Scarborough has been entertaining families since the eighteenth century and it has never really stopped. This is where the British seaside holiday was more or less invented — a mineral spring in 1626, then sea bathing, then the railway in 1845 — and the accumulated result is a town with two sandy beaches, a castle on a headland, a miniature railway, a waterpark, a Sea Life centre, an amusement park and a municipal park that stages naval battles with model boats.
It is also cheap by the standards of southern resorts, and the two bays mean you can usually find one that is out of the wind.
Behind North Bay, and the thing people remember. Opened in 1912 as an oriental-themed municipal park, it has a lake with a pagoda on an island, dragon boats and pedalos to hire, a cascade, a bandstand on the water and steep wooded paths.
Its great oddity is the Naval Warfare — a battle staged on the lake with large model warships crewed by people sitting inside them, complete with explosions and commentary. It has been running since 1929 and it is completely unlike anything else in Britain. Performances run on set days through the summer; check the schedule.
Free to enter; the boats and the naval battle charge. See our Peasholm Park page.
A twenty-inch gauge miniature railway built in 1931, running about a mile and a half along the cliff top from Peasholm to Scalby Mills, where the Sea Life centre is. The locomotives are the originals. It is cheap, it takes ten minutes each way, and it solves the problem of getting tired children from one end of North Bay to the other. See our North Bay Railway page.
At Scalby Mills, at the northern end of North Bay. A sizeable aquarium with a seal rescue centre, penguins, otters, sharks and a turtle sanctuary. Half a day, and it is the town’s main wet-weather attraction. It is at the far end of North Bay, so the miniature railway or the bus is worth using.
A waterpark on the North Bay cliff, with indoor and outdoor pools, slides, a lazy river and thermal pools with a sea view. It is one of the few genuinely all-weather attractions on the Yorkshire coast, and the outdoor pool is heated year-round.
On the headland between the two bays, and the best castle for children on this coast — a huge Norman keep, curtain walls, the site of a Roman signal station and an Iron Age settlement, and a very long drop to the sea on three sides. English Heritage runs it with an exhibition and events through the holidays. The climb up is steep.
South Bay is the traditional one: sand, donkeys in season, amusements along Foreshore Road, the harbour with its fishing boats and the Luna Park funfair at the northern end. It is busy, cheerful and unashamedly a seaside beach.
North Bay is the quieter of the two — wider, sandier at low tide, with Peasholm and the Sea Life centre behind it and considerably fewer arcades. It is the better beach for a proper beach day.
Cayton Bay, five kilometres south, is a wide surf beach backed by wooded cliffs, with a surf school. Filey, eleven kilometres south, has miles of firm flat sand and is the best of the three for young children.
Playdale Farm Park at Cayton, seven kilometres south, has animals, indoor and outdoor play and tractor rides — the standard farm park done well.
Scarborough Fair Collection and Vintage Transport Museum at Flower of May, six kilometres south, is a collection of restored fairground rides and organs alongside vintage vehicles, with rides operating.
Betton Farm at Seamer and the Little Play Company cover the smaller and wetter end.
Luna Park on Foreshore Road is the funfair on South Bay; the Terror Tower and the arcades line the road beside it. The harbour has fishing boats, crab lines and boat trips — speedboat rides and short sea trips run from the West Pier through the summer.
The old town climbing up towards the castle is worth an hour with older children: narrow streets, the church where Anne Brontë is buried, and a view down onto the harbour.
SEA LIFE, Alpamare and the Scarborough Fair Collection are the three big indoor options. The Rotunda Museum on Vernon Road is small but genuinely interesting — one of the oldest purpose-built museums in Britain, circular, built for the geology of this coast, which is fossil country. The Stephen Joseph Theatre runs family shows. Our wet weather guide has more.
Fish and chips is the point, and Scarborough takes it seriously — the town has several long-established chip shops with fierce local loyalties. Beyond that, the streets behind South Bay have a good range of informal restaurants, and there is an excellent Italian ice cream shop on Newborough. Our eating guide has the detail.
Getting here. Trains run hourly from Manchester via Leeds and York, and every two hours from Hull via Bridlington and Filey. From London, change at York. The station is in the middle of the town beside the bus stand.
Summer weekends are busy — the trains from Leeds and York are packed and the A64 queues east of York.
Parking. Several central car parks are free, including West Pier, North Street and Castle Road, and there are park and ride sites on the Seamer Road and Filey Road approaches.
Which bay. Whichever is out of the wind. Locals check before choosing.
A North Bay day. Start at Peasholm Park for the boats and the lake — timed for a Naval Warfare performance if one is on. Take the North Bay Railway along the cliff to Scalby Mills for SEA LIFE, have lunch there, and spend the afternoon on the North Bay sand. Come back on the train. Almost no walking and nothing more than a mile from anything else.
A South Bay day. Morning on the beach with the donkeys and the arcades; fish and chips eaten on the harbour wall; then the climb up to Scarborough Castle in the afternoon for the keep and the views, coming down through the old town. Finish with ice cream on Newborough.
Under five: Peasholm’s boats, the miniature railway, the donkeys, the sand at North Bay, Playdale Farm.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot. SEA LIFE, Alpamare, the castle, the Naval Warfare, the Scarborough Fair Collection, fossil hunting on the beaches north of the town.
Teenagers: surfing at Cayton Bay, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Whitby for the abbey and the goth shops, and Bempton Cliffs for the puffins.
Peasholm Park and the naval battle, the North Bay Railway to Sea Life, and a day on the beach.
A staged battle on the boating lake using large model warships with people inside them, running since 1929. Performances are on set days through the summer.
North Bay for space and quiet; South Bay for donkeys, arcades and the traditional seaside.
Yes — a big Norman keep, walls to walk and enormous views, though the climb up is steep.
SEA LIFE, the Alpamare waterpark, the Scarborough Fair Collection and the Rotunda Museum.