Isle of Wight on a Budget Part Two: Cheap Accommodation on the Isle of Wight

There are plenty of great accommodation deals to be found on the Isle of Wight if you know where to look, so I’m sharing some of my top tips if you’re after a budget-friendly place to stay.

I guess my first tip is rather obvious and won’t work for families with school-age children looking for a week away, but try to travel in the off-season if you can! There are some real bargains to be found outside the peak months on the Isle of Wight, and there’s more than enough to see and do – why not check out my top 10 favourite free things to do all year round?

At any time of year, if you’re only visiting for a few days and have some flexibility, then it’s also worth comparing prices on different nights of the week. I often find weekday rates can be cheaper – especially on Sundays and the early part of the week.

If it’s hotel or B&B I’m after, I usually use Trivago to search for the best deals, and if you sign up to the Genius loyalty scheme on booking.com you’ll sometimes receive special prices or freebies thrown in such as breakfast or a room upgrade.

Don’t forget to check if cashback is available on Topcashback or Quidco too. The rates change frequently but, at time of writing in autumn 2024, you could save 12% on your stay by booking with hotels.com via Topcashback or 10% with Expedia via Quidco!

Certain hotels will offer a discount for booking direct, so it’s always worth checking their own websites too – but it won’t always work out the cheapest option.

If you’re looking for a slightly more upmarket place to stay, you can sometimes find a few interesting discounts on The Price is Wight website. The offers change regularly and there are usually some great deals for eating out while you’re visiting too.

If it’s a self-catering stay you’re looking for, my top tip is to book ahead during one of the seasonal sales or through the Sun Holidays club – there’s more info on these below!

I generally like to support the Isle of Wight’s independent businesses when I can. There’s a huge choice of private hotels and B&Bs and I know they really appreciate our support! People rightly point out that some places can be rather old-fashioned, but there are many bang up to date ones too – and anyway I like to embrace the vintage character of the island sometimes.

A few things to consider are whether breakfast is included in the rates (or if you can add it at a reduced price) and whether the property offers discounted ferry rates. All things being equal I’ll try and include breakfast to conserve spending money, and if the hotel is able to offer ferry discounts they’ll usually make this clear on the booking page.

Popular locations offering a good variety of accommodation – and arguably the best chance of finding a deal – include the seaside towns of Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin and Cowes (and as a general rule I often find Sandown a little cheaper than Shanklin).

While you’ll want to search for somewhere that meets your own particular needs, here’s a few places I’d recommend from personal experience. They are all different and won’t suit everyone, but what I think they all share in common is that they offer good value for money.

In Sandown, the Broadway Park Hotel isn’t the most luxurious of properties, but the building is full of Victorian character and it often has cheap deals. For example, I stayed here in September at £28 per night for a single room.

Talking of character properties, The Wellington Hotel in Ventnor (which is usually a more expensive town for accommodation) is a more upscale hotel with good rates this winter while they carry out some improvements – at time of writing I can see family rooms from £57 a night in January.

In Cowes, the Anchor Inn is a characterful pub on the high street with clean, simple rooms where I’ve stayed a couple of times recently at £70 a night for two people. You can also find good prices at the nearby Fountain Inn, especially on Sundays and at the start of the week, starting from £60+.

In Shanklin, B&Bs which consistently offer low prices and high standards of service include Somerton Lodge and The Curraghmore – and they both provide a great breakfast too.

Also in Shanklin and moving up a little in terms of price, The Havelock is a wonderful place to stay and has its own pool, as does the larger Channel View Hotel which is a family favourite of ours.

Finally in Yarmouth, you could check out the pleasant Bugle Inn with prices from £60 for a double room.

If you’re a fan of the budget hotel chains, you’ll be pleased to know that both Travelodge and Premier Inn have properties on the island.

Of these, visitors are most likely to enjoy the location of the Travelodge in Ryde (in the town centre and walkable from the ferry port) or the Premier Inn Sandown Seafront (located on the promenade and a stone’s throw from the beach and pier).

At time of writing, weekday room rates for Ryde Travelodge are as little as £32 a night between November and April. Sandown Premier Inn has rooms for around £35-45 on certain dates until April and some early July stays at £63.

Again, there’s a wide choice of accommodation across the Isle of Wight, and booking.com makes a good site to begin a search. A few of my own picks include The Garlic Farm (which has both cottages and yurts) and The Orchards (offering caravans and a campsite).

Two big national holiday park companies also have a presence on the island with a wide choice of caravans and lodges available. If you’re looking for a quieter location, check out the four Away Resorts sites. At time of writing, four nights midweek at the peacefully-situated Whitecliff Bay are available in March 2025 at £158 for the family.

Parkdean Resorts also has four sites: Lower Hyde and Landguard in Shanklin, Nodes Point in St Helens and Thorness Bay in the north. Of these, Lower Hyde is my go-to thanks to its central location – I’ve always had comfortable caravans and the park is just a few minutes’ walk from Shanklin’s train and bus stations and high street.

Parkdean is usually the cheaper of the two holiday park companies, and you can find off-season four night Monday to Friday stays from around £99 for the family.

Another bonus of staying with Parkdean is that, as an official Wightlink partner, you can take advantage of a hefty discount on your ferry journey too!

Within 48 hours of booking your accommodation, Parkdean emails you with a code allowing to book your ferry on any of the three Wightlink routes. The savings are significant and can really help with your holiday budgeting.

Both Away Resorts and Parkdean also hold seasonal sales – in my experience Black Friday and after Christmas are great times to grab a bargain. You can sometimes pick up last minute deals on their websites too.

Last and definitely not least, Isle of Wight holiday parks at both companies participate in the Sun Holidays club. This opens for booking for a short period of time several times a year, typically including July the end of August, and you can sign up for notifications here.

While I’ve known about Sun Holidays for years, I only began using it a couple of years ago and I’ve been amazed at the deals we’ve found. For example (and including the online booking fee) we enjoyed four nights at Lower Hyde at the end of June (2024) for £106 and have booked a stay at Nodes Point in early Spring for just £41!