Blackpool Beach
Seven miles of sand with the famous stretch between the piers: donkeys, deckchairs, and RNLI lifeguards all summer. Free, obviously, and still the best-value thing in town.
Days out with the kids in Blackpool
20 places in Blackpool, Lancashire, 5 of which cost nothing. Everything below is within easy reach if you live locally.
20 in Blackpool5 free12 indoor
Everyone knows what Blackpool is for, and Blackpool knows it too. Pleasure Beach's Nickelodeon Land covers the primary ages properly, the Tower stacks a glass floor, a circus and the Dungeon into one building, and Madame Tussauds sits on the same strip. The trap is the wristband arms race: budget for one big-ticket day, not three, and buy only the attractions you will actually use.
The rain plan is the best in the North West: Sandcastle is the UK's biggest indoor waterpark, kept at tropical temperature, with Sea Life's ocean tunnel as the shorter fallback. What locals know is Stanley Park - Italian gardens, a boating lake, one of the coast's best playgrounds, all free - with the quietly magic Model Village next door. And from September the Illuminations turn a walk along the prom into a free night out, which is not a sentence you can write about many resorts.
Places in Blackpool
Blackpool Central Pier
The pier with the big wheel. Free to walk on, with fairground rides paid for in tickets, an arcade at the front and another halfway down next to a family bar.
Blackpool Illuminations
Six miles of free lights along the Promenade, 4 September 2026 to 3 January 2027. Walk a stretch, ride a lit-up tram, done.
Coral Island
The big pirate-themed arcade on the Central Promenade: free to walk in, with the Pirate Flyer ride, a ghost train, the Camel Derby and a prize shop. Kids eat free with a paying adult, all day, every day.
Stanley Park
Blackpool's grand free option: Italian gardens, a big boating lake, one of the best playgrounds on the coast and model boats on the lake. The antidote to a wristband day.
Showtown
Blackpool built a museum about being Blackpool, on Bank Hey Street next to the Tower: the circus, the magicians, the illuminations. The galleries are interactive instead of glass case. Allow an hour and a half.
AirHop Adventure & Trampoline Park Blackpool
The trampoline park on Cornford Road, formerly Ascent, with wall-to-wall trampolines and airbags for 4+ and a separate soft play for 6 and unders. In term time it does not open until 3pm Tuesday to Thursday.
Blackpool Model Village & Gardens
A miniature world of tiny houses, castles and villages set in an acre of gardens next to Stanley Park. Gentle, old-fashioned and quietly magic for the under-9s.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
The big one. Nickelodeon Land covers the primary ages properly while the Big One and the wooden coasters wait for brave older kids. August queues are real; go in expecting them and it is a great day.
Blackpool Tower
Tower Top's glass floor 380 feet up, a proper circus that still knows how to play to kids, and the famous ballroom below for a fancy ice cream. Buy the attractions you want rather than the bundle you will not use.
Blackpool Zoo
Elephants, gorillas, giraffes and sea lions in 37 acres that are actually walkable with primary-age legs - big enough to feel like a full day, small enough that nobody ends up carried.
Madame Tussauds Blackpool
Over 75 wax figures across 14 zones, and the Blackpool version leans pop culture rather than politics, so kids actually recognise people. Book online or you pay extra for the privilege of queueing.
Sandcastle Waterpark
The UK's biggest indoor waterpark, kept at tropical temperature: proper toddler pools and mini slides at one end, big flumes at the other. Rainy-day Blackpool solved.
Sea Life Blackpool
A solid seafront aquarium with an ocean tunnel and rockpool sessions - the reliable wet-weather hour when the beach plan falls apart.
The Blackpool Tower Dungeon
Actor-led horror comedy through a thousand years of grim Lancashire history, with a drop ride at the end. Properly scary in places, so save it for the older ones.
The Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse
Six play zones built around the Julia Donaldson books, tucked under Sea Life on the promenade. Aimed squarely at under 10s, with a wristbanded 90 minutes inside at busy times.
Blackpool South Pier
The short, wide pier at the South Shore end of Blackpool, open daily, with a family rides arena (carousel, teacups, dodgems, waltzer, a bouncy slide, Crazy Coasters) and an arcade. Rides run weather permitting.
Jungle World Blackpool
A big jungle soft play inside the Houndshill shopping centre, with a 40 metre slide, trampolines and a mini zipline for 0 to 12s. Handy for a town centre rainy day; the prices only appear when you book.
The Grand Theatre, Blackpool
Blackpool's big Church Street theatre runs a proper year-round family programme: a summer youth musical, storybook shows, magic, and a giant Christmas panto with a relaxed performance.
Thingamajigz
A long-running soft play centre on Poulton Business Park, reopened by the Clip 'n Climb Blackpool team, with The Shack cafe, walk-ins when there is space and a midweek term-time ticket that lets you stay all day.
What’s on in Blackpool
22 dated events coming up, 6 of them this weekend.
Blackpool Illuminations
The Promenade, Blackpool
until 3 Jan. Every evening from dusk, switch-on 4 September
Six miles of lights along the prom from the big switch-on night to early January. Drive it, walk it, or catch a heritage tram through the middle of it, which is the version kids remember.
Written by us
Room on the Broom 25th birthday Halloween at The Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse
The Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse, Blackpool
until 2 Nov. Daily, 26 September to 2 November
The Clubhouse marks 25 years of Room on the Broom with a Halloween dance party and the chance to meet Witch. Costumes encouraged. It is included in normal admission, which is from £12 a child.
Written by us
Ascarium: Tricks & Treats at SEA LIFE Blackpool
SEA LIFE Blackpool
until 2 Nov. Daily, 12 October to 2 November; Sea Witch on weekends and in half term
A Halloween trail round the aquarium with challenges, a pumpkin patch and a reward at the end, plus Serafina the Sea Witch at weekends and in half term. Included with admission. Separate, scarier After Dark evenings run on 24, 25, 30 and 31 October for older children.
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High Jinx magic and illusion show
The Blackpool Tower Circus
until 29 Nov. 16 October, 14, 15, 28 and 29 November, 2.30pm
High Jinx, a magic and illusion show in the Blackpool Tower Circus ring, on a handful of dates only this autumn. All shows at 2.30pm, and it comes back for the Christmas holidays.
Written by us
Wizarding Wildlife School (Halloween at the zoo)
Blackpool Zoo
until 1 Nov. Daily, 24 October to 1 November
Halloween at Blackpool Zoo turns into a Wizarding Wildlife School, with classes and activities included in normal admission. An optional VIP experience for ages 5 and up costs £19.99 extra.
Written by us
Steve Backshall's Deadly Live! (opens in a new tab)
Opera House, Winter Gardens Blackpool
1 Nov. Sunday 1 November, 2pm
Steve Backshall's Deadly Live, the stage show from the CBBC series, at the Winter Gardens Opera House in Blackpool. One show at 2pm on 1 November. Tickets are not cheap.
Written by us
Everything on in Blackpool16 more not shown here
Also worth the drive
Not in Blackpool, but close enough for a day out.
WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre
Otters at feeding time, flamingos, pond dipping and a canoe safari through the reeds in season. One of those places that quietly turns a nature-indifferent child into a nature child.
Windmill Animal Farm
A friendly hands-on farm whose star turn is the miniature railway running out across the fields. Animal handling sessions, indoor play for wet spells, and it never feels too big.
Farmer Ted's Adventure Farm
Built precisely for the under-9s: animal encounters, giant jumping pillows, tractor rides and a big indoor play barn that rescues wet days. Older siblings will tolerate it; little ones adore it.
Brockholes Nature Reserve
A nature reserve with a visitor village that floats on the lake. Genuinely floats. Easy flat trails, hides, a huge adventure playground and family crafts and events in the school holidays.
Williamson Park
The Ashton Memorial dome you can see from the M6, with views across Morecambe Bay, a butterfly house, mini beasts and a good playground below it. Lancaster's best free afternoon.
Happy Mount Park
A proper old-fashioned seaside park: the splash park is the summer draw, with trampolines, adventure golf and a cafe for the flask-and-chips crowd. Pair it with an ice cream on the prom.
Bowland Country Park
Wild boar, deer and llamas in a Forest of Bowland valley, with animal feeding, an adventure play area, go-karts and river walks. Small, unslick and all the better for it.
Clitheroe Castle
One of England's smallest Norman keeps on a rock above the town, with a labyrinth, sculpture trail and a museum that tells the Ribble Valley's story briskly. The grounds and the views cost nothing.
What’s on near you, every Friday
One email a week: what is on this weekend within a sensible drive, and the places worth booking before they go.