Half board means your hotel rate includes your room, breakfast, and one other meal each day, almost always dinner. Lunch, snacks, and most drinks aren’t included, so you pay for those separately. It sits between bed and breakfast (breakfast only) and full board (all three meals). It suits travellers who want to explore during the day but still have dinner sorted when they get back.
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The term comes from the old British and European phrase “board”, meaning meals provided with lodging. You’ll see it on nearly every package holiday and hotel booking site in the UK and Europe, often shortened to HB.
Key takeaways
Half board means room, breakfast, and dinner. Lunch, snacks, and most drinks aren't included, so you pay for those separately.
Drinks with dinner usually cost extra. Wine, beer, soft drinks, and sometimes even bottled water are charged to your room. A "half board plus" rate can add drinks with dinner.
It sits between B&B and full board. Bed and breakfast covers breakfast only; full board adds lunch; all inclusive adds snacks and most drinks, alcoholic ones included.
Choose it when you're out at lunchtime. Half board suits sightseeing by day with an easy evening meal, and works best at resorts away from town.
You can often swap dinner for lunch. Many hotels allow it on some or all days, but ask at reception on arrival rather than assuming.
What’s Included in Half Board
The exact deal varies by hotel, but a standard half board rate covers:
- Breakfast every morning: usually a buffet, with tea, coffee, and juice included.
- One main meal a day: usually dinner, served as a buffet or a set menu in the hotel’s main restaurant.
- Water at meals: included at many hotels, but not guaranteed.
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Your first meal is normally dinner on the day you arrive, and your last is breakfast on the day you leave. If your flight lands late at night, you may miss that first dinner, so check the restaurant’s closing time before you book.
What’s Not Included
This is where most surprises happen. Unless your booking says otherwise, half board usually excludes:
- Drinks with dinner: wine, beer, soft drinks, and sometimes even bottled water are charged to your room.
- Lunch: you’ll eat out or pay for it at the hotel.
- Snacks and room service: anything outside the two set mealtimes.
- À la carte or speciality restaurants: many resorts only include the main buffet restaurant, with a supplement or a set number of visits for the others.
- Minibar and pool bar drinks.
Tip: look for “half board plus”. Some hotels, particularly in Spain, Turkey, and the Canary Islands, sell a “half board plus” or “HB+” rate that adds drinks with dinner (usually house wine, beer, soft drinks, and water). It’s often a cheap upgrade if you’d otherwise order drinks every night.
Can You Swap Dinner for Lunch?
Often, yes. Many hotels let you have lunch instead of dinner on some or all days, which is handy if you have a full-day excursion that brings you back late. It isn’t a universal rule, so ask at reception on arrival rather than assuming.
Half Board vs Full Board vs All Inclusive
Hotels and tour operators use a standard set of “board basis” terms. Here’s how they stack up:
| Board basis | Code | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Drinks | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room only | RO | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | City breaks with lots of restaurants nearby |
| Bed and breakfast | BB | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Travellers who want to eat out every evening |
| Half board | HB | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | Usually extra | Sightseeing by day, easy evenings |
| Full board | FB | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Usually extra | Remote hotels, ski trips, safaris |
| All inclusive | AI | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (most) | Beach holidays spent mostly at the resort |
What Does Full Board Mean?
Full board means breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all included in your rate. Like half board, drinks are usually extra, apart from water, tea, and coffee at some hotels. Full board makes the most sense where there’s nowhere else to eat: ski resorts, safari lodges, remote islands, or cruise-style hotels. If you’ll be out most days, you’ll end up paying for lunches you don’t eat.
Half Board or All Inclusive?
All inclusive costs more up front, but it adds lunch, snacks, and drinks, alcohol included. Which one works out cheaper depends on how you holiday:
- Choose half board if you want to explore, try local restaurants for lunch, and don’t drink much with dinner.
- Choose all inclusive if you’ll spend most days at the pool, you’re travelling with children who snack all day, or you’d order several drinks a day anyway.
- Do the maths before you book. Take the price difference per person per night and compare it with what you’d realistically spend on lunch and drinks at your destination. In lower-cost destinations like Turkey or Egypt, eating out can be so cheap that half board wins easily.
When Half Board Makes Sense
Half board works best in a few situations:
- Active holidays. If you’re hiking, skiing, touring, or on excursions most days, lunch is usually eaten on the go anyway.
- Resorts away from town. When the nearest restaurant is a taxi ride away, having dinner included saves both money and effort.
- Family trips. Two guaranteed meals a day takes a lot of planning off your plate, while still leaving room for a lunch out. Our tips on finding cheap family flights help keep the rest of the budget in check.
- Destinations where dinner is expensive. In pricey resort areas, the included evening meal is often the biggest saving of the whole package.
It’s less useful on a city break, where eating out is part of the experience and restaurants are on every corner. There, bed and breakfast or room only usually makes more sense.
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Read the guideIf you’re planning a beach trip, our guide to cheap beach holidays for 2026 lists destinations where half board rates are especially good value, and Antalya for less covers one of the most popular half board destinations for UK travellers.
How to Book a Half Board Hotel
Half board isn’t only for package holidays. You can book it on a hotel-only stay too.
- Filter by board basis. Most hotel booking sites let you filter by “half board” or “breakfast and dinner included”. On Kiwi.com Hotels , compare the meal options shown for each room rate.
- Compare the rates side by side. The same room is often listed as room only, B&B, and half board. The price gap tells you what the hotel is charging for dinner.
- Read the meal details. Check whether dinner is a buffet or set menu, which restaurants are included, and whether any drinks come with it.
- Check your arrival time. A late flight can mean a missed first dinner that you’ve already paid for.
- Book your flights to match. Once your hotel is sorted, search cheap flights on Kiwi.com to your destination airport. If you’re heading somewhere in the Med, our roundup of Mediterranean holiday destinations is a good place to start.
Half Board Terms You’ll See on Booking Sites
Board basis terms aren’t perfectly standardised, so it’s worth knowing the variations:
- HB / Half board: breakfast and dinner.
- HB+ / Half board plus: breakfast and dinner, with drinks at dinner.
- Demi-pension: the French term for half board, common in France, Switzerland, and ski resorts.
- Mezza pensione / Media pensión: half board in Italian and Spanish.
- Modified American Plan (MAP): the US and Caribbean equivalent of half board.
- Three-quarter board: breakfast and dinner plus a light lunch or afternoon snack, most common in Alpine ski hotels.
- Dine-around half board: you can use your evening meal in several restaurants within a resort or hotel group.
If a listing uses a term you don’t recognise, the hotel’s own booking page or reception will confirm exactly what’s covered.
Find Your Next Half Board Break
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Half board gives you a good balance: two meals a day taken care of, with your afternoons free to explore. Compare the half board rate with B&B and all inclusive, check what drinks are covered, and match your arrival time to dinner service. Then book the flights. Kiwi.com combines flights from hundreds of airlines, so you can often find cheaper routes to popular holiday airports than a single airline offers. If your itinerary includes a self-transfer, the Kiwi.com Guarantee protects you against delays and cancellations on covered connections. You can also browse last-minute flights if a spontaneous half board break appeals.
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Got more questions about half board? Here are the ones travellers ask most.
Half Board Meaning FAQs
Does half board include drinks?
Usually not, apart from tea, coffee, and juice at breakfast. Drinks with dinner, including wine, beer, and soft drinks, are normally charged extra. Some hotels offer a “half board plus” rate that includes drinks with the evening meal.
Do children get the same half board meals?
Yes. When a room is booked on half board, every guest on the booking, including children, is covered for breakfast and dinner. Many hotels also offer a children’s menu or kids’ buffet section at no extra charge.
Is half board per person or per room?
Half board is priced per person, even though it’s booked with the room. That’s why the difference between B&B and half board grows with the number of guests. Babies and very young children are sometimes included free, depending on the hotel.
Can I upgrade to half board after I arrive?
Many hotels will let you upgrade at reception if they have space in the restaurant, but the price is usually higher than booking it in advance. Package holidays often have better half board rates because they’re negotiated in bulk.
Do I get a refund if I skip dinner one night?
Generally not. Half board is sold as a package rate, so missed meals aren’t refunded. If you know you’ll be away for a meal, ask the hotel about swapping dinner for lunch or a packed lunch instead.
Is half board common outside Europe?
It’s most common in Europe, Turkey, North Africa, and on safaris. In the US and Asia, hotel rates are more often room only or include breakfast. Where half board is offered, it may be called the Modified American Plan.
