The Ultimate Butlins Minehead Holiday Guide & Review

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Welcome to the ultimate Butlins Minehead holiday guide and review. We had our first visit to Minehead, after visiting Bognor Regis lots of times, so I thought I’d give some insight into what we thought, answer questions you might have and add some money saving tips to make your trip more affordable too! So, are Butlins holidays good? My kids would say absolutely – Finn and Lola want to go back every year! 😂

In this guide, I’ve added photos of our Butlins Minehead holiday, an accommodation review and as much info as possible to help with your stay. Make sure you also check out my Butlins Bognor Regis Review – as well as my ‘Which Butlins is best?‘ guide – if you’re not sure which Butlins to choose. This Butlins Minehead guide / review is based on our experiences, and I’ll be answering questions like: is Butlins expensive; which activities are included for free, how can you prebook shows; is Butlins Minehead dog friendly; when / how can you check in; can you visit for the day; what’s the accommodation like? And lots more!

Holiday: June 2023 (Updated 2025)

Where is Butlins Minehead?

If you’re looking for a seaside escape with plenty to keep the kids entertained, Butlins is a fun option for a family holiday. Butlins Minehead is located in Somerset – just next to Exmoor National Park so it’s a great spot for families who want a fun-filled holiday while still being surrounded by natural beauty. The resort is across the road from a lovely sandy beach and, with plenty of family attractions nearby (such as the West Somerset Railway and Dunster Castle), Butlins Minehead is not only great fun in itself but it’s also a brilliant base for exploring the local area. We loved the beach at Minehead, and beach days are a fab way to have fun without spending a penny. We thought that the location was brilliant, and you can get everything you need (like supermarket shopping) on foot.

Getting to Butlins Minehead is relatively straightforward, whether you’re driving or using public transport. If you’re driving, the resort is well signposted and just off the A39, making it easily accessible from the M5. There’s plenty of parking available on-site, which is great for families bringing all the essentials. For those travelling by train, the nearest mainline station is in Taunton. From there, you can hop on a local bus or a pre-booked taxi to make the 25-mile journey to the resort.

What is there to do at Butlins Minehead?

We had a fantastic week at Butlins Minehead – Finn and Lola absolutely adore Butlins because it’s essentially kid heaven! There’s so much on offer to entertain the kids day and night – there’s really no getting bored on a Butlins break – get ready for a jam-packed schedule! And, there’s something at Butlins for kids of all ages. First up, the Splash Waterworld is an absolute must! The lazy river and waterslides are great fun whatever the weather, and it’s included in the price, so no need to spend extra! There are loads of family-friendly shows throughout the day, from singalongs to character performances, and several options and stages for the evening entertainment too – and these shows are perfect for when you’ve worn the kids out and just want to relax with a drink.

If you’re a fan of fairgrounds, Butlins has its own traditional funfair and the rides are free – it’s a great way to fill an afternoon without spending an extra penny. (Though my two love hiring the pedal and petrol go-karts too!) And they’ve got a new Skypark play area, and a laser tag arena as well. Let’s not forget the beach either – Butlins Minehead is right on the seafront, so you can pop out for a bit of sandcastle-building or a paddle in the sea if you’re visiting in the summer. (There’s a great ice-cream shop there!)

How much is a holiday at Butlins Minehead – is it expensive or good value for money?

I actually think a holiday at Butlins Minehead can be great value for money, as long as you avoid the summer holidays – where the cost can be on par with a trip abroad. The other school holidays are generally a lot more reasonably priced, and term-time breaks are super cheap. The great thing about Butlins is that the holiday price includes so much. It can easily cost £100 for a family day out at a castle or to visit a zoo, but you get a lot for your money in comparison when you book a Butlins break – and there are no ‘per person’ prices either!

Last year’s stay at Butlins Bognor Regis (November 2022) was our cheapest yet! We paid just £88 for a Monday-Friday stay for the four of us – I’m not sure why it was so cheap but we certainly made the most of it and booked it in a heartbeat! For our Monday-Friday stay at Butlins Minehead this June we paid around £150, so it was a really inexpensive trip, especially given how much is included for free at the resort. I could never justify the high summer holiday prices but if you can get a good deal by avoiding July and August, it can be a cheap and cheerful break and it’s such good fun for the kids. (We’ve got friends who booked for £60 for a Mon-Fri later this year!)

Which activities and rides are free at Butlins?

As I mentioned above, there are so many activities included in the price at Butlins Minehead, so you can visit knowing that you won’t need to spend a fortune when you get there – in fact you could get away with spending nothing extra at all just by bringing your own food. You can go on the rides or visit the pool etc as many times as you like without spending a penny so it really is every kid’s (and parents!) dream!. Free activities at Butlins Minehead include:

A fairground with loads of rides – my two love the bumper cars!
A fantastic pool complex with waterslides and a lazy river
Messy play
Evening entertainment shows
Soft play
Indoor rides
NEW Skypark play area
Daytime shows for the younger ones

We usually let the kids do a couple of paid activities, and then for the rest of the time we make the most of the freebies! They adore the petrol go-karts (£7 per kart) now that they’re tall enough to drive themselves, and love having a go on the pedal karts too. Paid activities include:

Arcades
Go karts
Bowling
Adventure golf
Kid’s driving school
Aerial adventures
Laser tag
Pottery painting

What’s the Butlins Minehead swimming pool like?

When it comes to which Butlins has the best swimming pool – Bognor Regis definitely wins as it’s newer and larger – but the pool at Minehead was still loads of fun. The kids liked the lazy river and there are some good flumes – the raft ride was fantastic. My two always spend hours in the swimming pools when we’re on a Butlins break. Minehead Butlins is a brilliant option for the summer months too, as they have an additional outdoor paddling pool – the temperature when we visited was in the mid-high twenties, so that area was really popular while we were away.

If you’ve got younger kids the outdoor pool would be fantastic for a sunny day, and they also have an indoor ride area for the little ones. Though there’s something for kids of all ages, I think Butlins Minehead caters particularly well for families with younger children and it’s likely the best Butlins for toddlers.

What’s the entertainment like at Butlins Minehead?

In our experience the evening entertainment at Butlins is pretty good, and they have several shows a night to choose from. The standard is much higher than other UK holidays and caravan breaks we’ve had in the past. I’ve added details about shows from all of our visits here as they usually run the same sort of thing across their sites. My son loved the wrestling night – and tickets outside of Butlins for the four of us would be around £50 if this was a paid show. There’s also a year round pantomime and tons of other shows. In the past the entertainment changed fairly regularly too, so you could have a different experience each time you visit, but for our last few trips it has been quite repetitive, so that’s something to consider if you’re visiting multiple times.

Having said that, we’ve been lucky enough to see the fabulous Cirque du Hilarious show (which would also cost upwards of £50 for a family of four), Diversity, The Animal Guyz (Animals vs Dinosaurs) and also Andy and the Odd Socks, whose songs the children were still singing a year later! 😂

We’ve found that the entertainment is generally better during the school holidays than during the Christmas Fantasy or term-time breaks, so that’s something think about. Although, we love The Animal Guyz who we’ve been fortunate enough to see on a couple of our trips. And, Lola had a great boogie to the Abba tribute band – she’s a big Mamma Mia fan! Our Easter Holiday break probably had the best shows, looking back on our different visits. The summer holidays are filled with big names and the bigger budget shows (things like Stephen Mulhern and the Masked Singer) but these come at a premium because the summer break is a lot more expensive than the rest of the year – we’ve never visited at that time of year.

How / when can we book the shows and activities at Butlins?

Butlins will email you 4 weeks before your break to enable you to see which shows and activities will be available during your stay. On their app, you’ll then able to book time slots for the shows and craft / sport activities etc and plan what you’d like to do, and when, before your visit. Don’t worry if you change your mind though, you can cancel and re-book other show times etc easily on the app. We’ve never had an issue with over-subscribed evening entertainment, but it’s worth noting that the free activities (things like craft) get booked up very quickly so they’re definitely something to sort as soon as you receive the email.

Everything you’ve booked can viewed on the app throughout the trip, and you’ll just need to show the applicable QR code on each booking when you enter for the shows / activities.

When / how can we check in / out at Butlins Minehead?

Check in will either be 3pm or 4pm, dependent on your particular booking, but you can basically arrive at Butlins Minehead at whatever time you like from 1pm on check-in day, and then use the facilities until your accommodation is ready. (Pack a separate swimming bag and you can pop to the pool!) Check-in at Butlins Minehead is a super easy ‘drive through’ service, where you’ll be given everything you need for your break. And, when it’s time to check out, simply post the key into the check out box at the exit when you leave. Check out time is 10am.

Inside the apartments, there will be a small welcome pack with things that are useful for a self-catering holiday – like a bin bag, dish cloth, washing up liquid and a tea towel. There are also some sachets of tea/coffee/sugar to get you started. (We always bring sellotape and extra bin bags to put up at the windows just in case the curtains are rubbish too!)

When’s the best time to visit Butlins?

As well as my review of our Butlins Minehead break, I thought I’d add a little guide on what the costs might look like at different times of the year. The best thing about Butlins is that there’s so much to do indoors, this means that you’re guaranteed to have a good time even if the weather isn’t perfect – you can wait out the rain and have fun whilst you do so. Some of the Butlins sites are also cheaper than others, so just keep your eyes peeled for a great deal – here are some of prices we’ve paid previously.

For school holiday bookings: After Christmas, they usually have special offers and school holiday times are included in these. The long weekend is also great, we did a three night stay for £220 one February half-term. For Easter half term a few years ago, we paid about £450 for a Mon-Fri stay. Once you’ve visited, they’ll also sometimes email over extra incentives to persuade you to book again, such as £50 off, which can be used on top of the already discounted prices.

For term-time bookings: If you’re able to go term time, you can visit Butlins very cheaply, and they have weeks which are just for tots (under fives) featuring acts like Justin Fletcher. Because our children are home-educated, we’re fortunate to be able to benefit from very cheap breaks. You can easily book a Monday-Friday trip under £100 during term-time.

Christmas Fantasy breaks: The Christmas Fantasy breaks are for all ages – these run from late November through to the New Year. Christmas Day – New Year is expensive, but the earlier dates are cheaper. We’ve paid between £88 and £166 for a Mon-Fri silver apartment during November/December which is just amazing value for everything included.

Although it’s winter, there’s so much to do indoors that a bad weather day isn’t a prob. And, when it’s dry, just wrap up warm and make the most of the fairground. So, what’s Butlins like at Christmas? With the Christmas lights and music playing in the fairground, alongside festive shows / activities we’ve found Butlins to be pretty magical.

What’s the accommodation like at Butlins Minehead?

Comfort Plus Apartment

We booked a Comfort Plus apartment and thought it was a brilliant base for our holiday. We had plenty of space, housekeeping regularly cleaned it and made the beds, and towels were included. We were on the top floor and separated by a stairway to the neighbouring apartment so it was quiet and easy to sleep too. There was a small park directly opposite the apartment, which was handy for the kids when they wanted to roam. But, our favourite feature of all was the balcony! It was baking hot when we visited, and being able to sit out in the sun, or enjoy a game of cards and a meal in the evenings when it had cooled down was just brilliant. We felt like we were abroad!

Where should we eat – are the Butlins Minehead dining plans worth it?

We’ve always self-catered so we haven’t used the dining plans offered. They seem pretty expensive to me – when we booked our recent Mon-Fri break they offered us a REDUCED price of nearly £300 for the four of us 🙄 – you can definitely feed yourselves for a lot less. If you’ve got the budget it’s probably a nice feature to have all of your meals catered for, though my friend wasn’t overly impressed with the quality of the food when they used the dining plan. But if you like a budget break away, like we do, then feeding yourselves will always be a winner!

Food wise, the normal restaurants are pretty decent and they’re priced similarly to chain restaurant type places. We sometimes eat out once or twice but generally cook our own food to save money. There are other cheaper options like fish and chips on site too, and there are supermarkets around the corner so it’s easy to do a shop for the week and self-cater. We also used the Morrison’s cafe for a cheap dinner, and there’s a Mcdonalds and a Brewers Fayre down the road too. The nearest supermarkets to Butlins Minehead are only a short walk away, about ten minutes, or just a few minutes by car – you’ve got the option of Morrisons, Lidl and Tesco within the same area.

The mini-supermarket on site has a good range too – it’s not as cheap as your standard Aldi and Tesco prices, but they’re not extortionate either if you need a few bits. For lunch, they have reasonably priced hot food like sausage rolls and pasties in the shop, so that can make things more affordable if you fancy a day off from making sandwiches. For the evenings, take snacks and drinks with you to the entertainment. The prices are reasonable inside the venues, but you can’t beat multipack supermarket prices, so that saving would definitely add up over the week.

Can I bring my dog to Butlins Minehead?

If you’re hoping to take your four-legged friend along for the family holiday you’ll need to stay in the owner’s caravan area – as that part of the resort is dog friendly – but they’re not permitted within the main holiday park areas with the exception of assistance dogs.

Can you visit Butlins Minehead for the day?

If you’re staying locally, you can also visit Butlins Minehead for the day – day visits start from £10 for children (2-14) and seniors (60+) and £17 for adults (15+). Prices may vary slightly depending on the season or special events, and it’s a good idea to book in advance online to ensure availability. The day pass gives you access from 10am to 6pm, and it includes unlimited rides at the fairground, access to Splash Waterworld and live daytime shows.

For more information, and prices for your Butlins Minehead holiday, click here to head to the Butlins website. I hope my ultimate guide (and review!) for Butlins Minehead has been helpful, and if you have any questions pop them in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer! 😊 If you’re still not sure which resort to pick, check out my Butlins Bognor Regis Review or my comparison guide: Which Butlins is best?