Blackpool

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Blackpool is Britain’s favourite holiday resort – bright and bustling – with non-stop fun. Famous for its “Golden Mile” of piers, amusement arcades, tram and donkey-rides, pubs, fish and chip shops and bingo halls. There is seven miles of wide sandy beach to enjoy.

Blackpool is famous for its Illuminations, from the beginning of September to November over half a million light bulbs decorate the promenade which is dominated by the 518 foot Tower – a sight not to be missed!

Blackpool is a lively, crowded, jostling resort, still busiest in summer during “wakes weeks” when the mills closed for everyone to take a summer holiday. It has a 6 mile promenade, Blackpool tower at 518 feet high dominates the skyline, three piers, four theatres and a fleet of trams.

Blackpool Illuminations
The Blackpool Illuminations/Festival of Light run for 66 days each year. They switch on in early September with a huge star studded ‘Switch On’ show and run to early November.

The 2006 Switch On was carried out by Dale Winton and the crowd were entertained by a host of acts including Peter Kay.

At 10 kilometres long and using over one million bulbs, the Blackpool Illuminations are an awesome spectacle. The Blackpool Illuminations consist of a wide variety of light displays: lasers, neon, light bulbs, fibre optics, searchlights and floodlighting. In 2006, there were more than 500 scenic designs and features. There are set pieces made out of wood studded with light bulbs; the characters and objects portrayed seem to “move” by way of winking lights. Three-dimensional illuminated scenes are also popular. There are over 500 road features attached to lamp posts linked together with festoon lighting. Strings of lights along the structure of buildings pick out landmarks in luminous detail – you can always make out the Blackpool Tower and the Pleasure Beach Blackpool rides in this way.