Extremely cheap and cheerful! (Butlins (Minehead))

Member Name: ice_pink

Product:	Butlins (Minehead)
Date:	12/10/08 (302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very cheap if you can get a good deal, a nice little break

Disadvantages: Not the most exciting place you will visit, or exotic!

Butlins Minehead
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Me and three of my friends visited Butlins Minehead last year. We were looking around and originally were going to stay in Alton Towers for a night and return the next day, when we spotted the three night break, for just £39 each (yes, that was it - £39 for the 3 nights, not per night!)

The Butlin's website is very easy to use - you can check avaliability, compare prices, check out special events that will be happening, and book all online, and you get a discount just for booking using the website!

We decided to go out of season, and booked about a week and a half before the holiday actually started. We were a bit dubious about booking, as it has a reputation for being a kiddies place, great for families etc, but for just 40 quid each we couldnt really say no! We booked the cheapest accommodation avaliable, which was the standard.

Butlins do not accept bookings on a lot of breaks from all males or females with 4 or more members aged between 18 to 21, or or 8 or more members are aged under 30. This is to help keep the family atmosphere. They do however have special 18 rated breaks for adults only.

We also chose self catering, although dinner, bed and breakfast would only have been an extra 20 or so pounds each, we concluded that we wouldnt be up in time to catch breakfast anyway, and the dinner we would be eating out (we regretted this later when we saw the eating area actually looked quite nice!).

We were very suprised, after choosing the lowest standard of accommodation avaliable to find how nice the room was we were given. We were given a microwave and a toaster, as well as a welcome pack of tea and coffee which is standard for the rooms. The microwave and toaster however were only supposed to be in silver rooms - this confused us slightly but we were very happy nonetheless!

The welcoming to the resort was good, and we found a good mix of ages, young, old, small groups of younger people, couples, and families. A nice mix.

Overall, the price and standard of the room was brilliant.

As far as entertainment goes, there was a lot avaliable for children, including kids clubs, arts and crafts, fair ground rides, and shows. There were also a good amount of bars, including a nice Irish bar, and a 'Jaks' club, which was pretty good for a holiday resort club. Nothing was particularly cheap on the resort, but was a good laugh and we met some really nice people from all over the country.

The Splash Waterworld was good, it had a few slides, wave machines, flumes and rapids - a good mixture and variety of activities to do to suit kids and big kids!! Brilliant fun!

The restaurants avaliable on the resort werent all that, and were pricey and didn't stretch too much further than fast food. Outside the resort, into the town center you'll find a wide variety of friendly cafes, restaurants and bars that will keep you happily entertained and well fed for a fraction of the price. There's also a gorgeous beach located right outside the resort.

Overall, I was suprsied how much of a good time I had at Butlin's Minehead. It wasn't a place I'd previously thought of going before, but it was definetly good for something chilled out, different and most of all, cheap!

Summary: If you can get as good a bargain as I did, definitely worth a visit!