The four-star Iberostar Malaga Playa Hotel has three pools, four bars and access straight on to the sand of a stunning beach. A weekend stay here cost less than £130 for two adults on the dates we checked, and that included a buffet breakfast and dinner and a room with a private garden.
Or, you could head to Brighton. When I checked, the same money will get you a room at the three-star Best Western Princes Marine Hotel. No pool, no sea view (that’s £184) and forget dinner, you don’t even get breakfast for that price. The beach? Nip across the A259.
I don’t mean to pick on Brighton, or the Best Western. I could have made this comparison at almost any popular UK seaside resort, but it illustrates just what fantastic value Spain is. It’s no wonder three Spanish hotel brands (including Iberostar) were rated the best in our international hotel chains survey – and each was handed four or more stars out of five for value for money, too.
Simply put, you get more for your money on holiday in Spain. If you wanted to stay in a UK hotel with the sorts of facilities offered by Iberostar, you would easily be looking at a few hundred pounds a night. Of course, your hotel is not the be all and end all of a holiday, but it is typically your biggest cost. And that’s why every time I compare UK holiday prices versus going abroad; going abroad is almost always cheaper – often significantly so, and even after flights are added.
It’s not just fly and flops, either – which Spain invented and the Iberostar specialises in. Even the Spanish government can give you a fantastic holiday. It runs the Paradores brand, a collection of nearly 100 historic properties (think National Trust) that was also highly rated in our survey. You’ve probably already booked that Iberostar, but, if not, it has a Renaissance palace that’s part of Avila’s Unesco world heritage site for £77. Extraordinary value.
Spain has been so successful in creating the ideal, affordable European holiday that it now has too many tourists in places. Whole cities and towns have had their rental market upended, as landlords convert properties into holiday lets and residents are priced out. There are only a dozen or so places where overtourism is so severe that protests have broken out, but it’s true that British tourists have borne the brunt of the dissatisfaction.
It’s a sad irony then that in many ways the story of the rise of the Spanish seaside holiday is also the story of the decline of the Great British seaside holiday. The arrival of concrete blocks on the Costas saw Spain become the first mass-market holiday destination – and Britons were their first guests. A joint experiment built on sunshine and a Vickers Vanguard aircraft.
The losers were Bognor Regis, Skegness and other storied seaside resorts. In recent decades, many have fallen into disrepair, a vicious cycle of local budget cuts that in turn sees ever fewer tourists, decreased revenue and further cuts. Even Cornwall, which drew a record five million visitors in 2022, has seen arrivals fall. Malcolm Bell, executive chairman of Visit Cornwall, told the BBC that tourism to the county had been flat all through 2024.
Contrast Britain’s faded coastal towns with the pristine, palm fringed seafronts of Spain’s booming resorts, where even this year a rise in British (and German) visitors is said to have spurred Spain’s GDP growth.
It has become almost impossible for the UK to compete. There are many good reasons why Spain is cheaper than the UK for a holiday, but little of it has to do with hoteliers themselves, who typically make less than their Spanish counterparts in profit per room. The length of the holiday season and the weather – when news coverage of Spain isn’t dominated by floods, or wildfires – play a huge part, as does the cost of doing business.
Still, little of that matters when it comes to you booking your big 2025 week away. Because ultimately, why would you pay £1,000 a week for an average hotel in the UK when you could pay £1,000 for an incredible one in Spain?
Rory Boland is editor of Which? Travel
