Walks you can reach from Blackpool Pleasure Beach by train
MapA day hike is just a simple train journey away — plan your next day of green.
St Annes-on-the-Sea Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)
6m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
A very road-based route, hard-surfaced throughout, with some quiet country roads without pavements and some nicer off-road sections along Green Drive and the promenade between Lytham and St Annes. The Fylde is low-lying and wet and so field footpaths are often wet and poorly maintained. A variation using roads to avoid the flooded footpath at Eastham Hall.
16km.
Some quiet country roads have no pavements, and busier roads have narrow pavements (about a metre wide).
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Kirkham and Wesham Station to Preston Station (Lancashire)
30m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
A route using quiet roads (with pavements until past Treales) for the first third and the Lancaster Canal towpath for most of the rest and generally very pleasant though the first canal section can be very muddy after rain. A flight of shallow steps down to the towpath; the canal becomes more urban approaching Preston. Passes the entrance to the Millennium Ribble Link, a canalised river opened in 2002 connecting the Lancaster Canal to the River Ribble; detour possible at Haslam Park.
14km.
The first stretch of the canal path can be very muddy after rain. The first half of the canal is within the emergency zone for the Westinghouse nuclear fuel works (test siren on the first Tuesday of certain months).
Lunch stops: the Hand and Dagger, or the Final Whistle cafe.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Preston Station to Blackburn Station (Lancashire)
45m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
A long route with a very enjoyable, good-surfaced opening section to Bamber Bridge and with a minor road to cross and a narrow 62 cm gap. Avenham Park near the start has free toilets.
20km.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Blackpool North Station to St Annes-on-the-Sea Station (Lancashire)
6m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
wonderful views over the sea to North Wales and to the Lake District. A very flat seaside walk on recently resurfaced, wide and smooth pedestrian-friendly paths from the station to the coast, then about three miles of off-road promenade. Towards St Annes the plotted route goes inland along a main road behind high dunes for over a mile and though it can mostly be walked along the sands instead. The promenade section can largely be walked along the beach or dunes, tides permitting, for a quieter, more scenic alternative. Public toilets along the prom are coin-operated.
Easy: 9km, gentle ascents.
Lunch: A never-ending supply of fish and chips and seaside refreshments along the promenade, and shops and cafes in St Annes.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Poulton-le-Fylde Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)
30m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
15km. Gentle ascents.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Blackpool North Station to Kirkham and Wesham Station (Lancashire)
30m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
A varied route through parks and woods between Blackpool and Staining, then farm tracks and field paths parallel to the railway, with some long grass and parallel cycle paths that can confuse. Avoids a fast and narrow pavement-less road between Weeton and Wesham. Passes through Stanley Park, with its Art Deco cafe building; woods carpeted with wild garlic in spring; Staining lies about a third of the way along.
17km.
Lunch: Staining, about a third of the way, has a pub and a convenience shop.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Preston Station to Leyland Station (Lancashire)
45m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
A mix of shared cycle paths along a former railway line, pavements, quiet country lanes and rougher rail-side field paths with livestock. The opening cycle track, raised above its surroundings, is popular and pleasant; the field paths hug the railway fence with stiles and a narrow gap between an electric fence and the railway fence. The first third is pleasant and the rest more tedious.
9km.
Steps and stiles make it foot-only. A field footpath south of the West Coast Main Line was guarded by horses and can be muddy. A narrow 50cm gap between an electric fence and the railway fence needs care.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
Preston Station to Bamber Bridge Station (Lancashire)
45m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
spectacular views on the disused railway bridge of River Ribble. A largely traffic-free route along a cycle path on a former railway line, through pleasant wooded landscape and with the final 1.5km into Bamber Bridge on roads. The surface is entirely smooth asphalt (a little slippery in frosty weather) and almost flat. A car-free underpass avoids the A6 roundabout. A replacement Tram Bridge over the River Ribble in Avenham Park is under construction (due spring 2026), with a diversion in place.
5km.
A cycle barrier at the path entrance is only 62cm wide. A short path up from the cycle track at the Preston end can be muddy; a slightly longer tarmac route avoids it.
Documented by Slow Ways — download GPX route
St Annes-on-the-Sea Station Circular via Ashton Gardens (Lancashire)
6m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Level circular of St Anne's, a planned Victorian-Edwardian 'Garden Town by the Sea': Ashton Gardens, the promenade, the Pier and the 1886 Mexico-disaster lifeboat memorial.
3km.
Documented by Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Ansdell and Fairhaven Station Circular via the Fairhaven White Church (Lancashire)
15m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Level circular round Ansdell, the only place named after an artist, past the Ansdell Institute, the Byzantine-style Fairhaven White Church, Pugin's St Joseph's church and the old fishermen's cottages of Commonside.
2km.
An alternative route avoids the railway footbridge for those unable to manage the steps.
Documented by Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Lytham Station Circular via Lytham Windmill (Lancashire)
15m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Level circular of Lytham: cobbled streets, market hall, Clifton Street, war memorial gardens, Ribble seafront green, the landmark Windmill and old lifeboat house.
2km.
Documented by Community Rail Lancashire (PDF).
Lytham Station to Ansdell and Fairhaven Station (Lancashire)
15m direct from Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Level South Fylde walk past Sparrow Park, the gatehouse and grounds of Grade I-listed Georgian Lytham Hall, and Witch Wood with its dovecote and ponds, finishing near the Fairhaven White Church.
4km.
Check with Lytham Hall that the grounds are open before walking (tel. 01253 736652).
Highlights: Lytham Hall (A Grade I-listed Georgian Palladian mansion designed by John Carr of York, set in wooded parkland).