"The Grand looked like something odd was up with it. " Not at all. It's the most modern of the better hotels and was built as a Hilton about thirty to forty years ago. The three hotels mentioned are all close together at the Northern end of the resort and a couple of miles away from the Pleasure Beach and all have good parking. You could catch a tram along the "Promenade" down to the PB and back as parking down there is awful. Forced Into a stay in Blackpool, I'd choose the Grand. The PB has a lot of rides across the age range and if you're (or DH) a roller coaster junkie, then you can't go wrong. Again, the queues for the individual rides will eat up a lot of time.

It's quite nice to walk along the piers and get some fresh air that doesn't smell of burgers or fish and chips, while the Tower is again eye wateringly expensive as are most things in the resort. It's not really a dangerous place at all, with perhaps the odd skirmish around pub closing time, extending to club closing time at the weekends. These altercations don't really affect other visitors, just the drunks and their partners, so I wouldn't worry too much. Just be careful what you step in!

The reason that janisj refers to regarding hotel chains is that they would mostly be too expensive for the type of crowd that frequents Blackpool and those chains wouldn't want the level of customer that the resort attracts. Sorry if that sounds snobbish-it isn't--it's just true.

Thanks, I'll look into the Grand again. The way it came up on Hotwire as first a Hilton and then not, plus there was something else that I'm trying to remember, made me a little wary. We may decide we prefer Victorian red brick, but there's something to be said for modern, and it looks like as an upscale a hotel as we can reasonably manage might be prudent.

As long as visitors aren't regularly mugged on the promenade (by muggers, not high prices) we're not too worried about it. We're not fancy people, we weren't expecting upscale, and we like beach towns with amusments (including some with rowdy or downscale reputations). We'll probably be asleep or asleepish by pub closing, so as long as altercations are not in the corridor directly outside our room it's fine. My father did not particularly care for Blackpool, although as far as I know he only went there once, but my grandmother loved it, and my father alway said I might like it if I ever got the chance to visit. Now the last time any of my relatives went near the place will have been in the Fifties, so I'm sure it's changed, but I've long wanted to go there, and my family is completely onboard with any destination with amusement parks and arcades.

I am wondering if I should shuffle things a little so we're trying for PB on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. We're not giant fans of crowds, but I do like visiting places when everything is open.

mugging is unlikely to be an issue, but "chucking out time" can become that.

Fleetwood or Southport are nicer

Southport looks very nice indeed, and probably is to our taste (Fleetwood maybe less so), but I'm thinking maybe in addition to Blackpool, instead of.

We're not intending to spend the entire trip running around seaside towns (although this is because there are many other high priority items on the itinerary, not because we think we wouldn't like that), but there's nothing wrong with a little variety, and since my original thinking had really been two nights in Blackpool, it looks like one there and then one in Southport might be sane, especially since it looks like it's pretty much in the right direction for Chester and Wales.

Thank you!

The day after a BH s usually much more sane, so it's a consideration. Also If you do prefer a red brick hotel, then the Imperial is the one to go for, much better than the Savoy. I've just done a bit of research on the Grand and find that it is now owned by the Britannia Hotels group. If the Britannia in Manchester is anything to go by, then stick with the Imperial..

Blackpool has certainly changed since the 50's and it used to be an OKish sort of place. Lots of people on the beach (called the sands) wearing suits and shirts and ties and lots of small cafes on the "front" selling "Jugs of tea for the Sands". You left a deposit for the tray and crockery and got it back when you returned the empties.

We were in Fleetwood last week for an evening walk along the coastal path and there is nothing of a resort about it. Boring and to be avoided aside from the walk. Southport has a small amusement park with no big rides, but has a pier that is a kilometre long, the second longest in the UK and is a pleasant walk, or you can catch a little train that runs along it. Lord Street used to be the upmarket shopping street of the town, but is perhaps a little faded now. I can recommend the Westminster Cafe near the centre of the street for excellent breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea.

That's a wonderful picture.

We are definitely thinking the Imperial. I took a look at the Grand again and I'm just not feeling it.

Fleetwood did look too quiet. We're still trying to figure out if Southport is likely to be worth the time investment. We do have a thing for piers, and we're really amusment park enthusiasts, not specifically coaster ones, although DH and DS do like big coasters.

Pleasure Beach appears to have, in addition to the big coasters, a well curated and maintained collection of older rides, including a bunch of dark rides, and we really want to visit. One night is definite, because we'll feel cheated if we don't, and the salty, sticky people who've spent all day in an amusement park next to the sea are not going to want to get back in the car and drive an hour. I know there's a lot of light at that time of year, but we don't really want to drive late either. We're not committing to hotels for a while anyway, but I'm trying to decide if two nights are better, or if we will have had enough Blackpool after one night.

Just for info: the pier at Southport doesn't have any rides on it or stalls. There's a get off point half way that allows you to access some newly built places, a bowling alley, cinema, chain restaurants etc. but otherwise has only a small arcade right at the end. Also here's a photo of the Westminster tea rooms.

Sorry for all the code. It was meant to be a picture of the westminster Tea Rooms but it seems to have taken a fit.

I think there may be a little bit of an issue with posts coming up properly.

Rubicund, I had a lot of trouble even seeing your last two posts, with attendant code, until I tried clicking "go advanced".

The little railway looks wonderful though.

Rubicund . . How are you attaching the images . . the string of text is pointing to somewhere other than the site image folders

moderator8, I used a simple cut and paste for all three images.

Somehow the code is getting garbled. The first two are links to a website, but the third is to a drive somewhere . . perhaps on your PC?

Try using this method:

https://www.fodors.com/community/fod...orums-1680819/

Here';s the Westminster Tea Rooms in Southport.


Seems to have worked this time!

And ooh, that looks wonderful!

I'll check out their menu.

Menu does look wonderful as well. It also appears to be possible to feed my husband, which it isn't always in places that serve tea. Best of all, it looks like they will serve you Babycham with your tea! (DS and I love Babycham, but it's very hard to find in the US).

For north Wales (and do take a look at Chester on the way, even if you don't stay there) I based in Conwy (Bodnant Gardens, castles and Llandudno, without a car) but sounds like you would prefer Llandudno. Don't miss the tram up the Great Orme: Great Orme Tramway

See also: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...he-great-orme/

Thanks!

We are booked! After all that, we ended up with Heathrow, and we're going for July (we're hoping things will be normalish by then). BA was having a heck of a sale, and I wanted to take advantage of it.

Now I just need to buckle down to some serious itinerary planning. Blackpool may be on the chopping block. We've discovered that DH is kind of past roller coasters for the most part. DS is not, but he's not that heavily invested in them either. Also, a lot of restaurant food is seriously not good for DH (he had bleeding ulcers, and while his doctor was quite sure he would have had an issue eventually, a lot of rich vacation food seems to have been the trigger for their becoming an issue) so I'm leaning towards more time planted in self catering with local forays and less road tripping.