Great Yarmouth Tourism

Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth is famous as a family holiday destination, bursting with fun things to do, activities for all, shows and attractions stretching along the fabled Golden Mile and the huge expanse of pristine beach. As well as being East Anglia's premier beach resort, Great Yarmouth also has a fabulous maritime heritage and a port famous for once being the hub of the herring industry.

Visitors can walk around or take a guided tour along the surviving mediaeval town walls with their towers which is the best example of mediaeval architecture of this type in the country. They can divert to visit other surviving mediaeval features of the town such as the Norman Minster, the remains of the Benedictine Priory building and the historic Tollhouse.

Close to the walls in the south of the town is the regionally significant Time and Tide Museum which provides both an overview and also many artefacts from Great Yarmouth’s history including its mediaeval importance in the time of the Hanseatic League.

The Great Yarmouth area contains wonderful countryside, charming villages, the scenic Breydon Water, and a quieter but no less appealing seaside resort in Gorleston-on-Sea and the vibrant village resort of Hemsby.

Visitors have been coming to Great Yarmouth since the late 1700s and the resort is now one of the most popular in the UK for day trips, weekend breaks and longer holidays, offering all the character of a traditional seaside trip but with a very modern twist.

There are more than 15 miles of sandy beaches within the Great Yarmouth area, all with gentle slopes that make bathing a delight, from the marram dunes of Winterton-on-Sea and Hemsby in the north to cliff-backed Hopton-on-Sea in the south.

Great Yarmouth has endeavored to encourage heritage tourism so that features from successive periods of history in the town can be. waymarked and made available to visitors. These include the unique surviving narrow mediaeval rows running from the rivers to the centre of the town.

Highlights

Great Yarmouth Borough Council

Guided Heritage Walks

Delve into Great Yarmouth’s rich heritage on a walk around parts of the town exploring the days of yesteryear. Discover the history of this seaside resort, fishing port and market town. With fabulous architecture to admire and colourful characters to learn about, follow the Guides as they take walkers off the beaten track to hear about what went before in Great Yarmouth.

National Trust

Elizabethan House Museum

Experience Victorian life ”upstairs and downstairs“ plus see what it would have been like to work in the kitchen and scullery. Stroll around the charming period rooms in the National Trust’s Elizabethan merchant’s house, located on the quayside.

Norfolk Museums

Time and Tide Museum of Great Yarmouth Life

Award winning displays will take your family back in time to see how Great Yarmouth has changed from the Ice Age to present day. One of the best preserved Herring curring works which can still be smelt inside!

Contact

Town Hall, Hall Plain, Great Yarmouth NR30 2QF

01493 856100

enquiries@great-yarmouth.gov.uk

Travel options

By air: Norwich International Airport is a 35 minute drive from Great Yarmouth which receives direct flights to a number of UK and European airports, and worldwide connections via Schiphol Amsterdam.

By passenger ferry: Car and passenger ferries operate from the Hook of Holland, Esbjerg and Europort.via Harwich in Essex, a 60 minute drive from Great Yarmouth.

By road: Major trunk roads into Norfolk are the M11, A11, A47 from London and the south-east, or the A47 and A14 serve the Midlands and the North.

By rail: The national rail network provides connections from London and to the rest of the UK via Cambridge and Peter Borough with local services between Norwich and Great Yarmouth There are local services between Norwich and Great Yarmouth.

By sailing craft or motorised vessels:Plenty of visitors visit Great Yarmouth by sea to discover the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads boat and moor up at the town Yacht Station or in nearby Burgh Castle. The Yacht Station is only a short walk from the town and seafront. There are plenty of other places to moor up along the way too, see our Broads Guide for more information.