Blackpool

Take a Blackpool City break in this seaside resort for English heritage with a cheeky front. Find Victorian theatres and peaceful nature reserves alongside the lively piers and Pleasure Beach. Book a Blackpool hotel to be entertained and revived in the great Lancashire outdoors.

Five things to love about Blackpool

• The adrenaline rush of a ride on the big dipper on Blackpool Pleasure beach
• Peach melbas and signature sundaes from the Notarianni family’s ice cream parlor on the South Shore
• The pier lit up with fireworks choreographed to music during the International Fireworks Championships in September
• Traditional Victorian seaside pastimes like donkey rides and Punch and Judy on the sands
• Rattling along the tracks of the Promenade towards the Blackpool Tower on a double-decker tram

Family fun

Hear the gasps and shrieks on the Pleasure Beach as the Big Dipper rollercoaster climbs and plummets in front of the sea. Or keep your feet on the ground with laps at The Arena ice skating rink, also on the Pleasure Beach. One of the greatest shows is free – a spectacular arrangement of multicolored lights sparkle in the evenings when the seafront Illuminations are switched on in Autumn. Kids love spending rainy days at Blackpool Tower with its tropical aquarium tanks, alien circus acrobats and creatures leaping out of the 3D movie theater screen.

Natural Blackpool

Escape the kiss-me-quick beach activities for green Blackpool. Just a mile inland from the seafront, relaxed Stanley Park has bandstand music and a boating lake. Birdwatchers spot wagtails and woodpeckers on the wetlands at Kincraig Lake Ecological Reserve in Bispham, just a mile and a half north of Blackpool. See orchids and butterflies at the Marton Mere nature reserve on the town outskirts, or scale steep climbing walls at George Bancroft Memorial Park.

Blackpool nightlife

Hedonistic Blackpool draws the party crowd to nightclubs off the Promenade, like the Syndicate superclub in the town center and seventies disco Flares. Watch a musical or pantomime from the dress circle or sweeping balconies at the Grand Theatre. The Victorian ballrooms, theatres and arenas of the huge Winter Gardens venue fill up with audiences for West End shows, comedy nights and banquets.