Why Go To Whitby - Things to do in Whitby, Yorkshire

We picked a beautiful sunny day to enjoy a Treasure Trail around Whitby. There are three to choose from but we decided to do the one that explores the connections to Bram Stoker called Curse of the Vampire!

Along the way we got distracted by the many Whitby Jet jewellery shops. Jet can be picked up from the beaches along the coast and we had found a black rock that might have been jet or might have been coal. It was coa! Undaunted, we decided to buy a pendant. Prices ranged from an affordable £20 to £500+ and we went into at least a dozen shops to choose one! What amazed me was how incredibly light it is. We chose a sea washed one rather than a highly carved and polished one from Monkey Puzzle Gems.

Whitby has the best views of the town, the Abbey and of course the North Sea. Our route took us up to the West Cliff where we were greeted by a statue of Captain Cook. All along the coast there are references to Captain Cook. Whitby's claim to fame is that he learned his craft in Whitby ships trading to the Baltic. Two of the vessels he used on his long and perilous voyages – 'Resolution' and 'Endeavour' were built in Whitby.

The Trail also took us up the 199 steps on the other side of the town to reach St Mary's Church and beyond to Whitby Abbey. Climbing to the top of the steps meant we got some stunning views of Whitby on the way back down!

We didn't do it, but there is an opportunity to see a view of Whitby from the sea for just £3. The boat rides take 20 minutes and I was told by the man selling tickets, the views are amazing! Seemed good value, but we had a date for lunch with Jane, the Whitby Trail writer.

One of the joys of being on the coast is the plentiful opportunities for fish and chips! We had been recommended to go to the Magpie Cafe. There is a lot of hype about it and their own website boasts they are the finest in Yorkshire. We’d been told there may be a queue to get in. There was and we dutifully joined it. I had assumed it would be tiny inside, but it was huge with tables on several floors. We were shown to a table in the window, so got a double whammy - great views and fabulous food. Yes it lived up to its claim.

The best bit of our day was the fun we had with the spooky Dracula Trail. We are looking forward to going back to Whitby again to do either the Spy Mission or the Murder Mystery.