Scarborough, United Kingdom

The oldest resort in the country, SCARBOROUGH first attracted early seventeenth-century visitors to its newly discovered mineral springs. To the Victorians it was "the Queen of the Watering Places", but Scarborough saw its biggest transformation after World War II, when it became a holiday haven for workers from the industrial heartlands. All the traditional ingredients of a beach resort are still here in force, from superb, clean sands, kitsch amusement arcades to the more refined pleasures of its tight-knit old-town streets and a genteel round of quiet parks and gardens.

The North Bay is full of various attractions and amusements, including the miniature North Bay Railway (daily Easter– Sept) and various short cruises and speedboat trips. The South Bay is backed by the pleasant Valley Gardens and the Italianate meanderings of the South Cliff Gardens, and topped by an esplanade from which a hydraulic lift (April– Sept daily 10am–5pm) chugs down to the beach.