Caister Holiday Park, Norfolk, England
Hotel Information
Hotel Description:
Caister is the Holiday Park with the big personality, offering direct beach access to the dunes and safe sandy bathing and where active families have everything going for them. All in all, this energetic Park is tops for the best of all holiday fun. Kids will never tire of the well-organised activities and daytime shows.Nearby Hotels Viewed by Other Travellers
Caister Holiday Park Reviews
" great hol! "
Submitted By: scrasiewe arrived to a friendly bunch of people and parked up and had a look round. there was such a great variety of things to do for the chidren and for the adults.
They also run trips every day so we went to great yarmouth on the coach which was very cheap and a great day out.
we seen a great band in the evening called evoke too, they were great!
we headed out of the resort on one night and found a lovely little pub where we had dinner and it was lovely and very reasonable.
only bad point is that there is a lot to do in the park but some of the things are expensive!
i would definately visit caister again!
Advice: beautiful place, go and see!
Activities: great yarmouth
Good for: Beach
- Date of Holiday:Aug 2009
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" AVOID "
Submitted By: Mr A MacdonaldMy kids are usually happy-go-lucky and hardly ever complain but after one day there they refused to come out of their bedroom saying they wanted to go home.
Chalet was a damp, flea ridden, poorly equipped, filthy little box.
Front door didn't shut, cutlery was dirty, bedrooms smelled like someone had died in them and the bathroom hadn't been cleaned since god knows when!
The activities instructors didn't have a clue what they were doing and spent most of their time chatting on the phone and texting rather than teaching archery/fencing.
You had to spend 30 minutes waiting in line to get into the pool for 30 minutes swimming time.
Forget the entertainment.... unless of course you love High Shool Musical and playing bingo.
The Mash & Barrell looked nice from the outside but the food is just reheated slop (avoid Curry night!)
To be honest, unless you have a 60 inch waist, multiple tattoos, ten kids, like drinking too much, a couple of unmuzzled pitbulls and like screaming obscenities at your kids..... you won't fit in!
****Avoid****
- Date of Holiday:May 2009
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" family fun "
Submitted By: beardo- Date of Holiday:May 2009
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" Excellent holiday "
Submitted By: traceyrob1986We went on trips out but spent about 2 days on park which was great fun. The swimming pool is nice and clean but could do with being a little warmer and possibly a slide for younger children. There is plenty of activities to do on site and several different play areas for children which is good. The evening entertainment was brilliant, my daughter loved the characters on stage and even though it was a midweek break, there was plenty of entertainment on each night. The cabaret shows were really really good, Chris Newman has the most amazing voice and relaly made the ents team shine along with holly, the other hotspot vocalist.
We ate at the chip shop on site one night which wasnt the best i;ve ever had but was relaly nice. We also ate at the mash and barrel 2 nights which was briliant service and a lovely restaurant. The food was delicious and good value for money - i advise anyone 2 try the steak and jam roly poly Mmmmm
Overall this was an amazing holiday and I loved my time here. I did not want to leave and am seriously considering coming back later in the year or next year....
Good for: Beach
- Date of Holiday:Apr 2009
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" l.n.dolbye "
Submitted By: Jamisnicein my opionion neva go again
Good for: Beach
- Date of Holiday:Oct 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" We went for a week's holiday in June... "
Submitted By: Mr WG SkyrmeThe van was very generally very clean, although the carpet in the living area was - not surprisingly - a bit stained but nothing nasty, just from use. It was freshly hoovered though and we had no issues walking on it.
Although we booked a two-bedroom, we got a three bedroom. In fact, this was better as we just used the small room to store cases and other junk.
The booking in procedure was slick and helpful. When we got to the van we had a quick look round and found a bulb blown. We had also been given a cot bed rather than the cot rails we had pre-booked.
I went to the helpdesk to report it. I then picked up some milk from the shop and by the time I arrived back at the van the maintenance team were already there. That's around five minutes from reporting to fixing - not bad!
Our van was in a perfect position, about 1 minute from the beach. Some people have complained about being a long way from the entertainment complex. In reality, nowhere is more than a ten minute walk from anywhere else. If that's a long way ...
Now for some negatives:
The double bed was very uncomfortable with springs popping up all over the place. We have a memory foam mattress at home so maybe we are a bit over-sensitive to springs! However, the mattresses seemed to be the same on all the beds so I didn't complain: just a poor feature of that design of bed. We got round it by taking the mattress off the pull-out bed in the living area so had a double layer of mattress, which did the trick.
The kids' entertainment was OK in the evening - if you can cope with American accents. All the fun characters are voiced on a backing track and the costumed actors just mime and dance. Not really great but OK to pass an hour. The live show was much better - more interactive and fun, and easier to hear because the sound engineer was balancing the voices and music to suit the venue.
However, the indoor daytime kids activities were absolutely dire. Remember, this was the end of June, so nearly all the children there will have been pre-school. Firstly, there was always a DVD showing on the theatre screen with the sound on loud. Totally unneccessary and very distracting. Then there was absolutely no engagement from the leaders with the children. We went to a drawing / messy activity and walked out within 10 minutes - no-one had even said hello to our son (aged 2¾) or tried to help him do something.
Thinking it might have been a off-day, we went to the music activity a couple of days later. There were just some random percussion instruments lying on the floor with no-one leading. We had expected some nursery rhyme singing, counting and rhythm songs, dancing etc. Nothing. VERY, VERY POOR. If I had one suggestion for the entertainment managers it would be to employ workers who can really engage and animate children, not sit there looking bored. AND PLEASE TURN OFF THE DVD!!
Luckily the weather was very good for our week, so we didn't feel forced to go the activities. I think if it had been raining, we would all have got very frustrated with the lack of provision for our son.
No complaints about the other facilities. The pool area was spotless and well managed. Crazy golf was fun and miniature 'motorbikes' (battery) OK. Shop was fine - not extortionate. There's also a Tesco in Caister itself, about 5 minutes' drive away. Went to the bar on our last evening. It was pretty busy (not surprisingly as it was the night before the changeover day). Had to wait 45 mins for food (as advised when we ordered) but it was hot and tasty. Only gripe - no hand-pull beer in any of the bars. But that's me being fussy!
Finally some hints.
Bring your Freeview box! The signal is fine and you'll get a decent picture. I forgot our remote control (d'oh) so bought a cheapy from Tesco which was great for the week.
The curtains are a bit thin, so if you're not used to a light room, some black cardboard or a car windscreem shield may be useful.
I think 8 is a realistic store. We will certainly consider going back. It's in a fantastic area - the Broads are only a short drive away; there's Norwich and, of course, Great Yarmouth as well. I suspect if it had rained my score would have been a bit lower, but spending a rainy week in a caravan wouldn't be much fun anywhere, no matter what the facilities.
- Date of Holiday:Jun 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked directly on Haven website
" Just returned from our week at Haven... "
Submitted By: Mr J ConnollyWe arrived the the check in process was quick and efficient the staff were business like and pleasant. Our caravan which was a superior plus van...costing in excess of £700 for the week was grubby on arrival. I am sure they are cleaned regularly but our van was showing significant wear and tear. The crockery needed cleaning before being used, the shower was clean but didn't empty very quickly, although this provide a near bath experience for the 10month.
The biggest disappointment was the density of the caravans in the park, there was room to park your car but very little else. This lead to a sense of being hemmed in or as said it was ok if you kept the curtains closed.
The facilities were disappointing from an adult perspective, although the 7 year old enjoyed most of the bits on offer. The pool was little more than a 25m swimming poll with a couple of slides. The water was on the cool side and there was evidence of old plasters around the centre element of the pool. The slides were ok but not that fast. The single issue for us which we felt was in inexcusable was the lack of baby change facilities within the pool and the lack of locker space for those people with younger kids. This is from a company that carries a Tommy family friendly mark!!!!!
The activities that we book oldest son it to were well run and the friendly, even when he got into difficulty with the aqua jets the lifeguard was excellent. We only saw one children's show and that was ok!
The mash and barrel was ok for a drink but we didn't eat there....partly due to seeing two of the waitresses sniffing the food and turning there noses up prior to serving...kind of puts you off!.
The site overall was lacking in something...we kept saying that we felt grubby walking through the site. This site was obviously 2 separate parks in the past with the park based around the central facilities looking and feeling significantly better than the area we were in (Caister Beach). This had a real run down feel to it not helped by the tatty outside to some of the buildings.
Overall we were disappointed the facilities on offer. we did have some great days out and basically ended up using the caravan as somewhere to sleep rather than anything else.
- Date of Holiday:Jul 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Haven direct
" we came here july 2006 and after... "
Submitted By: Mr T Ismay- Date of Holiday:Jul 2006
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:direct
" This is the second time we've been to... "
Submitted By: Mr J KiddierOur caravan was excellent (privately owned, as are about half the ones on site)
The new Mash & Barrel is very good, prices reasonable, quality very good. (try the Bangers & Mash!!!) We expected it to be busier as we were told the site was officially classed as full ie all the Haven owned caravans & chalets are booked.
We tended to use the Seagull Club more than Neptunes as it was a bit quieter, but if you want a nice quite pint go to The Old Cottage Inn (over 18s only) or the Centurion pub just up the road.
Only found a few problems, some of the details of some of the activities are different to what is advertised on the website & in some of the advertising leaflets, for example Archery is advertised on the web as 5+ at Caister it is actually 7+. The swimming lessons are advertised as 1 hour long but are actually 30 minutes.
My 5 year old daughter also went to one of the kids activity mornings but said it was boring & didn't want to go again, we also heard similar comments from other parents.
The other thing that really annoyed me was the parents who had oviously had too many in the bar & were expecting the guys on security to look after the kids while they rounded up the missing ones or trying to get security to look for the kids as they were incapable of doing it themselves & yes I do know the bar staff shouldn't be serving drunken people but they can't monitor everyone or groups of people buying rounds.
On the whole we had a very good time & will be seriously considering going back next year.
- Date of Holiday:Jul 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" On ariving at Caister we were a party... "
Submitted By: Mrs K ThurstonOn the tuesday of our holiday we witnessed an act of violance in the caravan next to us with a mamber of staff and her ex!!
I ran and got help and a policeman and security later the situation was over with them not catching the gentleman. Nobody came to us and said the man was no danger or anything and we have two small children, this person could of been a mass murderer for all we knew!!!!!
We will not be going to this park anymore as the activities are mediocre!!
- Date of Holiday:Jul 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:9.50 holidays
" We have only just returned from a... "
Submitted By: Mrs Stefanie RoseWhen we got there I have to say I was happy with what I saw. After all, this is a fairly cheap English holiday place, so you cannot expect Center Parcs (Even though I have been to one of them and really did not think that they were good value for money). The Haven camp in Caister however, is good value for money.
We had booked a Prestige Caravan and got our keys before the majority of people at 2:30pm. Our caravan looked nice and very clean.
The kids entertainment we took part in was great. The character shows were really good. The mascots are great and not just some cheap looking characters. We ended up having to buy our little one Bradley Bear and a pink Anxcious teddy.
We took our own food and so did not really sample the on-site food, other than one portion of fish and chips from the Fish and Chip shop, which really wasn't that nice.
The Mash and Barrell wasn't my thing. It looked new and modern, but had this sort of Working men's club feel about it.
The swimming pool was OK. It was a bit cold the first time we went, including the showers. The kids liked it though.
We liked how close the parc is to the beach. We were right next to the dunes. The beach is full of pebbles, the water is freezing and the wind can really blow there, but it is still really nice.
There is quite a lot to do out and about for kids. Great Yarmouth is fun. We went to Pleasure Beach and went on a horse and carriage ride.
We also visited to a Transport museum nearby, which was great.
We all enjoyed this holiday. The kids really loved it. I would have preferred France, but after all this was meant just for the kids and in that we succeeded!
I certainly cannot agreat that the place is outdated and in need of a makeover.
- Date of Holiday:May 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" My Mom booked a week away for us, as... "
Submitted By: Mrs A. Williams- Date of Holiday:Apr 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:First Choice
" We have just returned from a short... "
Submitted By: Mrs Robina StubbsWe had booked a last minute deal with standard caravan accomodation so we wasn't expecting luxury but we were pleasantly suprised. our caravan was 3 bedrooms, we had a shower, microwave, tv with dvd player, toaster, & all utensils etc, even a hairdyrer!! The caravan was lovely & clean (if a little cold) although a gas fire in lounge area & small radiators in bedroom & shower room soon warmed it up.
The caravan was in a nice area close to beach & central to all amenities, shop, bars etc.
Gt. Yarmouth was only about 5 mins away by car, because we went out of season & mid week a lot of things were still closed but still plenty to do, would recommend going again in high season.
In all we had a bargain price break, & would highly recommend. All staff were very friendly & helpful, & was always plenty going on on the park.
We would return but probably stay for longer & go in peak season.
- Date of Holiday:May 2007
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Booked Independently
" We have just returned from a lovely... "
Submitted By: Mrs J KellyOverall we had a lovely time, think we got a really good deal for our money and think some people can never be pleased.
The only reason we wouldn't go back and down fall to the whole holiday is that due to road problems (nothing to do with haven or caisters) it took us over 9 hours to get home!
- Date of Holiday:Apr 2008
- Board Basis:Self Catering
- Tour Operator:Haven





Advice: very good place to visit many things to see &do
Activities: to many to say
Good for: Beach