Best Places to Visit Near Blackpool
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit near Blackpool are Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve, Church of St Walburge, Hatch Brook Waterfall, White Spout, Meols Beach, Birkenhead Park, Cubbins Green Beach and White Scar Cave.
Blackpool is all about the seafront, but some of the best places to visit sit a good drive inland and along the coast, so treat these eight as day-trips rather than quick hops. Head towards Preston and you can wander the flooded clay pits of Longton Brickcroft or gaze up at the soaring spire of St Walburge's church.
Push further into the hills and two quiet waterfalls wait for walkers: Hatch Brook in the West Pennine Moors near Chorley, and remote White Spout on the edge of the Forest of Bowland. South on the Wirral, breezy Meols Beach and the wide sands of Cubbins Green at West Kirby bracket the pioneering Victorian landscape of Birkenhead Park.
And east, in the Yorkshire Dales, White Scar Cave leads you underground past streams and stalactites. Beaches, waterfalls, a grand church, a historic park and a show cave make a varied set, each one worth the journey.
Here are eight places to visit near Blackpool.
Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve
Photo: Gerald McKenna via Geograph.org.uk
Visit Longton Brickcroft Nature Reserve The nearest of the set, Longton Brickcroft sits southwest of Preston on the site of a former brickworks, where the old clay pits flooded to form lakes. Around eleven hectares of ponds, woodland, meadow and marsh make up the reserve, which became a local nature reserve in 1998 and has held a Green Flag ever since.
Paths lead you around three large ponds, with smaller dipping ponds along the way, and there is a visitor centre with limited hours, toilets and free parking. It is a gentle place for birdwatching and pond life, and an easy start to a day out from Blackpool.
Church of St Walburge
Photo: David Robinson via Geograph.org.uk
See the Church of St Walburge A little further into Preston, the Church of St Walburge is a large Roman Catholic church raised in the 1850s to a Gothic design by Joseph Hansom, the architect who also gave his name to the hansom cab. Its limestone spire climbs to about 94 metres, taller than any other church spire in England bar the cathedrals at Salisbury and Norwich.
Inside, a wide nave sits beneath a high hammerbeam roof, lit by a large rose window. Since 2014 the church has run as a shrine with a daily traditional Latin Mass, and now and then the spire opens for booked climbs.
It is a striking landmark inland from the coast.
Hatch Brook Waterfall
Photo: Alan Chadwick via Geograph.org.uk
Find Hatch Brook Waterfall For a wilder outing, Hatch Brook Waterfall drops through a wooded ravine above the village of Brinscall, in the West Pennine Moors near Chorley. Its flow changes dramatically with the weather, from a decent fall after heavy rain to little more than a trickle in dry spells.
It is an awkward one to reach, glimpsed from above the track or found by a steep scramble down to the base, so wear sturdy boots. Little known even locally, it hides among the Brinscall woods and rewards those willing to seek it out.
Save it for a day when the streams are running full.
White Spout
Photo: Tom Richardson via Geograph.org.uk
Seek out White Spout Remote and unspoilt, White Spout is a small moorland waterfall in upper Littledale, on the edge of the Forest of Bowland a few miles east of Lancaster. It drops on a minor stream, Whitespout Gutter, in high grazing land that drains down through Udale Beck and Artle Beck.
There are no signposts and no facilities here; you reach it on foot across rough open ground on the Littledale circuit. The best view is from beside the beck, where the path crosses near the old shooting butts.
This is one for confident walkers who like their falls quiet and hard-won, well away from any crowds.
Meols Beach
Photo: Colin Park via Geograph.org.uk
Walk Meols Beach Down on the north coast of the Wirral, Meols Beach faces out over Liverpool Bay and the Irish Sea between Hoylake and Wallasey. A band of shingle at high tide gives way to a wide spread of sand and mudflats when the sea draws back, all backed by the promenade of the North Wirral Coastal Park.
It is a breezy, open place used for kite buggying, sand yachting and winter birdwatching, with fine sunsets over the water. Meols has a long past, too: erosion here has turned up thousands of objects over the years, from Roman brooches to Viking weapons, marking it as a place settled since ancient times.
Birkenhead Park
Photo: Stephen Richards via Geograph.org.uk
Birkenhead Park sent its ideas across the Atlantic: when the American designer Frederick Law Olmsted visited in 1850, he carried them home to help shape New York's Central Park. Often called the first public park of its kind, this Merseyside green space was built with public money for ordinary people and opened in 1847 to a design by Joseph Paxton.
He shaped it not as formal gardens but as a rolling landscape of meadows, winding paths, woodland and two ornamental lakes, complete with a covered wooden Swiss bridge, a lakeside boathouse and a grand columned entrance arch. Restored as a historic landscape, its lakes are still fished and its paths still walked.
Cubbins Green Beach
Photo: Jeff Buck via Geograph.org.uk
Visit Cubbins Green Beach Round on the Dee estuary side of the Wirral, Cubbins Green is a beach at West Kirby in Merseyside. Sea defences and the green open space that gives the spot its name back a wide foreshore of sand and mud, which the tide covers and uncovers through the day.
At low water the sands and flats stretch far out toward the estuary. It sits close to the marine lake at the northern end of West Kirby and lies on the Wirral Way, so it pairs naturally with a longer coastal walk.
It is a wide, open place to breathe in the sea air.
White Scar Cave
Photo: Steve Houldsworth via Geograph.org.uk
Explore White Scar Cave Furthest afield, and well worth the run east into the Yorkshire Dales, White Scar Cave sits in the valley of Chapel-le-Dale at the foot of Ingleborough, on the road between Ingleton and Ribblehead. Guided tours run for about a mile and take around 80 minutes, following underground streams and waterfalls past flowstone and stalactites into a vast chamber known as the Battlefield.
There is a cafe and shop at the entrance to warm up afterwards. The cave was first explored in 1923 and has welcomed visitors since 1925, making it a fine underground finale to a day out from Blackpool.
FAQs
What are the best day-trips from Blackpool?
None of these sit on Blackpool's doorstep, so all eight suit a day out. Highlights include St Walburge's church in Preston, Meols Beach and Birkenhead Park on the Wirral, and White Scar Cave in the Yorkshire Dales.
How far is White Scar Cave from Blackpool?
White Scar Cave is about 55 kilometres east of Blackpool, in the Yorkshire Dales at the foot of Ingleborough. Guided tours last around 80 minutes and follow underground streams and waterfalls, so it makes a memorable full day out.
Are there good beaches near Blackpool besides the resort seafront?
Yes, though they take a drive. Over on the Wirral, Meols Beach faces Liverpool Bay with wide sands at low tide, while Cubbins Green at West Kirby looks out across the Dee estuary, both a world away from Blackpool's promenade.
Conclusion
None of these sit right on Blackpool's doorstep, so think of them as day-trips, each a reason to point the car inland or along the coast. Towards Preston you can combine the ponds of Longton Brickcroft with the towering spire of St Walburge, while the hills hide the quiet falls of Hatch Brook and White Spout for those who enjoy a proper walk.
Down on the Wirral, Meols and Cubbins Green offer wide skies and open sands either side of historic Birkenhead Park, and away east the Yorkshire Dales hold the streams and stalactites of White Scar Cave. Beaches, waterfalls, a grand church and an underground adventure add up to a set with real variety, and these are the places to visit near Blackpool.
