HF Holidays Reviews 

My wife and I have been using HF for over 20 years and have had many excellent holidays. As my wife is a coeliac we have welcomed the fact that HF are an accredited ceoliac partner. However, on our recent holiday with them at Church Stretton, my wife and another guest were served a scone that had been put on a separate table and marked gluten free but did in fact have gluten in. These . Both were very sick. This meant she missed her dinner that evening and spent the next day recovering. We were assured that head office would be in touch with us when we returned home. That was 2 weeks ago and we have heard nothing. We understand that mistakes can be made but this is the second time it has happened, as my wife was served gluten at Brecon a few years ago.
Yes mistakes can happen but their is no excuse for the lack of follow up. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so 1 star is fully justified despite all the other positives.

Unfortunate a 1. Just read a review from Simi, recently published here and agree entirely. I’m a long time and usually very happy customer, but the online booking system and trying to get through when that doesn’t work has become a nightmare.

I’ve twice recently booked a solo trip online, then gone through the whole online booking and payment process to be told at the last minute that ‘something has gone wrong’. Which means that they don’t now have the room that they allocated to you.

Then spend a long time getting through on the phone, just tone told it’s ’hard luck’

Advertise themselves as dog friendly, but in only four of their UK hotels. In these hotels you cannot take your dog into indoor communal areas i.e. restaurant and bar you can only leave your dog in the room for dinner and any after dinner activities but they also say that cannot leave your dog in the room for extended periods.

So in conclusion, I would say that they are misleading people in suggesting that they are dog friendly, more like dog unfriendly to me. I certainly wouldn't stay in these conditions with my dog and can't believe that anybody would given the stated restrictions and at the same have an enjoyable and relaxing holiday.

My first attempt to call them, phone rang and rang, someone answered and hung up. Next attempt I waited on the phone for over 30 minutes, before my call was answered, which is also a pretty poor customer service.

No reply to emails.

Based on my own experience, and looking at their overall ratings, I'm glad I haven't ventured any further to try and book something.

What is happening to hfholidays?
You can't get through to them.
You don't get any reply to the messages left
Their forms will not take your mobile number.
Trying to book is a nightmare.
Not the same as the old days, no issues then
Your membership means nothing!
Totally disappointed.

Treat their staff like slaves making them work extremely long hours for low pay . Considering the price of the holidays there is no reason for this

Peveril of the Peak-disaster, avoid! Visited Peveril of the Peak last weekend, never again. We were met at reception by 2 very rude, miserable men. They had zero customer service or even social skills. The place itself is a shambles, the decor is shabby to say the least, the rooms miserable like the men on reception. No hot water, poor water pressure poor quality bedding, dirty rooms & no cared when this was mentioned at reception. When I dared to enter the dining area to merely have a look at "god forbid" 6.55pm, I literally got screamed at to leave the area by one of these men as it was not 7pm!Truly awful. HF you need to teach your staff some customer service skills as they have zero. I don't think I saw one of them even smile once the whole weekend, they made me feel most unwelcome. I have been holidaying with HF for some years now but this was probably my last.

Booking a holiday has not been straightforward or easy. HF have made many mistakes and response from manager was not satisfactory. A 25 minute wait to get through on the phone (online chat was not available during working day) together with agreed booking times being ignored and messages being left on incorrect numbers are some examples.
I have given 2 stars because in the end I did manage to make the booking. I hope the holiday is better organised than the booking process.

My experiences with HF in the UK have been great. First trip abroad with HF to Albania, which was a new addition to the 2025 HF brochure. (3-10 June)
Every day was so challenging - very hot weather, limited or no shade and always being careful with your water supply. Several of the walks were not suitable for all the group. There should have been Plan A or Plan B walks.
I was counting the days to go home!
Challenges at several of the hotels, including the location - noisy, poor air conditioning, accessibility and very limited breakfast selection. Hence, a reassessment of the hotels and location is needed.
No lunches and minimal time/help to find where to get food and clean drinking water. Certainly encouraged to take something from breakfast! And you needed to, as lunch maybe very late in the afternoon.
A couple of the walks need to be changed. They were not interesting. Walking along tarmac in the very hot sunshine does not appeal with not much to look at either.
The late afternoon walks of 2-3 hours around the city or large town with temps close to 30C (and sometimes after a days walk) need to be thought thorough.
The guide did his absolute best given the agenda he had to follow. Full credit to the guide!
Best time was in Northern Macedonia - scenery and walks in the National Parks was fantastic.
To be honest, if this has been my first experience with HF I would not have used this company again.

Fabulous holiday based in Matera, Italy. Hotel was good and we ate dinner at a local restaurant with choices from a set menu. Our local walking guide Filipo was excellent. The walks were mostly in the Altamura national park. In May the grasses and wildflowers were spectacular. I would certainly recommend visiting at this time of year. The walks were enjoyable, not challenging with gentle ascents and descents and less than a couple of hours walking at a time. Filipo gave us information of the local history and wildlife and went out of his way to make our experience special with extra tastings of olive oil and coffee. We enjoyed visits to wine, cheese and olive producers, sampling locally grown produce and a visit to a bakery and a restaurant in Matera where we had demonstrations of bread and pasta making. Everywhere the hospitality we enjoyed was warm and welcoming. Included was a guided tour of the Sassi UNESCO site in Matera. On our free day we organised a trip to visit the Trulli houses in Alberobello, a taxi ride away. Thank you to Karen our HF leader and to Filipo who went ‘over and above’ to make our week special.

This June was our third HF holiday . Ones in Scotland and Ireland were very good indeed. However, there were problems with the accommodation in Alnmouth: we were woken at 4 am every morning by a delivery man with a trolley wheeled outside our room ( a premium room). This must have been a practice for some time and known about. It took HF managers 5 days to respond and act. This totally impacted on our expensive holiday due to poor sleep.
There are also main issues with parking which are unacceptable. Now we are back and we have been waiting for Guest Relations at HF holidays for over a week to respond. Despite emails and messages left and to the CEO they do not respond . Please be aware of how poorly complaints are dealt with by HF holidays.
It is very disappointing as the guides and walks are excellent.
HF holidays have now been in touch, apologised and offered compensation which we have accepted.
With regards to the parking, which we knew about, we were told you can park
outside to unload. This was not the case as so busy. There is also no dedicated person helping take luggage up many flights of stairs which needs addressing.

Thoroughly enjoyed this very varied and comprehensive tour of Vietnam. Well organised trip, with various transport. The walks in the countryside, meeting local people and learning about their culture was one of my highlights. Our tour leader Hung Do was excellent, very helpful and made the trip for me. He was very knowledgeable, i had great fun and made many happy memories on this trip.
Date of trip Jan 2024. Unable to put date in appropriate box

Excellent guide, varied fascinsting trip across Vietnam from Hanoi to Da Nang.

I have just returned from a group walking holiday to Abingworth Hall Hotel. I have never holidayed with HF Holidays before and found the accommodation, food and service was excellent. There was nothing that was too much trouble and the staff were helpful, efficient and friendly. The choice of food at breakfast, lunch and dinner was very good. Breakfast had all the usual choices plus healthy options such as natural yoghurt, fruit, prunes, avocado on toast with a poached egg if you want it. The packed lunch was very comprehensive. You are given a form to tick boxes with numerous sandwich options, or a salad box which was delicious (green leaves, beetroot, grated carrot, quinoa, chickpeas, a pot of very nice dressing plus various options to go with it such as chicken). Then you are allowed up to 5 snack options, some healthy (including fruit) some not. I couldn't eat all that food, so I ticked some options and took them home for family and friends. The 3-course evening meal had about 3 or 4 options for each course, with vegetarian and healthy options. All really good. I don't normally eat vegetarian meals but the two I tried; a vegetable curry and a roasted butternut squash meal were both delicious. My favourite dessert was the Tiramisu. Then coffee/tea (including fruit teas) was served in the lounge. Entertainment was provided on several evenings, either quizzes or the one time we had an excellent presentation by a local beekeeper. If you don't want to participate there is a separate drawing room to you can retire to in peace where there is also all the information about self-guided local walks.

The bedrooms are very varied, from lovely spacious premium rooms with nice views over the garden, down to very basic small single rooms. Some rooms have walk in showers, some have baths with a handheld shower. All rooms have tea and coffee making facilities.

The 3 walk leaders were very good. I particularly enjoyed the walks led by Chris; Pulborough Brooks and Parham Park, and the Seven Sisters. Chris is an excellent natural walk leader, giving all the relevant information needed for safety, without being over cautious. He has lots of local and wildlife knowledge and doesn't need to refer to notes. They were all also helpful and friendly at breakfast and dinner, and the evening entertainment was good fun.

However, I did not enjoy the walk to the Knepp estate. It is a commendable rewilding project, but the scenery is quite boring. It is a very flat walk and yes there are birds to identify, a few wild ponies and cattle, a stork's nest and a lily pond, but if you want beautiful or dramatic scenery, it won't float your boat. The cafe at the end of the walk with rusted metal outside furniture was awful.

Conversely, the Seven Sisters walk on the chalk cliffs of the South Coast is definitely not to be missed. Be aware, that regardless of which level walk of a guided walk that you do, either 6.5, 9 or 10 miles, it comprises of seven quite steep hills, so obviously there are seven ups and seven downs. You can do a shorter 4-mile self-guided walk. The views are spectacular and there are various birds of interest.

All in all, a great holiday and I will definitely do another HF Holiday

This was our first time with HF Holidays staying at Nythfa House in Brecon.
The house interior is traditionally styled and we had a lovely, spotlessly clean room overlooking the gardens. The food was faultless and nothing was too much trouble for the welcoming and attentive staff.
All in all, the holiday surpassed our expectations (except for the weather!) and we will certainly look to holiday again with HF.

The last 2 holidays HF have changed flight times which have caused considerable inconvenience and extra costs. If I cancel my holiday I forfeit my deposit. This is the last holiday I will ever book with HF and I will cancel my membership. As a note the flights are to a major EU Hub with numerous flights so there is no need for such
flight changes except probably to save money?

Did a short self-guided holiday in their Scotland country house, and it was really great. All food is included (including packed lunches) and they recommend loads of great walks in the area, so you really don't have to worry about anything while you're there. The room was nice and the house had great facilities (there was even a pool although sadly I didn't have my costume with me). Would recommend.

Genuinely puzzled by the overall review status. Just back from St Ives Chy Morvah. Exceptional hospitality from the whole team, very well fed and looked after with warmth and flexibility to ensure a good stay. Very single friendly Christmas Break with a mix of fellow guests, good vegetarian options daily and good walk leaders. Thoroughly recommend and would book with HF again.

We have just returned from a week in Altamura, southern Italy. The walks were lovely, very friendly and knowledgeable guides, comfortable hotel. However the holiday was somewhat spoiled by the awful evening meals in local restaurants. We seemed to be living on focaccia and pasta with tomato sauce, hardly any meat, fish or fresh vegetables. We had the impression that the tour catered only for the minority of vegetarian guests and the rest of us had no choice.

The hotel at Abingworth was very comfortable and the staff and food were wonderful.
my only negative was the fact that I was part of a self guided walking holiday and there were no laminated walk maps actually starting from the hotel. All the walk maps provided involved driving to the start.

We stayed at HF Freshwater Bay Isle of Wight for a 3 day Guided Walking Break. Our room at the house was very comfortable, with Tea Coffee making tray, modern TV , shower room and a fantastic view of the bay.
Our meals were delicious, a cooked to order hot breakfast and a 3 course dinner, (each course had 3 options). All staff were great however special thanks to Joe -who seemed to be at the heart of everything, and Cheryl 'our' waitress who was efficent pleasant and always smiling.
Our walking leaders Sarah, Jeremy and Theresa were informative and fun.
A highly recommended break.