Cardigan Bay Holiday Park
Cardigan Bay Holiday Park is a small five-star holiday park on the west coast of Wales, at Poppit Sands near St Dogmaels, with static caravans and two character cottages set in one quiet, gated area a few hundred yards from a Blue Flag beach. Families come for The Cove, its indoor and outdoor tropical pool with a roof that slides back, the short woodland walk to the sand and a calm base rather than a big entertainment park.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who this park suits, what you get for the money and the facts to skim first.
Cardigan Bay Holiday Park is the quietest and best-reviewed park in the John Fowler group, and it is set up for families who want a small, calm base by the sea rather than a big lively resort. The draw is The Cove, its indoor and outdoor tropical pool, a Blue Flag beach a few hundred yards along a woodland path and a small park of around a hundred caravans where it stays quiet at night. You stay in a self-catering static caravan or one of two character cottages, and cook in the unit or eat at the one on-site bar and restaurant, so it works out very differently from an all-inclusive.
The trade-offs are worth weighing up front, because they are the whole character of the place. There is no kids’ club, crèche or babysitting, so children are with you the whole time, and the entertainment is occasional and seasonal rather than a nightly programme. Standard caravans are reached by three or four steps. It is also the most expensive park in the John Fowler group. You will get the most from it if a peaceful, well-kept park with a standout pool and a short beach walk is what you are after, and a busy entertainment schedule is not.
Best for
You want a small, quiet five-star park with a standout indoor and outdoor pool and a short beach walk, you are happy to self-cater, and a calm base matters more to you than a busy entertainment programme.
Maybe not for
You rely on a kids’ club or crèche for part of the day, you want nightly shows and a big activity list, or you need step-free access into your caravan.
Best ages
Babies upwards, though there is no club or crèche for any age here. The pool, playground, crazy golf and beach suit toddlers and young children well.
What stands out
The Cove pool with its retractable roof, the peace and small scale, the short woodland walk to Poppit Sands and the two character cottages.
What to check
Whether a caravan has what you need for a baby, since cots and high chairs are not confirmed here, and the step-free options if anyone struggles with steps.
Where is it?
At Poppit Sands near St Dogmaels on the west Wales coast, at the mouth of the Teifi estuary a few minutes from Cardigan town.
Quick facts for families
What the park is like
Where it sits, how the site is laid out and what a small, calm park means for a week with young children.
Cardigan Bay Holiday Park is a self-catering static caravan park run by John Fowler Holidays, a family-run, Devon-based group that acquired it in January 2022. It has traded as a holiday park since 1998, under independent family owners before that, and it holds a five-star grade from Visit Wales. It is one of the group’s Quiet and Relaxing parks rather than its Big and Lively ones, and it is the highest-reviewed park John Fowler runs. It is a small park: roughly 96 to 100 caravans in total, a mix of privately owned holiday homes and units let to guests, plus two character cottages.
The setting is a peaceful, south-facing valley at the mouth of the Teifi estuary, on the edge of the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation, a protected stretch of sea that is home to bottlenose dolphins you can sometimes spot from the beach. The full address is Poppit Sands, St Dogmaels, Cardigan SA43 3LW, and the park is addressed as Cardigan, Pembrokeshire, though it sits right on the county line: St Dogmaels is on the Pembrokeshire bank of the Teifi, across the water from Cardigan town itself, which is in Ceredigion, so you will see both counties given depending on the source.
All the accommodation sits in one single, level area behind a gated barrier, so there are no zones or accommodation villages to walk between as there would be on a large Haven or Parkdean park. Guests generally park at or near their caravan, though being directly alongside the unit is not guaranteed everywhere, so if you need to park beside the door for unloading or mobility it is worth asking when you book. It is quiet at night: reviewers across different stays describe no noise from neighbouring caravans, with the odd one-off exception any site can have.
For facilities, the park has The Cove pool complex with its two jacuzzis, an adventure playground, crazy golf, a football field and football table, a small amusements area, a kids’ disco in the school holidays, the Dolphin Bar and its lounge and takeaway, a Mace shop and a launderette. There is free WiFi in the main building, and every caravan has its own dedicated WiFi connection included in the stay.
Accommodation, every type
Every caravan grade and both character cottages, what comes as standard and which suit a family with a baby or toddler.
All the accommodation is self-catering, and it comes in two shapes: static caravans across seven named grades, from Bronze Plus up to Platinum Exclusive, and two character cottages. The caravans have two or three bedrooms and sleep four to six depending on grade; the cottages sleep five and six. There are no lodges, and no touring, camping or glamping pitches here, unlike some of John Fowler’s other parks. No official page publishes unit sizes in square metres or square feet, which is normal for a UK holiday park, so the table below sets out what each grade actually gives you rather than a floor area.
| Grade | Bedrooms | Sleeps | Check-in | Pets | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze Plus | 2 or 3 | 4–6 | Not stated | Pet-friendly version | The entry tier, an older-style caravan with a covered verandah, central heating, double glazing, a fitted kitchen and a shower. |
| Silver | 2 or 3 | 4–6 | 4pm | Pet-friendly versions | Central heating, double glazing, a Smart TV, a fully fitted kitchen, a shower and bed linen included. |
| Silver Plus | 2 | 4 | 4pm | Pet-friendly version | A deck with patio furniture, which may not be gated, a flatscreen TV and DVD player, and a shower room. |
| Gold | 2 or 3 | 4–6 | 3pm | Standard takes no pets; pet versions exist | An ensuite toilet off the master on the two-bed, a Smart TV, a fitted kitchen, dedicated WiFi and beds made up for arrival. |
| Gold Plus | 2 | 6 | 3pm | No pets | A private veranda with furniture and a picnic bench, a master with its own TV and ensuite toilet, a lounge sofa bed that takes it to six, and a free welcome pack. |
| Platinum | 2 or 3 | 4–6 | 2pm priority | No pets | Newer models with a master-bedroom TV, a Smart TV, a fitted kitchen and a picnic bench. An ensuite toilet features on some models, not every one. |
| Platinum Exclusive | 2 | 6 | 2pm priority | No pets | The newest, top tier: a kingsize master with its own TV, a twin, a Tassimo coffee machine and towels included. |
| Old Millers Cottage | 3 | 5 | 3pm | Pets welcome | A 16th-century cottage with a double ensuite, a twin and a single, a ground-floor bathroom, a beamed ceiling, a dishwasher, a private hot tub and a lawned garden with a stream. The park’s only assisted-accommodation unit. |
| Smugglers Cottage | 3 | 6 | 3pm | No pets | A modern cottage with a king ensuite and two twins, a large fitted kitchen, a dishwasher, a ground-floor bathroom and a private garden with a hot tub and french doors from the lounge. |
Some things are the same whatever grade you pick. Every caravan has central heating, double glazing, its own dedicated WiFi, a fully fitted kitchen with a fridge freezer, microwave and gas hob, a bathroom with a shower, bed linen included and the beds made up for your arrival. A shower is standard across every grade, so if a bath at bedtime matters for a baby it is worth asking the park directly before you book. Check-in gets earlier as you move up the grades: 4pm for Silver and Silver Plus; 3pm for Gold, Gold Plus and both cottages; and a 2pm priority check-in for the two Platinum tiers.
A couple of grade details are worth keeping straight rather than reading as blanket promises. On the Platinum caravans the master ensuite toilet is on some models but not every one, so if it matters, confirm it for the specific unit. The Silver Plus deck may not be gated, which is worth knowing if you were counting on a fenced deck to contain a toddler. For an enclosed outdoor space, the Gold Plus caravan has a private veranda, and both cottages have their own gardens, though the cottage hot tubs need supervising around young children.
The two cottages are the character option. Old Millers Cottage is a 16th-century cottage sleeping five, with a double ensuite, a twin and a single, a ground-floor bathroom, a beamed ceiling, a dishwasher, a private hot tub and a lawned garden with a stream running through it. It is the only unit the park lists under its own accessible-accommodation filter, graded there as assisted accommodation. Smugglers Cottage is a modern, self-contained cottage sleeping six, with a king ensuite and two twins, a large fitted kitchen, a dishwasher, a ground-floor bathroom and a private garden with a hot tub and french doors from the lounge. Both cottages come with free use of the park’s own facilities, the pool and restaurant included, as part of the stay.
Pets are welcome on specific pet-friendly caravan versions and at Old Millers Cottage only, up to two, for £30 per pet on a short break or £50 per pet for a week (last checked July 2026). The Gold Plus, Platinum and Platinum Exclusive caravans and Smugglers Cottage do not take pets, so it is the exact unit rather than the grade that decides it.
For choosing with young children: any grade’s fitted kitchen handles bottle-warming and food prep, so that is not the thing to pick on. If you want outdoor space, the cottages, the Gold Plus and the Silver Plus have a garden, veranda or deck. If anyone needs the fewest steps, Old Millers is the only unit the park designates as assisted. For a larger or multi-generation group, the three-bedroom caravans and Smugglers Cottage give the most room.
Eating and drinking
The one on-site dining spot, the shop and where to do a bigger food run. This is a small offer, and worth planning around.
Dining on site is limited. There is no meal plan and no all-inclusive, so most families mix cooking in the caravan with the odd meal out. On-site food is one operation, the Dolphin Bar & Restaurant, open 5pm to 9pm daily. It serves hearty bar meals, with a quieter Club Lounge to sit in if the bar is busy, and you can order food to take away from the same bar. It was known as The Smugglers Restaurant under the previous owner, which is where the cottage takes its name. The park’s facility list names a Dolphin Bar, a Lounge Bar and a Tiki Takeaway separately, but these are the bar, the quieter lounge and the takeaway counter of that one operation, not three different venues. One reviewer singled out the bar food for particular praise.
For self-catering there is an on-site Mace convenience shop with everyday essentials and some souvenirs, open 9am to 6pm off-peak and 9am to 7pm in peak season. For a proper weekly shop, Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons are all in Cardigan town a few minutes away. The dining is walk-up rather than booked: you order at the bar, so there is no reservation system to sort in advance. On dietary needs, the takeaway menu marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, and staff will help with other allergies.
Down by the beach and around St Dogmaels there are a few local places families have flagged: the Ferry Inn in St Dogmaels for food, Crwst Aberteifi in Cardigan for breakfast, and Crwst Poppit at Poppit Sands for coffee. There is more on eating out in the area further down.
The Cove pool
The headline pool, what there is for younger children and then the short walk down to Poppit Sands.
The Cove is the park’s headline facility and the thing reviewers rate most consistently. It is an indoor and outdoor tropical pool complex, with a waterfall, rock features, decorative palm trees and a viewing bridge over the water. A roof retracts on warm days to open it to the air. Within the complex there are two jacuzzis and a licensed sunbathing patio alongside the pool.
For younger children, there’s a shallower section within the pool that suits toddlers, and there’s no need to pre-book a pool slot. Keep young children within arm’s reach in the water. Reviewer sentiment on the pool is strong across the board, for how clean and safe it is and for the hot tubs, with one guest finding the jacuzzi over-chlorinated on their stay.
Poppit Sands beach
Poppit Sands is a Blue Flag beach a few hundred yards from the park, about five minutes on foot. It is a wide, natural beach with extensive sand dunes and boating jetties, framed by views out to Cardigan Island, and it is safe for swimming with lifeguards present through the summer months. Beyond swimming, the beach suits sailing, surfing, kayaking, boogie boarding and fishing. It has held a Seaside Award in the past too, though the Blue Flag is the current live status. The sea shelves in on a gentle incline, which one family described as ideal for young swimmers, and the sand is fine and white, though the same fineness means a windy day can blow the sand about, so it is worth a look at the forecast.
You reach the beach on a gravel woodland stream path, surfaced with Pembrokeshire bluestone gravel, with a pushchair-width gate at the far end. A pushchair will manage it, but it is a gravel woodland path rather than smooth pavement, so bear that in mind with a heavier double buggy. The beach is dog-friendly, with some summer restrictions and a large area set aside for dog-walkers under strict clean-up rules. The northern end of the Wales Coast Path starts here at Poppit Sands, right by the park, so the same access point doubles as a long-distance walking trailhead. There is an RNLI shop at the beach with a lifeboat visible through the window that children enjoy seeing, and for food nearby families point to the Ferry Inn, Crwst Aberteifi and Crwst Poppit.
Babies and toddlers
The picture on childcare and entertainment for young children, the baby kit question and everything there is to do on the park.
The most important thing to know for a family with a baby or toddler is that this park works differently from a Haven or a Bluestone. There is no formal kids’ club or crèche here, and no babysitting service. John Fowler’s toddler programme, the 4 Night Tots Break, runs only at three of its other parks, Ruda in Devon, Trelawne in Cornwall and Sandy Glade in Somerset, and not this one, so there are no structured toddler activities laid on. Children are with you at all times here, which suits some families well and others not at all, and it is the single thing to weigh before you book.
The entertainment follows the same pattern. This is a Quiet and Relaxing park with a pub-style venue, so it does not run a nightly programme or have resident entertainers. There is some family entertainment during the school holidays, around Easter, Whitsun and the summer, though it only reliably runs in the summer weeks, and reviewers mention the odd character show, a disco and bingo, but several point out it is not on every night and not advertised much in advance. Families who have stayed suggest checking with reception when you arrive to see what is running that week. A kids’ disco is listed among the facilities for the holiday weeks.
On baby kit, be careful what you assume. A travel cot, high chair or stair gate is not confirmed as standard on any caravan grade here, and the only cot and high-chair offer anywhere on the John Fowler site is tied to the Tots Breaks at those other three parks. Ring the park on 01239 615614 to ask before you travel, or pack your own. Every caravan does have a fully fitted kitchen with a fridge freezer, microwave and hob, which covers bottle-warming and food prep, and it is worth bringing any baby food or formula you need. Within The Cove there is the shallower section that suits toddlers, as above.
For active young children there is a fair bit to do outdoors, covered in full just below: an adventure playground, free crazy golf, a football field and the small amusements. None of it is staffed for you, but it fills a day around the pool and the beach.
On the parkThings to do
The on-park activity list is compact by design, in keeping with the Quiet and Relaxing positioning, so it is not a Bluestone or Haven-scale programme and is better not treated as one. What there is: The Cove pool complex is the clear headline. There is an outdoor adventure playground with monkey bars and swings, crazy golf that is free and unlimited to use, a small football field with two goals, football nets and a football table, plus a small amusements area of arcade machines one reviewer called a mini arcade. Indoors there is a games room with a pool table, and there is a launderette on site. Free WiFi covers the main building, with dedicated WiFi in every caravan.
A few things the park does not have, so you can plan around them: there is no spa, and no watersports hire, tennis or sports academies laid on by the park itself. Watersports in the area are run by independent local operators rather than the park, covered in the days-out section below. Cardigan Bay is also a static-caravan ownership park, with holiday homes for sale alongside the let units, which is why the site holds a mix of privately owned and rented caravans.
The area and days out
The park makes a good base for the Teifi estuary and the Cardigan Bay coast, with family days out within easy reach.
Cardigan town is a few minutes’ drive: a traditional market town with narrow streets, independent shops, pubs and places to eat, many still with their Georgian and Victorian fronts, plus the three supermarkets for a big shop. The town also has Cardigan Castle, a Georgian mansion with gardens and storytelling interpretation, an on-site restaurant called Cegin 1176 Kitchen and a family escape room.
The standout family attraction nearby is Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park, on a headland overlooking the Teifi estuary. You can meet and feed farm animals, walk a fenced clifftop path for seal and dolphin spotting, and there are indoor and outdoor play areas, a gift shop and a café. For 2026 it is open 23 March to 13 September (10am to 6pm) and 14 September to 31 October (10am to 5pm). Its own guidance is that all children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult throughout, which is worth remembering on the clifftop walk.
The park sits within the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation, home to hundreds of bottlenose dolphins, and the best way to see them with children is a New Quay Boat Trip: dolphin-spotting trips sailing within the protected area, in one, one-and-a-half and two-hour lengths plus private charter. Also at New Quay, the New Quay Honey Farm is Wales’s largest working honey farm and an all-weather option, with a honey bee exhibition, a meadery, a tropical ant colony, a shop and a tearoom.
For older children and adults there is Cardigan Bay Active, an independent operator running coasteering, rafting, canoeing, climbing, gorge walking, paddleboarding and surfing. These are geared to older children and adults rather than the youngest. It is a separate business from Cardigan Bay Watersports at New Quay, which runs taster sessions and hire for sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, paddleboarding and waterskiing along with RYA courses. Both are outside operators, not park facilities, and it is easy to mix the two names up.
A couple more finds for a longer day: the National Coracle Centre at Cenarth, about 20 to 25 minutes inland, is a working museum of traditional coracle boats in a 17th-century water mill, where children can sit in a coracle. Further up the coast towards Aberystwyth, roughly 40 miles (65 km) and about an hour away, Fantasy Farm Park at Llanrhystud has petting animals, tractor rides, pedal boats, crazy golf and indoor play.
For eating out beyond the park, the Fisherman’s Rest has decking over the Teifi with coffee, fish dishes and a fishmonger on site, the Teifi Waterside does a carvery with sea views, and the Ferry Inn in St Dogmaels is a riverside pub that came up as a favourite with a reviewing family. On foot, the Wales Coast Path runs the entire Welsh coastline and is directly accessible from the beach. Further afield, Haverfordwest, Tenby, Saundersfoot, New Quay and Pendine Sands are all reachable, with the smaller villages of Llangrannog, Newport in Pembrokeshire and Aberporth around 30 minutes away.
Loves and gripes
What comes up again and again in reviews, good and bad, then how it stacks up against the alternatives.
The park reviews well across the platforms we could verify directly. On Booking.com it holds 8.9 out of 10 from 133 reviews, with its highest marks for staff and location, and on Google it holds 4.6 out of 5 from 425 reviews. It is bookable through Hoseasons as well as direct, where it shows 4.8 out of 5 along with Diamond Awards recognition, a finalist in 2019 and a winner in 2023, and the park’s own site displays a 4.6 out of 5 guest rating, which matches the Google figure. It is also well regarded in independent roundups: one guide to the best Welsh parks ranks it fifth, praising its near-perfect review scores despite a more limited range of facilities, and John Fowler cites a Daily Mail nod as the best static caravan park in Wales, an accolade the park quotes about itself.
What families love
- The Cove pool, named favourably in most reviews, for cleanliness, the hot tubs and the shallower area for younger children.
- The peace and quiet and the small scale, the single most repeated point across the reviews.
- The staff and service, which carry Booking.com’s highest subscore.
- The cleanliness of the caravans and the site.
- The short, pleasant woodland walk to Poppit Sands.
- The two character cottages, in the accounts we found.
What families flag
- The minimal, seasonal, unadvertised entertainment, the clearest recurring flag, raised most by families with young children.
- No formal kids’ club, confirmed rather than just a review impression.
- Uncomfortable beds or mattresses in some caravans, raised by several different reviewers, who noted it is fairly usual for caravans.
- Parking not guaranteed directly beside every caravan.
- The cost, the most expensive park in the John Fowler group.
- Isolated one-offs rather than patterns: a jacuzzi over-chlorinated on one stay, a shower running hot, a single late-night noise incident.
How it compares
Against Bluestone National Park Resort, a large purpose-built activity resort about an hour south, this is a fundamentally different holiday. Bluestone is built around hours of self-directed paid activities across indoor domes; Cardigan Bay is a small, calm caravan park built around one pool and a beach walk. Cardigan Bay has direct beach access that Bluestone, being inland, does not, while Bluestone has far more on-site activity. Families wanting a packed activity week lean to Bluestone; families wanting a quiet, beach-based base lean here.
Against the Welsh Haven parks, Hafan y Môr, Kiln Park and Greenacres, Haven is larger and livelier, built around a structured Seaside Squad kids’ club with daily supervised sessions and nightly entertainment as standard, none of which Cardigan Bay offers. The trade the other way is a smaller, quieter, higher-scoring park with one strong pool and closer, calmer beach access. If you rely on a kids’ club for any part of the day, Haven is the safer choice; if you want a small, low-key base, this suits.
Against the rest of the John Fowler group, Cardigan Bay is the highest-scoring and the most expensive, sitting in the Quiet and Relaxing tier rather than the Big and Lively one that runs the Tots Breaks toddler programme. Within Wales, the group’s only other park is Llanrhidian on the Gower, a different stretch of coast.
Getting there and when to go
How to reach a fairly remote corner of west Wales, when the park is open and the best weeks with little ones.
Most families drive, and the park is in a fairly remote corner of west Wales, so it is a proper journey from much of England. As a rough guide it is around three hours from Birmingham, four to five from London and roughly two and a half to three from Bristol. Those are directional estimates rather than exact times, so check a live route planner for your own start point and travel day. By train, the nearest mainline station is Carmarthen, from which you would take a taxi or the local bus for the last stretch. The park's own Find Us page misspells the town "Camarthen," so search for the correct spelling if you're booking train tickets yourself. The Poppit Rocket, the 405 bus, runs between Cardigan and Fishguard and stops at the Poppit Sands car park a few hundred yards from the entrance. A local taxi firm, Cardi Cabs, is on hand if you need one.
For local distances, again directional: Cardigan town is 5 to 10 minutes, Fishguard around 25 to 30 minutes, New Quay around 30 to 35 minutes, St Davids around 45 to 55 minutes and Aberystwyth about an hour. On when the park is open, the 2026 season opens on Friday 6 March, and site-wide the pool and main facilities run from late February to the end of October. The park lets on through the quieter shoulder into the winter, roughly through to just after the New Year, with a reduced offer, so if you want a stay outside the main season it is worth checking directly what is running.
On choosing a month with young children: July and August are the warmest and, importantly here, the only weeks the entertainment reliably runs, but they are also the busiest and a little wetter. May and June give a good balance, warmer and drier and quieter, though outside those entertainment weeks, which suits families who do not put entertainment first. Because the headline pool is indoor with a retractable roof, a rainy day here need not be a wasted one, which is the real advantage over a beach-only holiday. The month-by-month figures are just below.
Weather
The figures below are long-term averages from the Met Office’s nearest station, at Aberporth along the same stretch of coast, with sea temperatures off New Quay. This is west Wales, so warm rather than hot: the warmest days sit around 18°C in July and August, and the sea only reaches about 17°C at its late-summer peak, which is why the indoor pool does most of the swimming whatever the month. The same station shows May and June as the sunniest months, each averaging more than 200 hours of sunshine, while October and November are the wettest, with over 100mm of rain typically falling in each.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9° | 4° | 82 mm | 15 | 9° |
| February | 9° | 4.5° | 65 mm | 12 | 8° |
| March | 10.5° | 5° | 63 mm | 11 | 8° |
| April | 13° | 6.5° | 52 mm | 8 | 10° |
| May | 15.5° | 9° | 50 mm | 8 | 12° |
| June | 18.5° | 11.5° | 53 mm | 9 | 15° |
| July | 19° | 13° | 63 mm | 10 | 17° |
| August | 19° | 13.5° | 76 mm | 11 | 18° |
| September | 18° | 12.5° | 77 mm | 10 | 17° |
| October | 15° | 10.5° | 110 mm | 15 | 15° |
| November | 12.5° | 8° | 115 mm | 17 | 13° |
| December | 10° | 5° | 97 mm | 15 | 10° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer.
Accessibility
The access picture, the one assisted unit and the practical services for getting around without a car.
The important fact is that standard caravans are not step-free: the park states plainly that all caravans are accessed by three or four steps, though the accommodation area itself is level. The one assisted option is Old Millers Cottage, the only unit listed under the park’s own accessible-accommodation filter, graded as assisted accommodation. It has a ground-floor bathroom and is the park’s designated assisted unit, so if step-free access matters, confirm the exact entry with the park before booking. Smugglers Cottage also has a ground-floor bathroom but is not listed as accessible, so do not assume it is equally suitable.
Beyond the caravans there is level access to the main facilities and the pool complex, and assistance dogs are welcome in all public areas. On dietary needs, the takeaway marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options and staff will help with other allergies. Free WiFi covers the main building, with dedicated WiFi in every caravan included in the stay.
For getting around without a car, the nearest mainline station is Carmarthen, the 405 Poppit Rocket bus stops at the Poppit Sands car park by the entrance, Cardi Cabs is the local taxi firm, and mobility equipment can be hired from Carmarthen Shopmobility, both named with contact numbers on the park’s accessibility page. As a practical safety note, the nearest A&E is Withybush General Hospital in Haverfordwest, roughly 40 to 50 minutes away, so check a live route on the day if it matters.
Questions
The things families ask most, the official pages worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Will there be a cot and high chair in the caravan?
Not confirmed for any grade. The only John Fowler cot and high-chair offer is tied to toddler breaks at three other parks, not this one, so ring the park on 01239 615614 to ask before you book, and pack a travel cot and a clip-on high chair if they cannot confirm one. Every caravan has a fitted kitchen with a fridge freezer, microwave and hob, so warming a bottle and making up meals are easy whatever you decide.
Is there a kids’ club so we can get a break in the day?
No, none of those. If a daytime break or an evening out is something you rely on, this is not the park for it. The way most parents get an evening here is the unit itself: a two-bedroom caravan or a cottage with a separate lounge lets you settle young children and still have a room to yourselves once they are asleep.
Is the entertainment on every night?
No. It runs occasionally in the school holidays, around Easter, Whitsun and the summer, and it is low-key, a pub-style venue rather than a resident show team. It is not nightly and it is not advertised much in advance, so ask at reception on arrival what is on that week rather than counting on it.
Can we get a caravan without steps?
Standard caravans are all reached by three or four steps. Old Millers Cottage is the only unit the park lists as assisted, with a ground-floor bathroom, so ask the park to confirm the entry suits you before you book. The accommodation area itself is level, and the pool and main facilities have level access.
Can we park next to our caravan?
Often, but it is not guaranteed everywhere on site. If you need to park right beside the door, for unloading with young children or for mobility, say so when you book rather than assuming it, since one guest was parked a few caravans back from the road.
Is it a bath or a shower in the caravans?
Every grade has a shower. If a bath at bedtime matters for a baby, ask the park directly before you book.
Can we bring the dog?
On specific pet-friendly caravans and at Old Millers Cottage only, up to two dogs, for £30 per pet on a short break or £50 per pet for a week. Gold Plus, Platinum, Platinum Exclusive and Smugglers Cottage do not take pets, so check the exact unit is a pet-friendly one before you book rather than the grade alone.
Do we need to bring food for the first night?
The on-site Mace shop covers everyday essentials and the Dolphin Bar serves meals from 5pm to 9pm, but for a proper shop Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons are all in Cardigan a few minutes away. If you are arriving after the shop or the kitchen has closed, it is worth bringing enough for the first evening.
When does the park open?
The 2026 season opens on Friday 6 March, and site-wide the pool and main facilities run from late February to the end of October. The park itself lets on into the winter with a quieter offer, so if you want a stay outside the main season, check directly what is running.
See more Cardigan Bay Holiday Park photos
Open the Cardigan Bay Holiday Park photo gallery →
Useful links
- Cardigan Bay Holiday Park: the park’s own site for caravans, the cottages, The Cove and what is included.
- Visit Wales: things to do and places to stay across Wales, and the five-star grading.
- Wales with little ones: our guide to the wider country, its coast and when to go.
Last updated 13 July 2026.
