‘Have a beer by the pier’: 10 readers choose their favourite UK seaside town

Saltburn-by-the-Sea has a pier, a fine seafood restaurant, a pub by the beach and a verdant valley walk. Photograph: Washington Imaging/Alamy

Sundowners with a view, North Yorkshire

Saltburn-by-the-Sea boasts a magnificent beach and plentiful ice-cream, coffee bars and a burgeoning arts scene. Among the highlights has to be a stroll along the Grade II-listed pier and hopefully a ride down the UK’s oldest water-balanced cliff tramway (still closed at time of writing after a fire in January, but being repaired). Head for lunch at the superb Seaview fish restaurant, which has views across the bay. Walk off the meal as you wander through beautiful Valley Gardens for the flora and fauna and smuggling history from the 18th century. Later, perhaps visit the Ship Inn, an 18th-century pub right on the beach, for a sundowner with a view.
David Cowling