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Best Western New Holmwood (Cowes, Isle of Wight) Hotel Review

I stayed 3 nights at the Best Western New Holmwood, a fairly big hotel in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is on the east coast of the Isle of Wight and the hotel is placed right at the end very close to the sea. Some great views out there!

This is a review of my stay at the Best Western New Holmwood, plus information about my room, the hotel itself, and other things related to my stay.

Note: I paid for the room myself and have not received compensation from the hotel for writing this review. It’s my own thoughts and experiences and I’ve not been influenced in any way!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and buy something, I get a small percentage at no extra cost to you. Your support helps keep this blog running— thank you! Read full disclosure here.

New Holmwood Hotel (Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK)

Front entrance of the New Holmwood Hotel
Front of the New Holmwood Hotel

Quick Info

  • Address: 65 Queen’s Rd, Cowes PO31 8BW, United Kingdom
  • Plus code: QM8Q+P3 Cowes, United Kingdom
  • Phone number: +441983292508
  • Check In: 3:00 pm
  • Check Out: 11:00 am
  • Breakfast: No (though they do have an on-site restaurant and you can add-on breakfast for a fee)
  • Wifi: Yes!

It’s a Best Western brand hotel, but it’s independently run and operated.

Getting to New Holmwood Hotel

Most people get to the Isle of Wight by ferry. There’s actually a few ferries, one from Southampton (the one I took) and one from Portsmouth. The Southampton ferry stops at the top of the island in Cowes while the Portsmouth one goes to Fishbourne or Ryde. (There’s another that goes from Lymington to Yarmouth as well, but most of the tourist stuff is on the other side of the island so I recommend heading to that side.)

If you’re coming on the ferry to Cowes then it’s very easy to get to the hotel! It’s about a 15-20 minute walk from the ferry terminal on generally smooth streets (some slight hills).

Coming from somewhere else? Keep reading!

The thing to remember is that all the bus routes basically go in a big circle. Most buses meet up at either Newport, Ryde, or Shanklin. More on Isle of Wight bus lines here.

Public Transit to New Holmwood Hotel From Ryde

  • From the Pier head, walk to the Transport Interchange and catch Bus 9 going towards Newport. At Newport, switch to Bus 1 going towards Cowes and alight at Park Gates. From there it’s about a 20 minute walk to the hotel.
    • Don’t want to walk that far? Get off at Cowes Carvel Lane M&S instead and catch Bus 32 going towards Gurnard & Northwood, then get off at Egypt Hill. From that stop it’s only a 3 minute walk to the hotel.

Public Transit to New Holmwood Hotel From Fishbourne

  • Same route as from Ryde! But you’ll catch Bus 9 at Fishbourne Lane, transfer at Newport to Bus 1 going towards Cowes and then either walk or catch Bus 32.

👉Grab an English Heritage pass and get free entry to over 100 historic sites like Stonehenge, Dover Castle, Carisbrooke Castle and Tintagel Castle.

Check-in & Hotel Staff

The boardwalk right in front of the hotel leads back to town along the waterfront. Nice!

Getting up to the lobby means going up a short flight of stairs, or else I’m pretty sure there’s a ramp to one side of the building. I got checked in quickly and was given a key to my room, which was on the ground floor towards the back of the building.

At the front desk you can make reservations for dinner, book breakfast (for a fee), get extra amenities like toothpaste and a sewing kit, and grab tourist pamphlets about things to do on the Isle of Wight.

My Room

View from door: bed, armchair, TV and wardrobe.

I booked a standard room with 1 king bed which came with a TV, wardrobe, desk and hot water kettle with tea/coffee supplies. Also an ensuite!

The actual size of the room felt massive after staying in several smaller ones the previous month. I felt very fancy having such a large room!

View from bed: desk, coffee stuff, door. And all my stuff, haha!
My room was to the back of the hotel so I had to go down this long hallway. Luckily it was always brightly lit, otherwise it might’ve been creepy!

Like basically everywhere else in England, the fire doors are very loud and when people go through them they slam closed with a very loud bang. I could definitely hear that in my room, and also people talking at normal volume in the hallway sounded like they were in the room with me. I could also hear other guests in the rooms above me. Unfortunately, this noise was significant enough to bother me during my stay, but luckily it didn’t happen during the night at least.

Well, it’s a Victorian-era building! Mostly those don’t have very good sound-dampening.

Bed

A huge bed! Supposedly king size, but it could’ve been a hotel version of a queen. It was NOT comfortable: very firm and unyielding, which isn’t to my taste. I did like the lights on either side though.

Bathroom

Basic bathroom with a big tub, heated towel rack, and individual amenities like shampoo and soap.

I did have an issue with this bathroom where the exhaust fan wasn’t super strong, so the condensation from the shower made EVERYTHING inside the bathroom AND BEDROOM wet. I had to open the window to the outside to let it vent out.

View

Pretty nice view! My room was on the ground floor and this “garden” is actually on a hill. So my window was actually right at the level of the walkway. Luckily it’s one side of the hotel that isn’t used by guests, so I did see some staff walking along it but otherwise it was very quiet.

Room Tour Video

If you prefer video, here’s a room tour I filmed the day I checked in:

Hotel Restaurant

Part of the dining room

I decided I wanted a decent meal instead of just more Tesco meal deals, so I went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I actually booked a reservation when I checked in and you can see my little name card on my reserved table! Cute!

I got the pork fillet with mashed potato and cabbage, and a lemon meringue with coffee for dessert. It was VERY good, and not at all as expensive as I thought it might be. The staff were super friendly and kept on top of things, and I even just charged the dinner to my room so I didn’t have to bother getting my credit card out.

Shared Spaces

There’s quite a few lounges and decks for guests (and people visiting the restaurant) to sit and either read or watch the outside. The interior decor was fun, too: lots of ship models and nautical prints on the walls.

Final Thoughts

Overall, while my room had some issues the hotel itself was very nice and I enjoyed my stay here. The on-site restaurant was really good, and the large open sitting areas were very nice to have. The hotel’s location is somewhat far from the center of Cowes, but the upside is it’s close to the beach and you get great sea views. Overall I’d recommend staying at the New Holmwood if you’re interested in being in a quieter location very near to the water.


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