There is so much to do on Great Yarmouth seafront that it’s impossible to do it all in a day, but supposing that’s all you have what is worth focusing on? Here is how we spent our family day out in Great Yarmouth recently (contains reference to gifted experiences which are linked to).

Great Yarmouth is great for a fun family day out

A Fun Packed Day Out With Children In Great Yarmouth

When to visit Great Yarmouth

Arriving in Great Yarmouth 

You can get the train to Great Yarmouth from Norwich, but unless you are staying at one of the many holiday resorts nearby the most popular way to arrive is by car.  There are plenty of car parks and pay and display parking, but check the side roads for free parking too as there is some available and the short stay car parks can be expensive. The street meters are cheaper than most of the sea front car parks which can cost over £20 for the day. More reasonable private car parks are dotted around too.

Most of the attractions aimed at tourists are along the road which runs parallel to the beach (Marine Parade running to South Beach Parade) and between this road and the beach. Further in land there are also shops and restaurants, but the main reason to visit Great Yarmouth is to embrace the full on tackiness and fun that you can have by the beach. From fairground rides to crazy golf, trampolining to a model village and fresh doughnuts to hot chips, a day out is a lot of fun.

Brunch

While the beach is always open even in summer much of the entertainment doesn’t open early so we had a lazy start to the day with a full english breakfast at Sara’s Tearooms which is open from 10am in peak season.

Starting our day with a hearty brunch

Amusements and Fairground Rides

There are amusement arcades and fairground rides along the seafront and beach which are a lot of fun, but the cost can quickly add up so budget accordingly, go karts for instance costs £3 ago and crazy golf can cost around £8 per person. As well as the individual rides there are two "amusement parks": Joyland aimed primarily at children to the North, and the Pleasure Beach suitable for families to the South. Joyland rides require tokens (1 token per person costing £1.50 each although discounts apply on bulk purchase) whereas The Pleasure Beach is currently operating wristband or prepaid cards entry (under 3s are free). If you have young children who just want to go on a couple of small rides then Joyland may be best, but I love the Pleasure Beach for the large number of rides suitable for all the family (except babies, particularly old people and people who shouldn’t go on rides).

Joyland has rides for younger children and requires purchase of tokens

The Pleasure Beach has thrill rides for all the family and requires prebooking wristbands

SEA LIFE Centre

SEA LIFE Great Yarmouth is one of the attractions that is normally open all year round. It’s pretty similar to most of the other SEA LIFE aquariums around the country (with the exception of Weymouth and London which are bigger) and it’s a lovely place to walk around.

SEA LIFE Great Yarmouth is open all year round, but time slots for visits must be prebooked

The Beach

Great Yarmouth beach is a bit of a mixed bag with lots of sand and quite a few stones too. The good news is that with the tourist attractions spread along the seafront for some distance (“The Golden Mile”) you should easily find space to relax on the beach even on the busiest days. There are Lifeguards on duty in July and August so head to the flagged area if you want to swim. This isn’t really one of the Norfolk beaches people flock to for a day on the sand, but my children happily spent a couple of hours on it after a busy day on the rides and the SEA LIFE centre.

There is plenty of beach to run around on at Great Yarmouth

Treats and sweets

There is a huge range of places to buy all the normal seaside fare including rock, candy floss, ice creams, fish and chips.

Other activities of note in Great Yarmouth

Merrivale Model village
The Hippodrome Circus
The Racecourse
Horse and carriage rides
Time and Tide Museum
Jurassic Journey - dinosaur themed walk around attraction

The Future Of Great Yarmouth

Despite visiting in peak season there were numerous signs of closures from pandemic hit businesses in an already struggling town. I haven’t visited the shopping centre or main areas of the town, but driving to the seafront I could see plenty of evidence of deprivation in a town which is never going to see the level of visitors that it did in it’s heyday. The future is looking up for Great Yarmouth though and there has been a lot of investment recently. A new Marina Centre complex has recently opened with a swimming pool, great slides and splash area. The faded beauty of the glass Winter Gardens has also received a lottery grant to help restore it, reopening in 2026 as a heritage, arts and education venue. 

The Winter Garden is just one of the projects to receive funding recently to bring it back to life

Some people may think it’s a bit cheesy and dated, but I fully recommending embracing the tackiness because Great Yarmouth is an awesome place for a family day out or weekend away.