Good evening. With its theme park, piers and iconic Tower, nowhere embodies the spirit of traditional seaside fun better than Blackpool. The flip side of this coin is that nowhere embodies the decline of many of our coastal resorts better than Blackpool. The Lancashire town is often in the news for all the wrong reasons – deprivation, homelessness, drug use – so it’s good to be able to share a positive story.

Earlier this year, a new attraction opened in the shadow of Blackpool Tower. Showtown is billed as a “museum of fun and entertainment” with six colourful, interactive galleries exploring Blackpool’s evolution. With exhibits ranging from whoopee cushions to sequined Strictly Come Dancing costumes and Tommy Cooper’s fez, it’s a fun and thought-provoking addition to the town. As Chris Moss writes: “The town has plenty of heritage and history scattered all around; now it has a top-notch space in which to explore and honour it.”

But Showtown is just one of many reasons to head to the seaside this summer. From seafood restaurants to snorkel trails, arts festivals to cycle routes, we’ve trawled the coastline to bring you a roundup of what’s new and exciting. We take a look at how Deal is reinventing itself as Kent’s new foodie destination, and how our love affair with Scandinavian-style beach saunas shows no sign of cooling off.

Much has been written about the challenges facing traditional seaside towns, but we hope that our list will show that there are plenty of creative tourism enterprises working hard to keep the fun and magic of a trip to the seaside alive and relevant for a new generation of visitors.