Where can a disabled person go on holiday in the UK?

Two places can both call themselves accessible while suiting completely different needs. One might mean a ramp at the front door and nothing else. Another might mean a ground floor wet room, wide doorways throughout and a hoist on request. Your relative's own situation, whether that is a wheelchair, a walking frame, limited stamina or a sensory need, decides which of those matters, so it helps to write down what your relative needs before you start comparing places rather than after.

The table below sets out four common claims and the question that gets you a proper answer. Ask it of the accommodation directly, or look for a detailed access guide rather than a marketing page.

It is worth asking about the cancellation policy at the same time as you ask about access. A property with a well-adapted room or two tends to have very few of them, and those rooms can be booked up further ahead than the rest of the building.

AccessAble publishes detailed, photographed access guides for thousands of UK venues, hotels, attractions and transport hubs, checked in person rather than written by the venue's marketing team. Euan's Guide works the other way round: it collects reviews from disabled visitors themselves about what a place was like to visit, which can catch things a formal guide misses, such as a noisy dining room or a lift that is often out of order.

Getting to the destination is worth checking as much as the destination itself. If you are travelling by train in Great Britain, you can book Passenger Assist ahead of the journey for help getting on and off, including a ramp, and it is worth booking it well before the day. If you are driving, a Blue Badge lets your relative use disabled parking bays, but the number of bays and how close they are to the entrance varies from place to place, so check for wherever you are going.

For a day out rather than a place to stay, many large attractions and estates publish this kind of detail on their own sites too. National Trust properties list step-free routes and mobility equipment available to borrow, and national museums such as the British Museum publish an access page covering routes, equipment and support on the day. Check the specific page for wherever you are going rather than assuming a general reputation for being welcoming.

If your relative's main difficulty is memory rather than mobility, a different set of things matters more than step-free access. Dementia-friendly holidays and should people with dementia go on holiday? cover what to check instead.

You can get the free printable PDF to keep with this guide.

A specialist company takes the planning off your hands and provides support throughout the trip, which suits families who would rather not manage the logistics themselves or whose relative needs help that goes beyond what a hotel's own staff can give. Check what is included in the price and whether support is one to one or shared with other guests before you book, since this varies between providers.

Arranging an ordinary break yourself gives you the most control over the destination, the company and the pace of the trip, at the cost of doing the checking in the section above yourself. Bringing a carer who already knows your relative sits between the two: you still choose the destination, but somebody familiar is there to help with personal care, medication and the parts of the day that a hotel cannot. Can you take a carer on holiday with you? sets out the full cost breakdown, including bank holidays and mileage.

If you are looking for a carer to come away with your relative for the first time, it helps to know what has been checked. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, and PrimeCarers is an introductory service rather than a care agency. PrimeCarers checks each carer's ID and right to work, sees an enhanced DBS check (or PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and holds an online interview with them. We do not check qualifications, training or references. Reviews and references appear on a carer's profile as they were given, without being verified by us, so ask the carer directly about their experience of the kind of help your relative needs, such as hoisting or catheter care, before you agree anything. Insurance is separate from those checks: for visits booked through PrimeCarers, we arrange cover where the carer does not have their own, subject to the policy terms, so check it covers the work you agree for the trip.

Respite holidays compares the two main ways of getting care on a break: a holiday where care is part of what you book, or bringing a carer of your own.

None of the three routes rules out combining them. A family arranging an ordinary self-catering break might still bring a carer for the days the parent or partner needs more hands-on help, or use a specialist company for a longer trip while managing shorter breaks nearer home themselves. The choice tends to come down to how much your relative's condition changes from day to day, and how much reassurance you want from having support arranged in advance rather than found on the day.

Limitless Travel arranges group holidays built around disability, including coach holidays, cruises and trips that start with a flight, in the UK and abroad. The company says it chooses hotels, activities and transport for their access before a trip is sold, and that a tour manager and a care team travel with each group.

The kind of help it offers suits someone who would like a holiday with other people and would rather not plan the route, the rooms and the transport themselves. Because the care team is shared across the group, ask the company how much one to one help your relative can expect, what the carers on the trip can and cannot do, and whether a family member or your own carer can travel too. Check the details of any trip on its own site, since what is included changes from one holiday to the next.

Revitalise is a charity for disabled adults and their family carers. It no longer runs holidays itself. Instead it puts money towards breaks that you choose and arrange, in the UK or abroad, including holidays, day trips and respite at home so that a carer can have time off. Its site says that when a disabled person and their carer want to go away together, it will consider funding both of them.

This kind of help fits alongside any of the three routes above. A grant could go towards a specialist company's holiday, a cottage you have checked yourselves, or the cost of bringing a carer. Applicants need to be 18 or over, and Revitalise sets its own rules on who it funds and when applications open, so read what Revitalise funds before you apply, and allow plenty of time before the date you want to travel.

Tourism for All does not sell or book holidays. What it offers families is information: listings of accessible places to stay, from hotels and bed and breakfasts to holiday parks, with filters for the facilities your relative needs, a directory of things to do across Britain, and guidance on getting around the UK by train and accessible vehicle. It also runs a planner where you can save places as you go and build up an outline of the trip.

It is most useful for the first route above, where you arrange an ordinary break yourselves. Use its listings to draw up a shortlist, then ask each place the specific questions in the table further up before you book, since a listing can only say so much about a particular room.

1. 1

   Attendance Allowance

   £77 or £115 a week

   Paid in cash with no rule about how it is spent, so it can go towards a carer's fee, a specialist holiday company or the accommodation itself, the same as it would at home.
2. 2

   A council direct payment, if your relative already has one

   Extra hours for the trip

   Council funding is for assessed care needs, so do not expect it to cover the flights, the hotel or the days out. But if your relative already has a direct payment for assessed care needs, a council can sometimes agree extra hours to cover a holiday as part of the care and support plan.
3. 3

   A respite grant from a charity

   Towards a break you arrange

   Charities such as Revitalise, described above, put money towards a break that you or a specialist company arrange rather than running one themselves. Check current grant amounts and how to apply on each charity's own site.

Attendance Allowance: who qualifies and how to claim and how local authority funding works cover both routes in full. Charity grants such as Revitalise's tend to cover part of a break rather than all of it, and each charity sets its own criteria and opens applications at different times of year, so it is worth applying as early as you can rather than leaving it until close to the date you want to travel. If you are paying for some or all of the trip yourselves, companion carer costs has the fuller figures for what company and personal care cost at home, which stay the same rate away from it.