Neither is a lesser option than the other, and mixing them across the year often makes more sense than picking one. A couple might take a short weekend break in spring or autumn and a longer week together in summer; a family might use a half-term weekend for a quick recharge and save the full week for the big summer holiday once school allows it.
The two May bank holidays also work well as shorter breaks in their own right, for anyone who doesn't have a full week free. A long weekend built around the early May Monday, arriving Friday and leaving Tuesday, gives four days without touching much annual leave, and traffic on the roads tends to be lighter than the equivalent August bank holiday weekend.
See more on this at seaside caravan breaks.
There's a practical side too. If your children are tied to term dates, travelling even a day either side of the official holiday means less competition for the roads and the local attractions, without losing any of the actual holiday. Leaving on the Saturday after school breaks up, rather than fighting the Friday afternoon exodus, can shave a good hour or two off a journey to the coast.
For a couple, a short break, two or three nights, usually built around a weekend, does most of what's needed. There's no school-term constraint to work around, less packing, and less need to fill every day with an activity. A Friday-to-Sunday trip to the coast gives a proper change of scene, a couple of decent walks, an evening meal out, and time to properly switch off from work without using much annual leave at all. The travel time matters more here than for a longer trip: somewhere within two hours' drive makes the most of a short window, since a five-hour round trip eats into what's a fairly brief stay to begin with.
A weekend suits a short window: a bank holiday, a gap between other commitments, or simply not having more than a couple of days free. It works well for a couple, a pair of friends, or a family who just want a change of scene without the planning that a longer trip demands. Arrive Friday evening, get one full day and a morning, and you're home by Sunday teatime having barely touched the weekly routine. The travel-to-holiday ratio is the thing to watch: if the drive to the coast takes three hours each way, a two-night stay leaves less actual time there than the driving took to get there, so a weekend break makes most sense somewhere within a couple of hours' drive.
The two May bank holidays also work well as shorter breaks in their own right, for anyone who doesn't have a full week free. A long weekend built around the early May Monday, arriving Friday and leaving Tuesday, gives four days without touching much annual leave, and traffic on the roads tends to be lighter than the equivalent August bank holiday weekend.
See more on this at seaside caravan breaks.
There's a practical side too. If your children are tied to term dates, travelling even a day either side of the official holiday means less competition for the roads and the local attractions, without losing any of the actual holiday. Leaving on the Saturday after school breaks up, rather than fighting the Friday afternoon exodus, can shave a good hour or two off a journey to the coast.
For a couple, a short break, two or three nights, usually built around a weekend, does most of what's needed. There's no school-term constraint to work around, less packing, and less need to fill every day with an activity. A Friday-to-Sunday trip to the coast gives a proper change of scene, a couple of decent walks, an evening meal out, and time to properly switch off from work without using much annual leave at all. The travel time matters more here than for a longer trip: somewhere within two hours' drive makes the most of a short window, since a five-hour round trip eats into what's a fairly brief stay to begin with.
A weekend suits a short window: a bank holiday, a gap between other commitments, or simply not having more than a couple of days free. It works well for a couple, a pair of friends, or a family who just want a change of scene without the planning that a longer trip demands. Arrive Friday evening, get one full day and a morning, and you're home by Sunday teatime having barely touched the weekly routine. The travel-to-holiday ratio is the thing to watch: if the drive to the coast takes three hours each way, a two-night stay leaves less actual time there than the driving took to get there, so a weekend break makes most sense somewhere within a couple of hours' drive.