The Open 2026 Accommodation Guide: Where to Stay and What's Still Available

The Open Championship is at Royal Birkdale from 13 to 19 July 2026. I'm writing this in early April. If you haven't booked accommodation yet, here's the honest situation: central Southport is essentially sold out for championship week at every normal price point. Birkdale village, the best location for walking to the course, has been gone since January. What's left requires looking harder and thinking differently.

What's still available and where to look

Airbnb is the most productive search right now. The self-catering market took longer to book up than hotels. Search with the course postcode (PR8 2LU) as your centre and expand the radius gradually. Within five miles of the course, covering Birkdale, Southport town centre, and Ainsdale, there are still properties available if you move fast. The better ones go quickly once people realise this.

Booking.com and Hotels.com still show availability at some hotels in Southport town centre. These will involve a train ride to Birkdale station, around ten minutes. Not ideal but completely workable, and the town centre hotels have better availability than anything near the course.

The Formby option: worth serious consideration

Formby is twenty minutes by Merseyrail from Birkdale station. The village has B&Bs, guest houses, and Airbnb properties that haven't fully booked yet, partly because people assume it's too far. It isn't. You're looking at a total journey time of around twenty-five minutes from a Formby property to the course entrance. For reference: a hotel on the far side of Southport town centre offers a similar journey time.

Formby also gives you the beach and pinewoods as a non-golf base, relevant if you're travelling with people who aren't interested in watching golf all day. The village has good restaurants and cafes. It's a genuine option, not a fallback.

North of Southport: Ormskirk and Skelmersdale

Ormskirk is around twenty-five minutes by car from the course. Not on the Merseyrail, so you're driving. The town has hotel availability and is a reasonable option if you have a car and are comfortable with the drive (accounting for Open week traffic, which will be significant on championship days). Skelmersdale is further but similar logic.

If you go this route: do not drive directly to the course on championship days. Drive to a park-and-ride site or to a train station, then transfer. Driving all the way to Birkdale during Open week is a significant mistake you will regret by 8am.

Practice days vs championship days on accommodation

Practice round days (Monday to Wednesday) have significantly easier transport and slightly more accommodation flexibility. Some properties have shorter minimum stays that coincide with practice days only. If you haven't been to The Open before, a two-night stay across practice days gives you an excellent experience at lower accommodation cost and less transport stress.

• →Practice days (Mon–Wed): easier to get into, closer to players, cheaper tickets. Accommodation more available.
• →Championship days (Thu–Sun): the main event. Higher pressure on everything. Book transport before you need it.
• →Sunday (final round): the hardest day for everything. Worth it if you've planned properly.

What to check before booking

• →Minimum stay requirements: many properties now require a full-week booking for Open week. Check the minimum.
• →Cancellation policy: non-refundable rates will be common. Read before you pay.
• →Transport access: wherever you book, map the route to the nearest Merseyrail station. That's your most important infrastructure.
• →Parking: if you're driving to your accommodation, check there's parking. Don't assume.