Holiday Cottages In Norfolk

Norfolk has around 3,000 self-catering cottages on selfcatering.co.uk, from flint fishermen's cottages on the north coast to quiet boltholes beside the Broads. The county pairs wide sandy beaches and big skies with market towns and reed-fringed rivers, and more than 2,200 of those cottages take dogs while over 400 have a hot tub.

Best areas and towns in Norfolk

Most of Norfolk's cottages sit along the north coast, with a second cluster around the Broads to the east and the west-facing shore of The Wash. The best-known bases line the Heritage Coast between Hunstanton and Cromer, where a string of beach towns and marsh villages run almost into one another.

• Sheringham: a traditional seaside town below the heath, with a steam railway and a Blue Flag beach
• Cromer: the pier-and-crab town at the centre of the coast, set under low cliffs
• Mundesley: a quieter cliff-top village with its own Blue Flag beach, just east of Cromer
• Overstrand and Bacton: small clifftop beach villages either side of Mundesley
• Wells-next-the-Sea: a working harbour town with a beach of painted huts and pinewoods, next to Holkham
• Blakeney: a National Trust sailing village on the marshes, famous for its seal-watching trips
• Brancaster and Thornham: salt-marsh villages on the far north coast, popular with walkers and birdwatchers
• Burnham Market: a smart Georgian village a mile inland, nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea
• Hunstanton and Heacham: the west-facing resort pair on The Wash, with the Victorian core of New Hunstanton known for its striped cliffs and sunsets
• Holt and Docking: Georgian small towns set back from the sea, an easy drive to the coast
• Stalham: a gateway to the Broads on the River Ant, handy for a boating week

Inland, Norwich makes a city base with cottages on its fringes, and the Broads villages suit anyone after water rather than sand.

The Norfolk coast and its beaches

The north coast is a near-continuous run of sand, shingle and salt marsh, much of it inside the Norfolk Coast National Landscape. Six beaches held a Blue Flag in 2025: Cromer, Sheringham, Mundesley, East Runton, West Runton and Sea Palling, and Hunstanton earned a Seaside Award the same year. The dune-backed sands at Holkham, near Wells, are among the widest in England, and Blakeney Point is a national nature reserve that holds one of the country's largest grey seal colonies. West of the marshes, Hunstanton is the one Norfolk resort that faces west, so it takes the sunset over The Wash.

Things to do in Norfolk

Away from the beach, the royal estate at Sandringham opens its house and gardens, and the city of Norwich has a Norman cathedral, a castle keep and one of the oldest open-air markets in the country. The North Norfolk Railway runs steam trains along the coast from Sheringham, Blickling Estate is a great Jacobean house near Aylsham, and Holkham Hall sits in its deer park behind the beach. Families tend to head for SEA LIFE Hunstanton, Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens near Great Yarmouth, or the dinosaur park ROARR! outside Norwich. On the water, the Broads are the place for a boat trip, a paddle or a day's birdwatching.

When to visit Norfolk

July and August bring the warmest sea and the busiest sands, and the north-coast car parks fill early through the school holidays. Late spring and September are the sweet spot for walkers and birdwatchers, with quieter beaches and lower cottage rates. Autumn and winter belong to the Broads and the big-sky marsh walks, and the grey seal pupping season on Blakeney Point runs from late October into the new year. Out of season many owners drop their prices and relax beach restrictions for dogs.

Dog-friendly and hot-tub cottages in Norfolk

More than 2,200 of the cottages in Norfolk take dogs, and more than 400 have a hot tub. Browse the dog-friendly cottages or those with a hot tub to narrow your search.

Getting to Norfolk

Norfolk sits in the far east of England, roughly three hours from London by road. The A11 and A47 are the main routes in. Trains run from London Liverpool Street to Norwich in under two hours, with branch lines on to Sheringham, Cromer and the coast, and the Bittern Line follows the shore. The nearest sizeable airport is Norwich, with Stansted about ninety minutes to the south.

Useful links

• Visit Norfolk
• Norfolk Coast National Landscape
• Visit The Broads
• Visit North Norfolk

Norfolk is a county in the East of England and the heart of East Anglia, bordered by Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west and Suffolk to the south. It is a large, predominantly rural county of around 5,370 square kilometres, with gently undulating farmland at its centre and a long, low coastline that the sea is steadily reshaping.

The cathedral city of Norwich is the main settlement, set in the east of the county, with Great Yarmouth on the east coast, King's Lynn in the north-west and Thetford in the south. To the east lie the Broads, a network of navigable rivers and shallow lakes with a protected status similar to a national park, while the west holds part of the Fens and the south is spread with the pines of Thetford Forest. The northern coast, with its salt marshes, dunes and shingle, is designated the Norfolk Coast National Landscape.

The county has a deep history. The Iceni, whose queen Boudica led a revolt against Rome in AD 60, were settled here, and the Angles who followed gave the north folk their name. Medieval wealth from the wool trade paid for the many large parish churches that still stand over its villages. Today the economy leans on farming and tourism, drawing visitors to the beaches, harbours and wide skies that give Norfolk its character.