Lodges with hot tubs near Blackpool
You can ride the Pleasure Beach all day and still sleep somewhere quiet. The lodges with hot tubs near Blackpool keep clear of the seafront, out in Lytham St Annes, Cleveleys and the lanes of Over Wyre. Each has a private hot tub, with the Tower and the Illuminations a short drive away when you want them.
Set back from the front
Self-catering stays with hot tubs
Three calm corners
The coast each side, the farmland behind
Blackpool sits halfway down the Fylde, the flat plain that pushes out into the Irish Sea, with the Ribble to the south and Morecambe Bay to the north. The resort holds the middle of the seafront, loud and bright and packed in season. Within a few miles either side, the coast eases off, and behind it the land opens into farmland. The stays gather in those calmer parts, in three corners that each suit a different kind of break.
Lytham St Annes, to the south
South of the resort the front softens into Lytham St Annes, two joined towns with a refined, Edwardian air. Lytham keeps a white windmill on its green, a farmers' market, and Lytham Hall, a Grade I Georgian house in wooded parkland just behind the town. St Annes adds a long beach backed by dunes, a Victorian pier and Fairhaven Lake, where you can hire a boat or watch the birdlife along the estuary shore.
This is the well-kept, unhurried end of the Fylde, and it is golf country, with a string of championship links along the coast. It suits couples, golfers and anyone who wants sea air and a proper dinner without the amusement arcades. St Annes looks out across the Ribble estuary to Southport. The resort is still only a fifteen-minute drive up the front when you want it.
Cleveleys and the coast to the north
North of Blackpool the tramway follows the shore through Cleveleys to Fleetwood at the tip of the Fylde. Cleveleys has a smart modern promenade and a wide, gently shelving beach, with a tram stop a short walk from the sand and a parade of independent shops behind the front. Look out for Mary's Shell on the beach, a giant steel shell you can clamber on at low tide.
It makes a relaxed family base. There is room to spread out on the sand, and the tram is a day out in itself. The heart of the resort is a quick ride down the coast, not a drive and a fight for parking. Fleetwood, with its market and fishing heritage, lies the other way along the same line.
Over Wyre, inland
Inland, across the River Wyre, the Fylde gives way to Over Wyre. The land here is a low spread of farmland and mossland around the villages of Pilling, Stalmine and Hambleton. There are few streetlights out here, just lanes, hedges, grazing fields and wide estuary skies. In winter the marshes fill with pink-footed geese, and birdwatchers come out for them.
This is the rural corner. It suits couples who want it quiet, or a group wanting room to spread out well away from the seafront. The old market town of Poulton-le-Fylde, with its cobbled square, is the nearest place for shops and a meal, and the beaches and the resort are fifteen to twenty minutes back towards the coast.
Your own hot tub, not the park's
These stays are not the holiday-park kind. Most hot tub properties near Blackpool are log cabins lined up in rows, with the spa down at a shared central complex. Each of these is a self-catering cottage or house with its own private hot tub, yours for the whole stay rather than booked by the hour.
They range from small luxury cottages for two, with a woodburner for the evenings, up to houses that sleep fourteen. The largest adds a bar and a cinema room, with room for a whole family party. Couples take a hot tub break, families have a busy week with the children.
Most come with private parking, a proper kitchen and a garden. Some sit a street back from the sea, others down a farm lane with only fields around, so the setting is yours to choose as much as the size.
Self-catering is half the appeal. You can feed a hungry family after a day on the rides, get a pile of wet swimming things dried off, and have a slow breakfast before the front wakes up. It tends to work out cheaper than a week of eating out, and you get the place to yourselves instead of a hotel room off a corridor.
Many of the stays welcome dogs, from the Cleveleys houses to the cottages out at Pilling. If you want dog-friendly accommodation within reach of both the beach and the resort, this is a good stretch of coast for it, with year-round dog beaches a short drive away.
Beyond the Pleasure Beach
The resort is why most people come, and it delivers. But the Fylde has a quieter half too, and it is worth mixing the two, a loud day on the front and a slow one up the coast or inland. Here is what sits within a short drive of your stay.
The big-hitters on the front
Blackpool Pleasure Beach has the white-knuckle rides. The Tower has its ballroom, the dungeon and the glass floor at the top, and Sandcastle Waterpark sits across the road for when it rains. Madame Tussauds and the SEA LIFE centre are both on the promenade close by, with three piers strung along the front and the Winter Gardens putting on shows and concerts through the year.
Along the front, the Comedy Carpet by the Tower is a free and oddly absorbing stop, and the promenade itself makes a long, flat walk or cycle. If you plan on more than one of the paid attractions, a combined ticket bought online works out cheaper than paying gate by gate.
The Illuminations
From late summer into the new year, six miles of the promenade light up after dark. The classic way to see the Illuminations is to drive the front slowly, though the traffic crawls on weekend evenings, so come early or on a weeknight. They are free, and they keep the season going long past the summer.
Blackpool Zoo, Stanley Park and the Model Village
East of the centre, away from the seafront crowds, Blackpool Zoo and Stanley Park make an easy half-day with younger children. The park has a boating lake, gardens and an Art Deco cafe, and the neighbouring Marton Mere is a quiet nature reserve with a flat, pushchair-friendly walk. The Model Village near the park goes down well with toddlers.
Lytham and St Annes
South of the resort, Lytham and St Annes make an easy, low-cost afternoon. Lytham is for a potter around the independent shops and cafes, St Annes for the wide dune-backed beach, calmer than Blackpool's and good for a long walk or a paddle. Either way, it holds up even when the weather turns.
Cleveleys, Fleetwood and the tram
The tram heads north from Cleveleys to Fleetwood, where a big outdoor market, the heritage trams and a little seasonal ferry across the Wyre to Knott End can fill an afternoon. Rossall Point, on the dunes between the two, has an observation tower and a windswept beach walk.
Eating out
Fish and chips is the obvious move on the front, and a few long-standing chip shops near the piers still do it properly. For something slower, Lytham and St Annes have the better run of restaurants and cafes, and Fleetwood is known for its fish. Out in Over Wyre, most village pubs do food, handy when you would rather not drive far from your stay.
Golf around the Fylde
The Fylde is serious golf country. St Annes alone has several links courses, including Royal Lytham and St Annes, which has hosted the Open. Many clubs welcome visitors midweek, so you can play a round and ease the legs in the hot tub after.
Parking, dogs and choosing a base
Where is the easiest place to park for the attractions?
The seafront car parks fill early and cost the most in high summer. The simpler answer is to leave the car at your stay, or at a tram stop up the coast, and ride the tram in. It runs the length of the promenade past the Tower, the piers and the Pleasure Beach, so you can come and go all day without moving the car or paying twice. The M55 branches off the M6 and reaches the coast in minutes, and trains run to Blackpool from around the country if you would rather not drive at all.
Which Fylde beaches can you take the dog on?
The central resort beaches restrict dogs over the summer months, but the quieter sands at St Annes and Cleveleys keep dog-friendly zones open all year. Several of the stays have an enclosed garden too, so the dog has somewhere of its own while you head into town.
Which corner is best with young children?
For little ones, Cleveleys is the simplest base, with a gentle beach and the tram on hand. Lytham St Annes works well too, with more room and the dunes. Over Wyre suits older children and couples, quiet but with less on the doorstep.
Looking elsewhere?
