Our multigenerational stay at the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough

-Recommended by Luddite26

My verdict

Some of my earliest holiday memories involve visiting Scarborough with my parents and siblings. Despite being born and raised on the border of North and West Yorkshire, trips to the seaside felt like a treat when I was growing up. Certainly not something we did every other weekend.

Thanks to better roads and the fact I’m now in charge of my own car keys, popping over to Scarbs for the day is something my parent friends and I do fairly regularly. Staying overnight is much rarer, so the chance to take my children somewhere filled with happy memories, enjoy a little staycation and bring my mum along was something I looked forward to.

Daish’s Holidays invited us to experience one of its packages, with a particular focus on multigenerational family stays. We couldn’t try the coach portion because there wasn’t availability for our dates, so we drove ourselves. With two children and the contents of half the house in the boot, that was probably easier for us anyway. We joined the A64 and arrived in a little over an hour.

The hotel is hard to miss as it stands tall on the cliff edge

I was still slightly disappointed not to experience the full coach package. Daish handles guests’ luggage and delivers it to their rooms, while those of us arriving by car had to lug our bags around ourselves. Hardly a tragedy, but it would have helped as we had the kids with us and only two pairs of hands between my mum and I. 

Daish’s Scarborough base is the Esplanade Hotel, an impressively large building perched high on South Cliff and overlooking the town’s South Bay.

I’ll be honest: the Esplanade isn’t going to seduce anybody with cutting-edge interiors or fancy extras. It’s every inch a traditional seaside hotel and it looks like one. Some areas feel tired, our room lacked a few basic amenities and the food occasionally transported my mother, rather than me as a 1990s baby, back to a 1970s school canteen.

What it does have is a cracking position above South Bay, breathtaking views and a family room that gave the three of us plenty of space. Having Nanna directly across the corridor was another practical win. We remained close enough for the children to knock on her door whenever the mood took them, but nobody had to share a room or sleep on a sofa. 

From outside, it looks like what you’d expect from a seaside hotel 

Mumsnet users’ experiences of multigenerational holidays are mixed, but those who’ve found an arrangement that works tend to speak warmly about them*. As one user puts it: “We have holidays with the grandparents, multigeneration holidays are really special.” 

Another agrees that “the extra pair of hands is a huge help and means we get an evening out too!”

That extra help is lovely, but personal space matters. One Mumsnet user advises: “Always ensure there is enough space — no sleeping on sofas or too many people to a room — and build in stuff to do apart from each other in the day.”

Our set-up matched that perfectly. Mum had her own room, but she was directly across the corridor from us. We could spend the holiday together without forcing four people into one room or expecting everybody to follow precisely the same schedule.

My mum had looked after my boys every Wednesday until they started school, so surely I owed her a lovely break with her favourite child, sorry little brother, and her two gorgeous grandsons. The fact she also provided another trusted pair of hands was purely coincidental.

There were certainly memorable moments, including a fire alarm at 1.30am, but overall the location was the hotel’s greatest strength. If you need somewhere affordable to rest your head while exploring everything Scarbados has to offer, it does the job. Just arrive with realistic expectations: this is functional, traditional accommodation rather than a shiny modern family resort.

It felt a little like travelling back a few decades when entering the hotel

At the current starting prices, the package represents good value if you’ll use the included meals, entertainment and transport. The food was the biggest compromise for us, and I’m not sure I’d personally book the same half-board package again. I would consider returning for the location, particularly with my husband in tow, but I’d be tempted to book the accommodation separately and explore Scarborough’s restaurants instead.

One important caveat: guests booking the hotel through a third party don’t automatically receive Daish’s half-board package. Another family staying alongside us hadn’t realised meals weren’t included until their children were hungry, leaving them to find somewhere else to eat. So, yeah, check exactly what your booking includes before you arrive.

How we tested

I stayed at the Esplanade Hotel from 25th to 29th August with my two young children and their nanna, or my mum, since she was that first. 

The kids and I shared a family room with one double bed in the middle and two single beds on either side. My mum stayed in a single room directly across the corridor. Both rooms were on the third floor.

Check-in was quick and straightforward - maybe a little too straightforward

We stayed on a complimentary half-board basis, ate breakfast and dinner in the hotel restaurant and used the hotel as our base for exploring Scarborough. We considered the rooms, food, facilities, location and how well the overall package worked for a family travelling with a grandparent.

Where is the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough?

The Esplanade Hotel sits on Scarborough’s South Cliff, overlooking South Bay, the beach and harbour. The setting is easily its headline act. Even our family room, which wasn’t officially sold as a sea-view room, had a clear view of the water. Nanna’s room was a designated sea-view room.

It took us less than 15 minutes to walk downhill to the beach and arcades, passing beneath Scarborough’s unmistakable Spa Bridge. The word “downhill” is doing some work there, of course. The return journey is a climb.

The historic Spa Cliff Lift links the Esplanade with the Spa and seafront when it’s operating. The boys loved it and we used it several times during our stay, partly for the novelty and partly because my legs had made their feelings about McBean Steps quite clear.

The restored South Cliff Gardens are also on the doorstep, to the right of the hotel when looking towards the sea. There you can enjoy real coastal views and green space without being stranded miles from the traditional seaside action.

Getting to the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough

Daish’s offers coach-inclusive and self-drive breaks. Coach packages include return travel from selected pickup points, dinner, bed and breakfast, evening entertainment and optional excursions.

We drove ourselves. The journey from Leeds was straightforward, although self-drive guests need to handle their own luggage. The hotel has a free car park, but spaces are limited.

The restaurant downstairs provides fantastic views of the South Bay

Scarborough railway station is around 1.5 miles from the hotel and a short taxi ride away if walking with luggage doesn’t appeal. The South Cliff location gives you the views, but it also gives you lots of gradients to navigate. We met one lovely older guest who had travelled from the south of England for her summer holiday and was rather surprised by just how hilly Scarborough is… Be warned! 

Check-in and check-out at the Esplanade Hotel Scarborough

Check-in is from 3pm. Ours was smooth but very quick, and we were largely left to work out where we needed to go ourselves. Coach-holiday guests check out at 9am, while the stated check-out time for self-drive guests is 10am.

At check-in we showed Daish's golden ticket that we’d been sent in exchange for gifts for the boys. The hotel had kindly put together a little activity bag with sweets and toys in for them to play with during their stay. 

With the holiday packages, there’s a strict schedule for mealtimes and check-out 

The Esplanade Hotel Scarborough: what are the rooms like?

The hotel has 72 bedrooms, with single, double, twin and family rooms sleeping up to four people. All rooms are en suite and you’ll find a flatscreen TV plus tea and coffee-making facilities as standard in every one.

My children and I stayed in a family room with one double bed and two single beds. It was spacious and clean, which matters far more once three people, several bags and the usual family-holiday clutter have moved in.

The beds were comfortable and the boys loved having one each. Many family rooms expect children to share a double or sofa bed, which invariably ends with somebody complaining about elbows before sunrise. So my two loved the fact they didn’t have to share a bed. 

It was clear that the third floor had been recently renovated 

Our room lacked some fairly basic hotel amenities, including a safe and telephone. It wasn’t disastrous, but both felt like noticeable omissions that you’d normally expect in a hotel. 

My mum’s single room was much more boxed-in. She may be in her early sixties and newly retired, but she still likes enough room to turn over in bed. She was understandably miffed to find a single bed. I did offer to swap and she take my double bed and share a room with the boys but she quickly refused. Not sure why… 

My kids were thrilled to not have to share a bed

That said, the room would probably suit a solo traveller who doesn’t mind compact accommodation, but grandparents joining a family trip should check the room type carefully if a double bed is important to them.

Her room was sold as a sea-view room. Ours technically wasn’t, but we could still see the sea easily from the window. The hotel placed us directly opposite one another on the same floor, which was ideal. The kids knew exactly which door belonged to Nanna, information they naturally used whenever the mood took them.

When the lift was busy, we took three flights of stairs to get up and down to our rooms

The room keys were rather old-fashioned, complete with chunky room-number tags. A little too Fawlty Towers for me. We handed them in whenever we left the hotel so staff knew who was and wasn’t in the building in an emergency. Imagine, an actual key. 

There’s no getting around the fact that the hotel is dated. We stayed on the third floor, which I understand contains the most recently updated bedrooms. Other floors still had the older beige, red and brown colour scheme. 

The bathroom was humongous with plenty of space for a family - missing a bath, though!

Housekeeping covered the essentials rather than delivering a pristine hotel-room reset. Towels were replaced, but the beds sometimes looked as though the duvets had been thrown over them with roughly the same enthusiasm I manage at home.

It’s worth mentioning the bathroom at this point. The ensuite in our family room was also impressive. A large space, though I do wonder if they’re missing a trick by not installing a bath for families with smaller children!

Is there a swimming pool at the Esplanade Hotel Scarborough?

No, there isn’t a swimming pool. This isn’t a resort-style hotel, so families looking for somewhere to spend the day beside an indoor pool will need to look elsewhere.

The beach is close, although Scarborough weather remains Scarborough weather. Pack accordingly. We got lucky and caught one of the UK’s summer heatwaves. I got sunburnt on a beach in Scarborough, something I didn’t have on my 2026 bingo card.

You can easily see the hotel atop the cliff when on the beach 

Despite having travelled abroad as a family, Scarborough was the first place the boys had been in the sea this year. Sitting and gabbing with my mum while they made sandcastles, dug enormous holes and splashed in the shallows was one of the loveliest parts of the trip. The water was cold, obviously, but the heat meant they barely noticed. 

What activities are available at the Esplanade Hotel?

The hotel’s Belmont Suite hosts live entertainment every evening. Daish also advertises bingo, quizzes, games and optional excursions. During our stay there was a small craft market, while a games room appeared to be in the process of being created. There was also a trip to York available, which we didn’t join - mainly because we frequent York ourselves. The cost of that return trip was £15 per person IIRC. 

The four of us joined the bingo on our first night. We absolutely didn’t let the children help with the actual game, since that would be illegal, obviously. But they did come away with their own bingo dabbers, which have now been placed in the crap drawer ready for the next holiday on which bingo makes an unexpected appearance.

The bar inside the hotel shut quite early as guests made their way to the entertainment room

We stayed for some live music afterwards, but not for long because it was getting late for the boys. Every night brought a different entertainment offering, although most started too late to be particularly useful for younger families.

If Daish wants to attract more parents with young children, an earlier kids’ disco or family entertainer at around 6pm or 7pm would make a real difference. As it stood, the activities felt aimed primarily at the hotel’s traditional adult audience.

Each night gave different entertainment options

On our second night, we spent the evening on the promenade being financially rinsed by the boys in the arcades. We’d spent the day on the beach, returned to the hotel for dinner and then headed straight back down.

By our third night, after another full day on the beach, everybody was flagging. We ate together, had a couple of drinks and went to bed at around 8pm because the children were tired, my mum was tired and I was tired from looking after all three.

After visiting SEA LIFE and the Rotunda Museum on our fourth day, we went to bed straight after dinner. 

What amenities are available for children at the Esplanade Hotel?

Family rooms can accommodate up to four people and the restaurant offered a separate children’s menu during our stay.

Beyond that, this isn’t a hotel packed with dedicated children’s facilities. There’s no pool, no kids’ club and the games room was still being worked on during our visit.

Our kids enjoyed watching the live music and observing a game of bingo during our stay 

Its strongest family asset is its location. The beach, arcades and other attractions provide plenty to do once you leave the hotel, but parents booking specifically for organised children’s entertainment should check the current programme before travelling.

What’s the food and drink like at the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough?

It’s difficult to discuss the food without feeling slightly harsh, but pretending otherwise wouldn’t help anybody planning a stay.

We were on half-board, with breakfast and our evening meal served at the same allocated table, number 47 in our case. Portions were average rather than enormous, which suited us.

We had table 47 for every meal throughout our stay - quite an efficient system IMO

The evening meal followed a set three-course menu and Daish publishes a sample menu online. Breakfast included cooked and continental choices, although drinking water wasn’t laid out during our stay. We had to request a jug, which felt like an unnecessary step to the most basic drink on earth.

Much of the food was soft, traditional and clearly designed with the hotel’s established audience in mind. It had strong 1970s school-dinner energy - Ploughman’s dinners, mashed potato, beef bourginon, lasagne to name a few dishes. Nostalgic for my mum, perhaps, but not always especially appealing to either of us. We would both have welcomed fresher, lighter options and a little more variety.

Meals were basic in quality but my kids enjoyed their food - so all were happy!

The children’s menu was the redeeming feature. Burgers, chicken nuggets, pasta, fish fingers and sausage and mash provided enough familiar crowd-pleasers to keep two young children fed without nightly negotiations.

There was jelly and ice cream for pudding too, so they had remarkably few complaints.

Esplanade Hotel Scarborough: things to do nearby with children

The beach and arcades are the obvious first stop, and they’re close enough that you don’t need to build the whole day around getting there.

Scarborough also has plenty of family attractions for longer stays:

• Scarborough Castle

• Peasholm Park and the miniature railway

• Alpamare Water Park

• SEA LIFE Scarborough

• The Rotunda Museum

• Scarborough Fair Collection

• Day trips to Whitby, York, Filey or Bridlington

Daish’s also runs optional excursions, so guests arriving by coach aren’t necessarily confined to the immediate area.
We visited the beach, arcades, Rotunda Museum and SEA LIFE Scarborough. The Rotunda was a hit because we’re nerds and enjoy looking at fossils.

The beach and arcades are in walking distance from the hotel

SEA LIFE also went down well, although it was expensive and admission didn’t include an annual pass in the way a ticket to The Deep in Hull does. 

For a quieter Scarborough day trip, I’d consider parking near SEA LIFE in North Bay. From there, you can walk to the beach and nearby cafés without immediately entering the busier South Bay chaos. Just remember that you’ll be on the opposite side of the headland from the Esplanade and the main arcades.

Is Scarborough family-friendly?

Yes. Scarborough has sandy beaches, arcades, fish and chips, parks and enough indoor attractions to salvage at least some of a rainy day.

It’s a true British seaside town and is celebrating 400 years as a seaside resort in 2026. There’s fun, faded grandeur and a decent chance somebody will ask for an ice cream five minutes after breakfast.

I’m from Leeds, so I probably take Scarbados for granted. Some of my earliest memories involve my dad driving beneath the enormous blue bridge I still associate with the town. Returning with my own children added another layer to those memories.

Our room wasn’t exactly a “sea view room” on paper but we could see enough of it

Much of what attracts families remains pleasingly familiar: sand, amusements and the hope that the gulls leave your lunch alone. 

Reader, they did not. I lost several wraps I’d opened for dipping into hummus after leaving the picnic blanket unattended for less than a minute. Rookie error.

What are the staff and service like at the Esplanade Hotel?

Staff were generally friendly and attentive throughout our stay. One gentleman who had only started working at the hotel the previous week deserves a particular mention. He was warm, funny and helpful, always saying hello and making an effort to entertain the children.

Reception staff were friendly overall, although one or two interactions felt slightly impatient when we had questions.

The hotel did an excellent job of placing our rooms directly opposite each other, which made the multigenerational arrangement far easier. Housekeeping was more basic, with fresh towels provided but rooms not always left looking particularly polished.

Games in the bar kept my DC quiet while we enjoyed a drink on the outdoor terrace

We also experienced a fire alarm at 1.30am. I leapt out of bed, checked the corridor and prayed it would stop before waking the children. My mum sat with them while I headed downstairs to find a member of staff.

Thankfully, it was a false alarm. We were told somebody’s deodorant had triggered it, although at 1.30am I can’t say I believe that excuse the culprit gave. After seeing a bleary-eyed procession of guests standing around in their pyjamas, breakfast was noticeably quieter the following morning.

Does the Esplanade Hotel cater to food allergies?

The hotel appeared to have a clear system for identifying guests with dietary requirements. 

Allergy orders were made using bright yellow menus rather than the standard white versions, allowing restaurant staff to distinguish them discreetly at each table.

We didn’t personally test the process or see staff handling a reaction, so I can’t judge it beyond what we observed. Guests with allergies should contact the hotel before booking, discuss their individual requirements and confirm the arrangements again on arrival.

Good to know before travelling to the Esplanade Hotel

The hotel has free Wi-Fi, a lift serving all four floors, a roof terrace, lounges, a coffee shop, a daytime bar and limited free parking. Small, well-behaved dogs are welcome.

The hotel could benefit from a second lift. Queues formed at busy times, which could prove frustrating for guests unable to use the stairs. The front entrance has two steps and a ramp. The restaurant is on the lower floor and can be reached by lift or stairs.

The South Cliff position is excellent for views, but steep routes are unavoidable when walking to and from the beach. Anybody travelling with a buggy or reduced mobility should read the hotel’s accessibility information and confirm that the room and route through the building meet their needs.

Final verdict on the Esplanade Hotel in Scarborough

The Esplanade offers a superb location, sweeping sea views and a practical base for a traditional Scarborough break. Our family room gave us plenty of space, the children found reliable options on the kids’ menu and having Nanna across the corridor made the multigenerational logistics pleasantly painless.

The trade-offs are equally clear. The hotel is dated, my mum’s single room was cramped and the food won’t appeal to anybody hoping for adventurous or particularly modern cooking. This is somewhere to book for the package, position and convenience rather than polished interiors.

Plenty of memories were made - thank you Daish’s Holidays

At 2026 brochure prices, breaks start from £269 per person for self-drive guests or £289 per person with coach travel, based on two people sharing a standard room. That’s good value if you’ll use the included breakfast, three-course dinners, entertainment and transport.

Would I return? Possibly, because the location is undeniably excellent. I’m not convinced I’d choose the full package again, though. I’d be more inclined to book the hotel separately, bring my husband and eat out around Scarborough.

Families expecting a modern resort with children’s entertainment, a pool and contemporary dining will be disappointed. Those wanting an affordable, traditional base with included meals, evening entertainment and the option of coach travel will find plenty to appreciate, provided they arrive knowing exactly what sort of hotel they’ve booked.

About the author

Rebecca Roberts is a Leeds-based writer and editor at Mumsnet. She commissions, writes and edits the sort of no-nonsense content parents actually need. While typically focused on lifestyle and home, she’s a mum of two young children, making her well equipped to try out family trips on behalf of Mumsnet.

As a mum herself, she’s familiar with the reality of travelling with small children, including the logistics, snacks, urgent searches for the nearest loo and the question of whether something is genuinely worth the money. She looks at places through a practical parent lens: what makes the stay easier, what’s good for children, what’s bearable for adults and what you’ll wish you’d known before booking.

About Mumsnet reviews

All Mumsnet reviews are written by real parents. Daish’s Holidays provided this four-night stay for editorial review, but the company didn’t influence our verdict. Our opinions remain independent and honest.

We may earn a small commission through affiliate links, which helps fund our work but never influences our opinions.

All prices are correct at the time of writing.

*mumsGPT conversational analysis, 16 September 2025 to 16 September 2026