I’m a seaside expert – the beach town you should never visit in the day time
A TRAVEL expert has revealed the popular seaside town Brit holidaymakers should avoid visiting during the day.
Award-winning author and Travel writer Madeleine Bunting has spent the last two years visiting 40 seaside towns in England.
She documented her coastal adventures in her new book, The Seaside: England’s Love Affair.
One seaside town that surprised Madeleine was Padstow.
Set on the north coast of Cornwall, Padstow is a popular spot among holidaymakers who flock there for a day trip.
In recent years, endorsements from celebrities like Rick Stein, Gordon Ramsay, and Tom Cruise have boosted the town’s popularity.
But according to Madeleine, the town’s fame is part of its problem, because too many day-trippers swamp the town in the summer.
Madeleine told Sun Online Travel: “What is happening in Padstow is gross – it’s all the overcrowding.”
“When I went, everybody was just milling about, and there were a lot of people sitting on the stone walls not knowing what to do.”
Madeleine ate her own lunch, a takeaway Cornish pasty, on the curb of a pavement.
She added: “I paid a fortune for parking in the car park, which was in the middle of a field.
“I felt that with some places that become really famous, they’re not the best places to visit because of the over-tourism.
“During my visit, I spoke to some locals who said they never go into the town during the summer because it’s too busy.”
To avoid the hordes of holidaymakers in Padstow, and other seaside towns, Madeleine recommended booking overnight accommodation in a bid to escape crowds.
She added: “The problem is that people aren’t staying for long enough, and they aren’t spending enough money.
“Families go on day trips to the seaside because they’re cheap, but seaside towns need people to stay and spend money.”
From campsites to hotels, there’s a range of accommodation options in Padstow to suit a variety of budgets.
At The Foreshore Dennis Farm Campsite, holidaymakers can book a tent pitch from £32 for a two-person pitch – and it even has sea views.
Other options include the Old Ship Hotel, which costs £140 per night based on two people sharing a room.
In another article, Madeleine named Scarborough as her favourite seaside town.
She said: “[This is] such a tough question because I enjoyed so many of them, but I think Scarborough is stunning and full of intriguing reminders of its glamorous past.”
And, one northern seaside town has been nicknamed the Las Vegas of the UK thanks to its arcades, cabaret, and sandy beaches.
The traditional seaside town of Skegness has been likened to the American city for several years.