Hot Tub Staycations in the UK: What to Look For

A hot tub is one of the few holiday extras that earns its keep in British weather. Sitting outside in the rain is miserable; sitting in hot water while it rains is the entire point. That is why hot tub lodges book out first in the parts of the year when everything else struggles, and why they are worth thinking about properly rather than just filtering by.

Where a hot tub actually improves the trip

Upland and northern places, in the cold months

The tub earns most where the days are short and the walking is hard. After a long day on the fells, hot water does something a bath cannot. The Lake District is the obvious case, and Keswick and Windermere both have concentrations of lodges built around exactly this idea. The Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland and the Cairngorms work the same way.

Anywhere with a view and no neighbours

The second thing that makes a hot tub worth the money is privacy. A tub on a shared deck overlooked by four other lodges is a swimming pool with extra steps. Rural Shropshire, inland Pembrokeshire and the quieter parts of Northumberland tend to have more space between properties than the honeypot valleys.

What separates a good setup from a bad one

Screening matters more than size

A smaller tub with a fence, a hedge or a slope behind it beats a larger one on an open lawn. Look at the photographs for what is around the tub rather than at the tub itself, and be suspicious of pictures cropped tightly.

Ask how it is heated and when it is ready

Some tubs run continuously, some are filled and heated for each arrival, and a few are wood-fired. Wood-fired tubs are lovely and are also a two-hour job before you can get in, which matters if you arrive late and tired. If the listing does not say, ask.

Check the changeover arrangements

Properties that drain and refill between guests sometimes have the tub unavailable on your first evening. That is usually the evening people were most looking forward to.

The seasons are not equal

Autumn and winter are the point

October to March is when a hot tub transforms a trip rather than merely decorating it. Cold air and hot water is the whole combination, and it is at its best when it is dark by five and there is weather coming in off the hill.

Midsummer is the weakest case

In July a tub competes with everything else you could be doing outdoors, and sitting in hot water at eight in the evening while it is still bright and warm is a much less compelling proposition. If you are booking for high summer, weigh the premium harder, or look for somewhere with a river or the sea instead.

Practical points

A hot tub is frequently the reason a property carries a premium, so compare against a similar place without one before assuming the upgrade is worth it. If you are travelling with small children, check the depth and whether the cover locks. And if you are going in winter, ask whether the path to the tub is lit and surfaced, because crossing a dark wet lawn barefoot in February is its own kind of holiday memory.

For the areas where a tub adds most, start with our Lake District, Peak District and Snowdonia pages, or read our guide to glamping for first timers if you want the outdoor feeling with fewer walls.