Blackpool Guide

At ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not’ cornucopia, for example, you’ll find eight galleries of crazy, bizarre exhibits, with screens - not many tourist destinations offer that kind of day out. There are serious exhibitions too, with acclaimed artists showing at the 1911 Grundy Gallery, plus opera and theatre, and a Madame Tussauds. The famous Illuminations light up in early September and glow until the New Year.

The town has a long history of providing holiday fun, starting in the C18th, so Blackpool is good at entertainment and there is always something going. It’s good value across the board - hotels, guest houses, B&B, self-catering and holiday villages. The Claremont on the Promenade, for example, comes with entertainment, swimming pool and a selection of lounges and bars, with prices from £70 for en suite double per night half-board; something similar at Cliffs Hotel on the Promenade costs about £80 - both are AA two-star.

Guest houses cost about £50 a night for a couple, usually en suite and with the legendary English breakfast. The Burbage Holiday Group has self-catering family units for four on the Queen’s Promenade from £320 per week. So whether it’s a wild stag and hen weekend or a holiday with the kids, you can have it here very affordably.

As for food and drink, that’s all here too: exotic traditional dishes of local duck, shrimp and, of course, Lancashire hot pot, the best of fish and chips and English afternoon teas, and the best of Indian cuisine. The Cottage, acclaimed for its seafood and boasting many celebrity diners, nevertheless does a senior citizen special at under £5, for example. Good Italian restaurants offer excellent deals for families and children are made welcome with a special meal deal for around £5.

Night life includes dozens of discos, night clubs and casinos, as well as pubs. This is a resort that specialises in everyone: families, young singles, gay people, students, senior citizens and even greens, with cycle routes, 500 hire bikes and trips to Marston Mere, an ecological gem that was once the town’s rubbish dump. For the shopper there is retail therapy in the Houndsmill Centre on the sea front, with markets and boutiques nearby and an entire designer department store, Blueberries.

Blackpool is a year-round resort ideal for groups that keeps attractions open and runs off-season festivals and events. Many who visit write favourable reviews about the places they stayed, and especially the staff looking after them. It’s the best of British any time - and you might well meet one of those famously warm-hearted Blackpool landladies.