Down

A first trip to County Down usually starts with settling in somewhere near the water. The county's caravan parks are strung along the coast and around its loughs, and picking one shapes the whole trip: Ballyferris Holiday Park and Sandend Holiday Park sit close to the shore for beach days, while Lakeside View Caravan Park and Loughside Holiday Park give you calmer, waterside settings inland. Springvale Holiday Park, Bonny's Caravan Park, Rockmore Caravan Park and Woodcroft Park round out the choice, so it is worth deciding whether you want sea, lough or something in between before you book.

Once you are based, the appeal of Down is how easily one day rolls into the next without much planning. Mornings tend to mean a walk along the coast or a wander round whichever village is nearest the site, and afternoons are for exploring further afield - the county rewards slow driving between small harbours and viewpoints rather than ticking off a single big attraction.

Evenings are flexible too - Minny Doyles and Midnight Haunt suit a relaxed dinner, and SNAUBS is worth building a night around if you fancy trying somewhere a little different. Because the restaurants are spread right across the county rather than clustered in one town, it is easy to base an evening out around wherever you happen to be staying that day.

What makes Down a good first-trip destination is this balance: a manageable number of well-placed campsites for a straightforward base, and a genuinely large spread of places to eat that means you are never short of somewhere new to try, whether you are staying a weekend or considerably longer.