, there's a £60 difference between Southport and Brean Sands for self catering.

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.