Where to stay in Preston: the centre and the road corridors

The accommodation geography here decides your trip more than the accommodation does.

Preston's accommodation splits four ways, and the split matters more here than in most cities because the good things are spread out. The central provision is almost entirely budget hotel. The mid-market and business provision sits on the road corridors north, east and south of the city. The better buildings are country houses and golf hotels in the surrounding villages. And there is a small amount of rural and glamping provision to the west.

Choosing between them is really choosing whether you will have a car. That is the whole decision, and getting it right is worth more than any comparison of the individual places.

Staying central, without a car

If you are arriving by train and want to walk, the central budget hotels are the right answer and the only one. Everything in the city centre is inside a twenty minute walk of the station: Fishergate, the Flag Market, the Harris, the markets, Miller Arcade, and the top of Avenham Park. Nothing about a central stay needs a vehicle.

The provision is what it is: chain budget hotels, and character is not what they are for. Preston has no central boutique or historic hotel of note, and it is better to know that in advance than to go looking for one. The places to stay directory lists the entries.

The corridor hotels

The mid-market and business provision sits on the approaches: north at Broughton on the A6, east by the Ribble at the motorway crossing, south towards Leyland and Chorley. These are hotels booked for access, and they suit a trip on which Preston is one stop among several.

All of them assume a car. The city centre is a short drive from each, but none is a walk, and Sunday is the day the buses are thinnest, which catches people out.

The country houses and golf hotels

The better buildings are outside the city. Country houses west at Bartle and north at Barton, and golf hotels south towards Chorley and north at Garstang, are where you go if the building matters. They also put you closer to the things worth driving to: the Ribble valley houses east, Beacon Fell and Bowland north.

The trade-off is that you will drive into Preston for the centre, and the walk in is off the table, and city centre parking becomes part of the plan. On most days that is straightforward; on December Saturdays it is not.

Preston as a base

The strongest reason to stay here is position; the city itself is not the draw. Preston is the county town, it is on the main line, and it is within half an hour of the Forest of Bowland, the Ribble valley and the Fylde coast. Very few bases in the north west reach that much variety at this price, and a two-night stay with a drive out each day is a better trip than a one-night stop.

The travel sheet covers the rail and road reach, and plan your visit sets out the arrival options.

Accommodation pricing is dynamic

No rates, no availability, no star ratings and no recommendation between one place and another. Accommodation pricing is dynamic and this site has no way to report it honestly; the operators and the booking channels do it continuously and correctly. What is stable is the geography, and that is what this page is for.

The places to stay category records each entry by name and area on the same basis.

The one thing that catches people out

Booking a corridor or country hotel and then planning a city centre day without allowing for parking. On most days that is fine, but December Saturdays fill the multi-storeys early and matchdays at Deepdale congest the north east approach. Either is enough to spoil a morning if the plan assumed a straightforward drive in, and both are entirely predictable in advance.

The parking sheet sets out which side of the centre to approach from, which matters more than which car park you choose: walking across Preston's centre is faster than driving around it.