Cheapest holiday destinations in the UK

After collating the average prices of hotels, cottages and airbnbs across the UK, we can reveal which are the cheapest seaside towns, cities and regions for your next holiday. 

The best way to cut the cost of UK holidays is to pick somewhere with cheaper accommodation. That may sound obvious, but the difference in prices can be huge – thousands of pounds on a week-long holiday – and sometimes you need only stay a little bit down the road. 

There are surprises too. Cornwall is not the most expensive place to rent a holiday cottage in the UK. And one of the best rated seaside towns is also one of the cheapest.

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Where are the UK’s cheapest holiday cottage stays?

When we checked thousands of cottage prices we found that the most expensive parts of the country were Surrey and Berkshire. There you can expect to pay £1,857 on average, for just seven days.

The cheapest part of the country was Northern Ireland – just £979 for a week – but there were also (relative) bargains available in Lancashire (£1,008), Cumbria (£1,012), Lincolnshire (£1,035) and Herefordshire (£1,046).

Cornwall or Lake District cottages too expensive? Consider these alternatives.

Cornwall is not the most expensive county in the South West – but it’s close.

Dorset cottages are the most expensive at £1,470 on average – then Cornwall (£1,454), then Devon (£1,304).

Somerset cottages are cheaper on average at £1,242 – that's £228 cheaper than neighbouring Devon.

In some parts of the country you can save hundreds by moving a few miles down the road. 

Cottages in the Lake District national park cost an average of £1,216 – but stay a little bit further away in the wider Cumbria region and you could save £204.

Best holiday destinations in the UK – for less

Some of the highest-rated places in Which? surveys are much cheaper than better-known destinations.

Northumberland is one of the UK’s best National Parks and has one of the best seaside towns – according to our research.

Yet an average holiday cottage here is £1,101 – that's £324 cheaper than the Cotswolds.

A week’s holiday cottage for summer

Where is the UK’s best, cheap city break?

City hotels can be horrendously expensive – particularly on a Saturday night. However, there are massive differences between different British cities.

When we analysed prices last summer, we found 12 cities with four stars for value for money in our city break survey that also had hotels for under £100 a night. 

The highest rated of these were Wells in Somerset, Worcester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Shrewsbury, Salisbury, Portsmouth and Norwich.

 Wells topped our table of small cities, for the best UK city breaks.

 Here’s our guide to the cheapest UK cities for a weekend break.

Which is the UK’s best, cheapest seaside town?

The average price difference between different seaside towns can be enormous. The average room rate for a hotel in Salcombe, in Devon is £208. Yet many of the towns and villages that were better rated than Salcombe in our annual best UK seaside destination survey are much cheaper. 

Llandudno was rated as one of the top 10 seaside towns in the country but the average hotel room rate is just £93 – half the price of Salcombe. Whitley Bay, above Newcastle, gained a five-star rating for its beach, and average room rates are just £69. That makes Whitley Bay the second cheapest UK seaside town, of the more than 100 we checked prices in – only Southport was cheaper (£66) but poorly rated by visitors. 

Cheap Airbnb or Vrbo holiday lets

The price of a one-bedroom Airbnb or Vrbo is typically more than you’d pay for a standard hotel room.

However, there are exceptions. When we checked last year, airbnb and Vrbo listings were cheaper than the average hotel in Edinburgh, Belfast, Shrewsbury and Norwich – despite having more space than you’d get in a standard hotel room.

Last year we compared prices of airbnbs and hotels in towns that got four stars for value for money.

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