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Haven Craig Tara Or Haven Seton Sands – Which Is The Best Holiday Park? (2024 Guide)
Craig Tara is the larger of the two Scottish Haven holiday parks and is often cheaper...
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...but Seton Sands gets marginally better reviews and is well-placed for visiting Edinburgh
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Haven has got two caravan holiday parks in Scotland – Craig Tara Holiday Park in Ayrshire and Seton Sands Holiday Park in East Lothian.
They’re both popular caravan parks for an affordable and jam-packed family beachside holiday, but which is best?
We’ve compared price, location, facilities and customer reviews and have concluded that Seton Sands Caravan Holiday Park is the most popular with customers. However, Craig Tara Caravan Holiday Park is much bigger and has a much better range of activities and restaurants. Craig Tara was cheaper in our most recent price comparisons, but was more expensive in some previous years so it's worth checking prices for both.
If you’d like to read how we came to that conclusion, please read on:
They’re both popular caravan parks for an affordable and jam-packed family beachside holiday, but which is best?
We’ve compared price, location, facilities and customer reviews and have concluded that Seton Sands Caravan Holiday Park is the most popular with customers. However, Craig Tara Caravan Holiday Park is much bigger and has a much better range of activities and restaurants. Craig Tara was cheaper in our most recent price comparisons, but was more expensive in some previous years so it's worth checking prices for both.
If you’d like to read how we came to that conclusion, please read on:
Which caravan park gets the best customer reviews? Haven Seton Sands or Craig Tara?
Haven Seton Sands Holiday Park was just about edging it when we compared customer reviews (in November 2023):
- On TripAdvisor, Seton Sands Holiday Park averages 4/5 from about 1300 reviews whilst Craig Tara Holiday Park scores 3.5/5 from about 3700 reviews.
- On Google reviews, there isn't much between them with Seton Sands scoring 4.3/5 and Craig Tara scoring 4.1/5.
Is Craig Tara Holiday Park cheaper than Seton Sands Holiday Park?
We carried out four price comparisons for popular dates to visit Haven's Scottish holiday resorts. We searched for the cheapest accommodation available at the time of typing for a family of two adults and two children. We didn’t include any extras or upgrades and we searched for a week-long holiday. We searched for holidays starting on a Friday or Saturday (top tip: Haven holidays are sometimes much cheaper if you arrive on a Friday or Monday).
We searched for the standard 'Haven' price. That means you get access to all the facilities and activities, although you pay a supplement for some things. The cheaper option is called 'Haven Hideaway', which just gives you a caravan and access to the restaurants.
We picked four sets of dates and put the cheapest caravan park first.
A week at Easter 2024 (during the UK school holidays)
A week in mid-June 2024 (outside of school holidays)
A week in August 2024 (during school holidays)
A week in October 2024 (during the UK half term)
So, two dates were almost identical. Seton Sands was £74 cheaper at Easter. Craig Tara was £249 cheaper in August. Overall, Craig Tara was cheaper.
This is interesting, as when we did this comparison a couple of years ago, Seton Sands was much cheaper than Craig Tara. The difference was not huge for some weeks, but was more than £50 for other weeks. That's not an insignificant amount of money if you’re looking for a cheap caravan holiday.
We searched for the standard 'Haven' price. That means you get access to all the facilities and activities, although you pay a supplement for some things. The cheaper option is called 'Haven Hideaway', which just gives you a caravan and access to the restaurants.
We picked four sets of dates and put the cheapest caravan park first.
A week at Easter 2024 (during the UK school holidays)
- Craig Tara Holiday Park - £583
- Seton Sands Holiday Park - £509
A week in mid-June 2024 (outside of school holidays)
- Craig Tara Holiday Park - £308
- Seton Sands Holiday Park - £319
A week in August 2024 (during school holidays)
- Craig Tara Holiday Park - £582
- Seton Sands Holiday Park - £831
A week in October 2024 (during the UK half term)
- Seton Sands Holiday Park - £360
- Craig Tara Holiday Park - £362
So, two dates were almost identical. Seton Sands was £74 cheaper at Easter. Craig Tara was £249 cheaper in August. Overall, Craig Tara was cheaper.
This is interesting, as when we did this comparison a couple of years ago, Seton Sands was much cheaper than Craig Tara. The difference was not huge for some weeks, but was more than £50 for other weeks. That's not an insignificant amount of money if you’re looking for a cheap caravan holiday.
The restaurant at Seton Sands (all images from Haven)
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"The Drop" and "The Jump" at Craig Tara Holiday Park
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Which has the best facilities, activities and swimming pool – Seton Sands Caravan Park or Craig Tara Caravan Park?
The first thing to realise is the Haven’s Craig Tara is much bigger than Haven’s Seton Sands. Roughly speaking, Craig Tara covers an area about twice as large as Seton Sands and has a lot more accommodation units. In fact, Craig Tara is probably one of the biggest caravan parks in the UK. It was a Butlins resort until 1999, which gives you an ideal of scale.
As a result, Craig Tara Holiday Park has a much better range of facilities, restaurants and activities than Seton Sands Holiday Park. For example, Craig Tara has six places to eat and drink including Burger King and Papa Johns Pizza whilst Seton Sands has just two places to eat out.
The swimming pool at Seton Sands is a mid-sized pool with some splash park type activities and a waterslide, whilst Craig Tara has a larger indoor swimming pool with several things to keep children (and dads) entertained. I'm not sure if you'd quite call it a waterpark, but it’s pretty impressive.
However, that’s not to say that Seton Sands isn’t well equipped. Seton Sands Holiday Park has an entertainment venue, three outdoor playgrounds, a sports court, a 9 hole golf course, indoor play, pottery painting and fishing lakes (you pay extra for some things). And of course Seton Sands is a lot smaller, so there aren’t as many people filling up the restaurants and so on.
Craig Tara Holiday Park has a 9 hole golf course and playgrounds but it also has a much better range of indoor activities such as an aerial adventure and zip wire for older children, as well as a ‘play village’ for younger children. There’s also crazy golf, bungee trampolines and a climbing wall. Again, you pay extra for some things.
As a result, Craig Tara Holiday Park has a much better range of facilities, restaurants and activities than Seton Sands Holiday Park. For example, Craig Tara has six places to eat and drink including Burger King and Papa Johns Pizza whilst Seton Sands has just two places to eat out.
The swimming pool at Seton Sands is a mid-sized pool with some splash park type activities and a waterslide, whilst Craig Tara has a larger indoor swimming pool with several things to keep children (and dads) entertained. I'm not sure if you'd quite call it a waterpark, but it’s pretty impressive.
However, that’s not to say that Seton Sands isn’t well equipped. Seton Sands Holiday Park has an entertainment venue, three outdoor playgrounds, a sports court, a 9 hole golf course, indoor play, pottery painting and fishing lakes (you pay extra for some things). And of course Seton Sands is a lot smaller, so there aren’t as many people filling up the restaurants and so on.
Craig Tara Holiday Park has a 9 hole golf course and playgrounds but it also has a much better range of indoor activities such as an aerial adventure and zip wire for older children, as well as a ‘play village’ for younger children. There’s also crazy golf, bungee trampolines and a climbing wall. Again, you pay extra for some things.
The swimming pool at Seton Sands is a good size...
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...but Craig Tara's swimming pool is much bigger
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Which has the best beach? Seton Sands Holiday Park or Craig Tara Holiday Park?
Both holiday parks are next to a beach and you can access them easily from the site. Seton Sands is a bit sandier (as you might gather from the name) whilst Craig Tara is more of a mix of shingle and sand. They’re both quite wide open beaches rather than secluded coves.
The beach at Seton Sands Holiday Park is a bit sandier...
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...than the beach at Craig Tara Holiday Park
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Which is in the best location? Seton Sands Holiday Park or Craig Tara Holiday Park?
Craig Tara is particularly popular with people who live in Glasgow and South West Scotland, as it’s only an hour away by car from the city. Meanwhile, Seton Sands tend to be popular with people from Edinburgh as it’s only 20 minutes east of the city. Seton Sands is also the easier option if you are travelling from North East England.
If you’re travelling from North Scotland there isn’t as much in it. For example, from Inverness it is 3 hours 15 minutes to Seton Sands and just under 4 hours to Craig Tara.
If you’re travelling from North Scotland there isn’t as much in it. For example, from Inverness it is 3 hours 15 minutes to Seton Sands and just under 4 hours to Craig Tara.
Which has the best choice of accommodation? Seton Sands Holiday Park or Craig Tara Holiday Park?
There's a good choice of accommodation at both Seton Sands Holiday Park and Craig Tara Holiday Park.
There are obviously a lot more caravans at Craig Tara Holiday Park, but the range is similar.
When we checked there were 11 different grades of caravan at Craig Tara, including some with a sea view. Seton Sands Holiday Park had slightly fewer options, with 9 different grades of caravan.
The biggest difference between the two is that Craig Tara Holiday Park has a number of 'apartments' whereas Seton Sands Holiday Park has some luxury lodges. The lodges are a bit more expensive than most caravans but they are quite a lot wider.
Dogs are allowed at both Craig Tara Holiday Park and Seton Sands Holiday Park.
There are obviously a lot more caravans at Craig Tara Holiday Park, but the range is similar.
When we checked there were 11 different grades of caravan at Craig Tara, including some with a sea view. Seton Sands Holiday Park had slightly fewer options, with 9 different grades of caravan.
The biggest difference between the two is that Craig Tara Holiday Park has a number of 'apartments' whereas Seton Sands Holiday Park has some luxury lodges. The lodges are a bit more expensive than most caravans but they are quite a lot wider.
Dogs are allowed at both Craig Tara Holiday Park and Seton Sands Holiday Park.
Conclusion
Haven’s Seton Sands is the winner for me, as it a) gets better reviews and b) was about the same price in our price comparisons. It’s also got a sandier beach, which makes it a better location from my point of view. We also tend to only use holiday parks as a base for exploring the local area, and Seton Sands is well located for visiting Edinburgh.
However, there’s a very good argument that Haven’s Craig Tara is a better option if you want to experience one of the UK's biggest and best equipped caravan holiday parks. It has a better swimming pool, more restaurants and lots of indoor activities compared to Seton Sands.
However, there’s a very good argument that Haven’s Craig Tara is a better option if you want to experience one of the UK's biggest and best equipped caravan holiday parks. It has a better swimming pool, more restaurants and lots of indoor activities compared to Seton Sands.
