Blackpool - There’s nowhere quite like it!

Europe’s most visited tourist resort

Blackpool is Europe’s most visited tourist resort, attracting millions of visitors each year from all over the world. Its most famous attractions include the Pleasure Beach amusement park with the awesome Big One rollercoaster. The Tower, the three piers, the trams and the Illuminations are some of the other major crowd-pullers.

All these and more live quite happily alongside each other as fine examples of how Blackpool almost single-handedly shaped the history of the great British holiday. If you’re looking for a fun time then this is the place to be.

As you would expect there are numerous pubs, bars and clubs, from the traditional to the more alternative. Throughout the year you can enjoy major crowd-pulling events, from the ‘Switch On’ of the world famous Illuminations to the World Firework Championships. Blackpool’s Winter Gardens often plays host to top performers and bands.

For shopping, there are the usual chain stores and the Hounds Hill Shopping Centre (currently undergoing exciting redevelopment), as well as a colourful and dazzling array of gift shops and markets. Freeport Retail and Leisure Village gives you the chance to buy brand names at discount prices. Everywhere you turn there are places to eat.

Regeneration projects include the creation of George Bancroft Park, a £4.4m transformation of South Promenade, the creation of new sea defences incorporating a magical urban park, the renewal of 12 miles of tram track, the development of a new civic and cultural quarter (costing £285m) and a state-of-the-art enterprise centre."

There is a wide range of recreational facilities available from public and private sports/fitness clubs, swimming pools, an athletics stadium, golf courses, cricket and football grounds to bowling, ice-skating, go-karting, horse-riding and flying clubs at the airport.

There are also excellent walks along the coastline, water sports at Fleetwood and the River Wyre, and fishing/bird/wildlife reserves. If you want something more challenging, the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the Trough of Bowland, as well as being areas of outstanding natural beauty, are excellent areas for walking, climbing, water sports, hand-gliding, para-gliding etc. But if you long for a taste of city life then Manchester and Liverpool are both a mere hour away by road and easily reached by rail. Preston, England’s newest city, is closer still and in line to receive enormous investment in its retail infrastructure.