Villa holidays 2026: best and worst overseas holiday let providers

Many travellers love the freedom of a villa holiday, with no fixed meal times or jostling to secure a sunbed. It can be the most convenient and affordable option if you're travelling with a group of friends or with the family in tow.

Our survey of more than 2,000 people reveals the best providers, whether you're looking for a villa with a luxury pool or a lodge with more child-friendly facilities. 

Booking.com was the most used – unsurprising given its prominence – but its customer service was rated lower than many of its rivals, with a middling three stars. 

When we investigated scam listings on Booking.com and asked why it hadn’t refunded a customer whose accommodation didn’t exist, it said that while it can chase what you are owed, it’s the owner’s responsibility to refund you.

That wouldn’t happen with villa holidays from BA, Jet2 or Tui. These three big names only let out self-catering accommodation as part of flight-inclusive packages, so if the accommodation isn’t available, you won’t lose out financially.

The package holiday providers were the more expensive, even after we removed the flight cost in our snapshot pricing research. However, you’ll benefit from Atol protection, meaning you won’t get stranded abroad or lose money if the company goes bust. 

And if the accommodation isn’t as promised, your organiser must put it right under the package travel regulations. We think that peace of mind is worth every extra penny.

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Best and worst providers of overseas holiday lets 

You can compare customer scores and prices in the table. Both the companies awarded Which? Recommended Provider (WRP) status have promised they won't apply surcharges – so even if fuel prices surge or exchange rates fluctuate, the prices won’t go up after you book.

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Best for villa holidays with flights

 Jet2Villas (part of Jet2holidays) review

• Which? Recommended Provider
• 79% customer score
• Snapshot pricing indication*: £93pppn
• Package bookings only.

Jet2 is a WRP in various travel categories, and it didn’t disappoint in villa holiday results either. This package provider has almost 4,000 villas dotted around the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, and customers were impressed by the range of properties – from no-frills terraces with shared pools to stylish mansions with hot tubs and gyms. All its package holidays also include return flights and car hire – although, on some of its holidays, you can swap this for airport transfers instead. Our snapshot pricing suggests Jet2’s villas are the priciest (even after we removed flights), but it still scored four stars out of five for value for money. The airline part of the package should impress too: Jet2 cancelled far fewer flights at the last minute than most rivals, while its generous hand luggage allowance makes booking and travelling more stress-free too.  

Verdict: Jet2 excels in all our surveys. It’s a reliable choice. 

Book a Jet2Villas holiday rental package

Tui villa holidays review

• Which? Recommended Provider
• 79% customer score
• Snapshot pricing indication*: £67pppn 
• Package bookings only.

Tui is middle-of-the-road in our other surveys, but it’s doing something right with villa holidays. It scored four stars out of five for the quality of its holiday lets, a range of one-to-six-bedroom properties across the Mediterranean and Florida. Several survey respondents commented that their villa was exactly as described. These vary from traditional shuttered houses surrounded by olive groves in the Greek countryside to sleek haciendas in Lanzarote with wraparound pools and all the mod cons. Just bear in mind your journey might be less pleasant than with Jet2: Tui scored lower for seat comfort (three stars) in our survey of the best and worst airlines. The good news? According to our pricing snapshot, Tui is considerably cheaper than other brands.

Verdict: Less choice and fewer in-flight comforts than with Jet2, but you could bag yourself a great price.

Book a holiday rental package with Tui

British Airways villa holidays review

• 79% customer score
• Snapshot pricing indication*: £68pppn
• Package bookings only.

BA has a selection of holiday lets, from villas in buzzy complexes complete with ocean-view infinity pools, to rustic hillside boltholes and townhouses with hot tubs. Even better, BA has given all its Mediterranean and Floridian villas a star rating. This means you know what quality to expect rather than trying to guess from the photos. Jet2 doesn’t do this on most of its villas. BA, like the other two package providers, includes baggage as part of the cost. However, car hire is not included – you can add this on, but we wouldn’t. Avis and Budget, the firms it works with, didn’t score highly in our latest survey of the best and worst car hire providers. 

Verdict: Its flights bring down British Airways’ villa packages. Jet2’s airline is better rated and more reliable.

Book a holiday rental package with British Airways

Best for cheap holiday rentals abroad

Gites de France review

• 75% customer score
• Snapshot pricing indication: £19pppn
• Accommodation-only bookings.

Gites de France has more than 70,000 holiday lets to choose from. You’ll find quaint cottages, sprawling farmhouses and compact shepherd’s huts and lodges with varying quality. Each property is vetted, unlike sites such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo, which simply list them. You’ll need to use the filters to locate a private rental, setting it to ‘lodgings’ and unticking ‘guest house’ – the latter being a B&B- style accommodation. Beware, though, that private rentals might sit next to the owner’s home. This can be great if you need help or recommendations of things to do in the area, but it may not be everyone’s ideal getaway, especially if the pool is shared. 

Verdict: You may need to share spaces such as the pool, but it’s incredibly cheap nonetheless. 

Book a holiday rental with Gîtes de France

Specialist in luxury villas

Villa Plus review

• 74% customer score
• Snapshot pricing indication: £85pppn
• Accommodation-only bookings.

Villa Plus has holiday lets all over the Mediterranean, from Kefalonia to the French Riviera and Sicily. It scored decently, but we expected to see it nearer the top of the table since it specialises in villas. Still, its portfolio is luxurious – every holiday let comes with a pool. Its experts visit each villa five times before deciding whether to add it to the collection. It’s perhaps these rigorous checks and extras that whack up the price. Our only concern is how it treats consumers in a crisis: back in 2020, Which? tussled with Villa Plus when it initially refused to refund consumers for holidays they couldn’t get to during lockdown. It later relented, but quickly swapped monetary refunds for vouchers.

Verdict: Stunning villas, but you might be better off with a package holiday provider for more financial protection. 

Book a holiday let with Villa Plus

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Research notes: To calculate indicative prices, we took the average price of three peak-time holidays. *For the three package holiday companies that include flights, we removed the flight price to calculate the indicative price.