Outdoors in Blackpool · parks, paths & countryside
Blackpool is on the coast
The sea makes up 41% of the area within 5 km. 75% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Parks and playing fields in Blackpool add up to 1.6 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Blackpool grades C+ for the outdoors: #46 of 65 in Lancashire. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Blackpool’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by its historic parks. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Blackpool grades C+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Blackpool, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
C+
Better than 39% of UK towns#46 of 65 in Lancashire
Public green space1.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
31out of 100
A park within a walk75%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
38out of 100
National Park or National Landscape0%of the land within 5 km · None within 5 km
31out of 100
Footpaths2.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
39out of 100
The sea41%of the area within 5 km
96out of 100
Graded, never part of the overall grade (like History and Civic life). It measures what is mapped: OS Open Greenspace leaves out woodland and open-access land that isn’t a park, and OpenStreetMap’s rural paths are more complete in some places than others.
Cities its size
How Blackpool compares with UK cities of 104,000 to 201,000
The 49 UK towns and cities of 104,000 to 201,000 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Outdoors score: the share of UK towns each one beats
Footpath, km per km²
Blackpool2.3
Cities its size4.3
Lancashire towns3.0
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Blackpool1.6
Cities its size2.5
Lancashire towns2.0
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Blackpool75%
Cities its size86%
Lancashire towns85%
All UK towns83%
Blackpool falls furthest behind on path per km², where 47 of the 48 others do better.
The biggest is Stanley Park, 52 ha (127 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
All 21 named parks by size: 138 ha (340 acres) and 25 km of path
Parks & gardens 92 haPlaying fields 46 haPlay spaces 0.2 ha
The two biggest, Stanley Park and Moor Park, are 44% of the named green space and carry 13 km of path between them. 7 of the 21 are under 2 ha: small gardens, play spaces and pitches.
7 in 10 Blackpool residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (75%)Further (25%)
Blackpool75%
Cities its size86%
Lancashire towns85%
All UK towns83%
About 38,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 90 playgrounds are mapped in and around the city, about one for every 1,657 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
The Forest Of Bowland National Landscape is 11 mi away
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the built-up area; circle size shows each one’s area. National Landscapes were called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty until 2023.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
184 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Blackpool and the kilometre around it, 2.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the city.
Regional
Lancashire Coastal Way17.4 km
The regional route here is the Lancashire Coastal Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
History along the way
A historic park in the middle of Blackpool
Historic England’s register of parks and gardens, and the listed buildings and scheduled monuments that stand inside Blackpool’s named parks.
Registered park · Grade II*
Stanley Park
52 ha. Part of Stanley Park, Blackpool, a registered historic park (Grade II*). 0 listed structures and monuments stand inside it or at its edge.
A listed building or monument counts when it sits inside the park’s OS Open Greenspace outline (to about 15 m), so a few at the boundary are included. Historic England, National Heritage List for England.
When to get out
The best walking months in Blackpool: May to September
The city’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Daylight (h)
7.9
9.7
11.7
13.9
15.9
17.1
16.6
14.8
12.6
10.4
8.4
7.4
High (°C)
8
8
10
13
16
19
20
20
18
14
11
8
Rain (mm)
84
66
57
53
57
65
69
87
87
106
98
102
April is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7 hours of daylight in December, and 106 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 31 nights a year. The climate in Blackpool →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Blackpool
41% of the area within 5 km of Blackpool is sea. 1 beach is mapped within 5 km, 0 with a name.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
Things to do
3 viewpoints and 90 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the city in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK city its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Carleton, 2.7 miles away, grades A, the best next door: 86% of its residents live within 400 m of a park. Poulton-le-Fylde has at least twice Blackpool’s green space per resident. None of the neighbours has a protected landscape within 5 km either.
Questions about the outdoors in Blackpool
What is the biggest park in Blackpool?
Stanley Park, 52 ha (127 acres), with 10.8 km of path. Moor Park (9.2 ha) is second. 21 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the city or within 400 m of it.
Is Blackpool near a National Park?
The nearest protected landscape is the Forest Of Bowland National Landscape, 11 mi east of the city’s edge. It covers 806 km² and was designated in 1964.
What are the best walks near Blackpool?
1 waymarked walking route passes within 2 km of the city, including the Lancashire Coastal Way. Stanley Park alone has 10.8 km of path.
How many people in Blackpool live near a park?
75% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical UK town is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Blackpool?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Which parks in Blackpool are historic?
Stanley Park (Grade II*) is on Historic England’s register of parks and gardens.
Is Blackpool good for walking?
Paths are thinner than most towns: 2.3 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 39% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 31% (1.6 ha per 1,000 residents).
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Landscape within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Blackpool’s overall grade.
National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
Photo: Christine Johnstone · CC BY-SA 2.0