Half Term Staycations: Ideas for Every Break

Half term is the hardest week of the year to book well. Demand is concentrated into a single week, prices rise accordingly, and the weather in two of the three main breaks is genuinely unhelpful. The trick is to stop trying to have a summer holiday in February, and instead pick a trip that suits the week you actually have.

February half term

Plan indoors first, outdoors second

Short days and cold rain mean the trip should be built around somewhere warm and interesting, with walks as a bonus rather than as the plan. Cities do this well: York and Bath both pack a great deal of indoor interest into a small walkable centre.

Or lean into the cold

The alternative is to accept the weather and choose somewhere that is genuinely better in winter. Dark skies are at their best in February, so Kielder and Northumberland reward the effort. Coastal Norfolk in winter is bleak in the good sense, and far emptier than in August.

May half term

The best value week of the three

Late May usually brings the most reliable weather of any half term, and the countryside is at its best. This is the week to spend on trips that need decent conditions: the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, Snowdonia or the Gower.

Watch the bank holiday

May half term normally runs alongside the late May bank holiday, which makes the first weekend the busiest travelling period of the week. Arriving on the Sunday or Monday rather than the Friday or Saturday makes the journey noticeably easier.

October half term

Autumn colour and empty beaches

Woodland is at its best, and the sea is still warmer than it will be at Easter. The New Forest, Dartmoor and the Lake District all look their best. Coastal north Devon and Cornwall are quiet and still perfectly usable.

Everything closes earlier

Many attractions move to winter opening in late October. Check before you build a day around one.

Making the week work

One anchor a day, not three

Half term trips fall apart when they are over-planned. One thing that has to happen each day, chosen the night before according to the forecast, leaves room for the afternoon that turns out to be the best part of the week. Children remember the river and the arcade far more reliably than the thing that was booked.

Pick somewhere with an indoor fallback within ten minutes

This matters more in February and October than anything else on the itinerary. A cottage forty minutes from the nearest indoor option is a difficult place to spend a wet Tuesday, however good the view.

Self-catering usually beats a hotel

A kitchen, a washing machine and somewhere for children to be noisy without apology are worth more over a week than daily breakfast. It is also substantially cheaper in the most expensive week of the term.

Practical points

Half term dates are not the same everywhere. Scottish schools differ substantially from English ones, and English councils do not always align with each other. If you can travel on a week that is half term where you live but not where you are going, you get a better trip for less money.

Book accommodation early and food later: restaurants take bookings closer in, and the good ones in small towns fill up during school holidays. See our family staycations and rainy day guides.