Where to stay in Blackpool: the best areas and hotels

If you want Blackpool at full volume, stay in the middle. The Tower and its famous ballroom are here, the Winter Gardens and the Grand Theatre put on the big shows, and the arcades of the Golden Mile run south along the front towards Central Pier. Shops, pubs and restaurants fill the streets behind.

Accommodation ranges from a brand-new, full-size hotel near the Winter Gardens to small, friendly places with a cooked breakfast included and a bar downstairs. It is the easiest base without a car, as the main railway station is close by. Light sleepers should know that weekends here belong to hen and stag parties; ask for a room at the back, or head north.

North of North Pier the Promenade widens, the arcades give way to cliffs and gardens, and Blackpool lowers its voice. This is where the town built its grandest seafront hotels, red-brick Victorian piles with ballrooms, sweeping staircases and bay windows full of Irish Sea.

It suits couples and anyone who likes the idea of Blackpool more than the noise of it. The centre is still only minutes away, on foot from the nearer hotels or by tram from the further ones. Right at the top, a big castle-shaped resort hotel has a pool and live entertainment and sits a short tram ride from town. The beach is just across the road wherever you stay.

South Shore is built around one thing: the Pleasure Beach, a seafront amusement park whose rollercoasters loom over the rooftops. Nickelodeon Land keeps smaller children busy, the Sandcastle Waterpark is across the road for wet days, and South Pier adds more rides. The beach here is wide, sandy and backed by a rebuilt promenade.

Families should look here first. The better hotels sit right beside the park or on the seafront with views over the Irish Sea, and there are family-run guest houses opposite the gates. It is noticeably calmer at night than the centre, which is a tram ride up the Promenade when you want the Tower.

The grid of streets running back from the Promenade between Central Pier and South Pier is traditional Blackpool: terraces of small hotels and bed and breakfasts, many of them family-run, with a bar in the front room and a full English in the morning. Standards have risen a long way, and there are some smartly run four-star guest houses among them.

The location is a useful halfway house. Central Pier and the Sandcastle Waterpark are each about a 15-minute walk, the Pleasure Beach about a mile, and the Illuminations run right along the seafront at the end of the street. Good value, particularly outside school holidays and the autumn lights season.

Not everyone wants to sleep on the Promenade. A few streets inland, Blackpool FC's Bloomfield Road ground has a hotel built into the stadium, with rooms looking out over the pitch. On the eastern edge of town, next to Blackpool Zoo, a modern hotel with a leisure club sits a short drive from the centre and well away from the bustle. Both are easy to reach from the motorway and suit drivers, football weekends and anyone who wants a quiet night after a noisy day.

A few miles south, the coast changes character entirely. St Annes is a Victorian seaside town with a pier, a promenade of gardens and a huge, breezy beach backed by sand dunes; Lytham, next door, has a windmill on its green and a high street of good independent shops and restaurants. The pace is gentle and the air smells of salt, not doughnuts.

Golfers know the area for its links courses, with four championship courses within about ten minutes' drive of the seafront. Hotels are a cut above, with indoor pools and spas on the promenade. The Pleasure Beach is roughly a ten-minute drive, so you can dip into Blackpool and retreat again.