Scarborough, GB

A wood-fired modern-British room on Victoria Road where most of the menu touches flame or coals, built around seasonal Yorkshire produce. It is the town's go-to for a proper dinner out rather than a seafront meal.

An intimate seafood restaurant from a chef who held a Michelin star in Devon, now listed in the Michelin Guide here. Expect a refined, precise take on local fish rather than battered-and-fried tradition.

A long-running northern-Italian restaurant on Queen Street run by a chef-patron for decades, known for handmade egg pasta, risotto, and seasonal truffles. It is the old-school dinner-jacket Italian, not a pizza joint.

A busy family-run Italian in Filey serving pizza, pasta, and fish in a proper neighbourhood trattoria style, going strong since 2002. Worth the short hop down the coast for a relaxed dinner.

A small family-run chippy and cafe in North Bay that locals routinely rank as the best fish and chips in town, cooked to order in proper beef dripping. No harbour-front markup, just the fish done right.

A fish-and-chips restaurant and takeaway on Eastborough with an award-winning chef and reliably thin, crisp batter. A solid sit-down option that handles gluten-free and dietary needs without fuss.

A casual fish-and-seafood spot sitting right out on the West Pier with harbour and sea views from almost every table. The seafood chowder is the dish regulars come back for.

A quirky cafe-by-day, Asian-fusion-by-night spot tucked behind the Stephen Joseph Theatre, swinging from full English brunch to ramen and Thai curries with cocktails. Good for an unhurried meal that is not seafood.

A consistently well-regarded curry house on Falsgrave Road known for generous, properly spiced dishes and attentive service. It is the local pick for a sit-down Indian away from the seafront.

A two-AA-rosette restaurant at a small lodge near Flixton, cooking modern-British tasting menus from local farms, game, and Scarborough lobster. The special-occasion table in the area, a short drive inland.

An independent specialty-coffee cafe in a former colonial outfitters on St Nicholas Street, serving carefully made coffee, cakes, and light lunches. The reliable town-centre stop for a proper flat white.

A cafe and chocolatier on Huntriss Row founded by a Swiss confectioner in 1880, still making chocolates and cakes on site. Come for the handmade sweets and an old-fashioned tea-and-cake sit-down.

A vintage 1940s ice-cream parlour on Sandside opposite the harbour, run by the same Italian family for generations and kept in full retro fit-out. The knickerbocker glory and sundaes are the reason to go.

A welcoming pub on Scalby Road a short walk out from the centre, doing well-priced pub food with a city-restaurant ambition and a sunny beer garden. Where locals go to eat rather than the seafront tourist pubs.

A modern brunch-and-coffee spot in Filey roasting award-winning beans and turning out big breakfasts, eggs Benedict, and homemade traybakes. The standout daytime stop if you are down the coast.

A no-frills town-centre cafe on St Thomas Street known for a generous, properly cooked full English at a fair price. The honest breakfast spot when you want to fuel up before a coast walk.

A short loop around the castle headland linking North and South Bays along Marine Drive, with a climb past the castle and St Mary's before a flat seafront return. It packs castle, church, harbour, and cliff views into under two miles.

The final leg of the Cleveland Way, a clifftop coast path running south past Cayton Bay and Lebberston Cliff to finish at Filey Brigg. Big open sea views the whole way without serious mountain effort.

An out-and-back along Filey's seafront onto the rocky finger of Filey Brigg, a nature reserve with cliffs and rock pools at the tip. Short, scenic, and good for spotting seabirds.

A long, demanding coast section over Ravenscar, Hayburn Wyke, and the cliffs into North Bay, with steep stair sections and the best wild stretches of this coastline. A full day for confident walkers.

A gentle boardwalk through ancient deciduous woodland along the River Derwent a few miles inland, part of a national nature reserve. Flat, accessible, and the easy nature walk near town.

A wooded National Trust cove between Scarborough and Whitby where a stream tumbles in a small waterfall onto a boulder beach. The reward at the end of a quiet down-and-back through the trees.

One of the world's first purpose-built museums, a circular 1829 building dedicated to the geology and fossils of the Yorkshire coast, including the Bronze Age Gristhorpe Man. Small but genuinely unusual, and a good rainy-hour stop.

A small gallery in a Georgian villa on The Crescent showing local-coast paintings alongside names like Atkinson Grimshaw and rotating exhibitions. An easy, quiet hour and a rainy-day fallback.

Britain's first theatre-in-the-round, founded here in 1955 and now in a converted Art Deco cinema opposite the station, long associated with Alan Ayckbourn premieres. The town's serious indoor evening out.

A large lakeside amphitheatre in Northstead Manor Gardens with the stage on an island and the audience banked on the shore, hosting big-name summer concerts. The marquee outdoor gig venue on the coast.

A miniature railway running since 1931 from Peasholm to Scalby Mills along the North Bay coast, with small steam-outline engines pulling open carriages. A short, easy ride that small kids love.

A North Bay aquarium and marine sanctuary with sharks, rays, penguins, otters, and a turtle rescue, plus feeding talks through the day. A dependable rainy-day option for families with young children.

A long-running summer spectacle on Peasholm Park's lake where crewed 20-foot model warships re-enact a sea battle with smoke and pyrotechnics. A genuinely odd, only-here piece of seaside theatre.

Scarborough's first micropub, a tiny one-room place near the town centre pouring a rotating handful of cask ales and real ciders to a chatty, no-music crowd. The evening spot for drinkers who care about what's in the glass.

A ruined medieval royal castle on the headland that splits North and South Bays, with 3,000 years of history on the same promontory the Romans used as a signal station. The walk to the great tower delivers the best long view of both bays at once.

A 12th-century church below the castle whose adjoining churchyard holds the grave of Anne Bronte, who died in Scarborough in 1849. The stone overlooks South Bay, and a newer marker beside it corrects the errors on the worn original.

An Oriental-themed park behind North Bay built in 1912, with a pagoda, a lily pond, and a boating lake you can take rowing boats out on. It is the local default for a slow afternoon with kids or a picnic.

A Victorian seafront complex on South Bay built around mineral springs found in the 1620s, now a concert and events venue with sun terraces over the sea. The resident Spa Orchestra has played here for over a century.

The classic resort bay: a curve of sand backed by the harbour, amusements, and chippies, with the castle headland at one end and the Spa at the other. This is the seafront people picture when they think of Scarborough.

A hill just south of town topped by a war memorial obelisk, with a viewing point that takes in South Bay, the harbour, the castle, and the town laid out below. Locals drive up for the panorama without the seafront crowds.

The small white lighthouse on Vincent Pier guarding the harbour mouth, rebuilt after First World War shelling damaged the original. It is a short walk out among the fishing boats and a favourite spot to watch the catch come in.