Blackpool & Chester Zoo via Coach with Caledonian Travel – Review

By Matt Callard, September 2024

For travel purposes, five is most definitely not the magic number. A hotel room that sleeps five? Sorry, you’ll need to be split over two rooms. A table for five, please? Just hold while I stick this extra chair awkwardly at the end of the table. Taxi home? No, you’ll need to order a people carrier.

So it’s with the usual travel trepidation that my partner and I pack the three kids (boy, 9 and twin girls, 5) into the car for the short drive to Leeds Bus Station for a new kind of traveling experience – for us anyway – as we eschew our usual trains, planes and automobiles for the perks, pleasures and occasional peculiarities of the coach, via Caledonian Travel. We’re on a 2-day expedition to, first, Blackpool and then the following day, Chester Zoo. Wild life and wildlife, you could say.

We pay for overnight parking at NCP’s Leeds Markets multi-storey. It’s just a stone’s throw from Leeds Bus Station and at £29.90 it’s cheaper and more convenient than a return taxi ride home. After the short walk, the station is bang in the middle of its Saturday morning throng – but we don’t have long to wait before our 9.15am connection arrives (bang on time), resplendent with rampant red lion logo roaring from the side panelling.

The coach has come from Hull, so there are already plenty of seasoned travellers on board (Caledonian has an avid and active fanbase) – but our seats are pre-booked, so after our driver Phil welcomes us and packs the overnight case into the hold, we’re quickly seated in the usual 2-2-1 formation – and off we go!

Seats on-board

“Convenient”

Seats are comfortable, with decent leg room. Seatbelts are obligatory. There’s a charger port for your devices. Driver Phil tells us the rest in what becomes his familiar style: a deep, dry and concise drawl with lashings of northern irony.

Communication is good – Phil, via intercom, tells us there’ll be a halfway pit stop at the services, gives us a rough time for arrival in Blackpool, lets us know about the trip up the famous tower (included in the ticket price), as well as using the on-board toilet (“Only in emergencies”). I notice, too, some skilful navigation around delays as he employs his road knowledge to fine effect.

Then, when we do finally arrive in Blackpool around midday, I’m especially grateful it’s via coach. The roads, as always, are chokka and I wouldn’t much fancy negotiating my way through the hordes to whatever hotel we were planning to stay in. Here’s a major perk – arrival at a convenient coach station, near the front. Within minutes we’ve disembarked and the Blackpool ‘adventure’ begins.

So into the chaos on the last weekend of the summer holidays we descend, then. We’ve got three and a half hours until the tower tour (so the Pleasure Beach will have to be forsaken).

The twins enjoy their debut donkey ride on Blackpool beach

“Enthusiastic”

Here’s what we managed: First ever donkey rides for the girls (£5 each) on a pristine beach – it’s well maintained and clean these days. A trip along the pier to ride the Big Wheel (£20.90) – in two separate compartments, natch. Fish and chips on the front (small fortune). A zip around Sea Life (£83 in advance) where our amazingly enthusiastic kids were treated to a labyrinth of aquarium-based thrills, the best of which was a giant tank that contained sharks, turtles, rays and fish, all of them from the distinctly enormous variety.

After this, it was already time for the tower (Blackpool has its own speedy internal clock, I’m sure). Having never been up to the top before, this was a new experience for mum and dad, too. The Caledonian clan amassed at the tower entrance in time for rep Paul to take us in past the queues (another perk!), up via the lifts and into, well, a 4D IMAX presentation of the thrills and spills of Blackpool (4D means smoke, wind, bubbles and splashes of water, should you wish to know). It was a bit naff, in truth – and seemed to somewhat puncture the bubble of excitement the clan had about ascending the tower.

Anyway, after 15 minutes, we continued upwards. One more lift, then it was spiral stairs only to the very top. With my dodgy knee well and truly worked out, the views from the summit of Blackpool Tower on a blue sky day were as fabulous as you might expect – I was even brave enough to stand on the glass walkway.

On the glass walkway at the top of Blackpool Tower

“Functional and tidy”

After winding our way back down, there was about an hour left before the coach departed at 5pm. Mum took the girls to Peter Rabbit Explore and Play (£23.50) and I took the boy around the arcades (nope, no grabber wins).

One bugbear: why were the streets of Blackpool littered with the day’s detritus? I dragged my kids around fish and chip papers, sweet wrappers, used vapes, various assorted sticky food items, crisp packets, a baby’s dummy, cigarettes and more. Where were the council’s street cleaning teams? I certainly didn’t see any. Retain Blackpool’s ‘identity’, for sure – but modern permanent street cleaning teams not only keep things looking pristine, they deter would-be litterers from doing the wrong thing.

The hotel we stay at overnight is the Holiday Inn Express some 40 minutes away from Blackpool, in Preston. It’s clean, functional and tidy and the rooms (2 for us) are well-equipped with kettle, tea, coffee, milk and TV (easy to work!). The bathrooms are roomy with excellent power showers.

Overnight stay was at Holiday Inn Express in Preston

“Ample time”

We enjoyed a decent serve-yourself chicken dinner, with fish fingers or chicken nuggets for the kids. Sadly, there was no play area. It would have been a nice bonus – and this is a family trip, after all.

After a quintet of showers and a good night’s sleep (yes, Blackpool still tires you out), breakfast was a good self-service selection of fruit, cereal, pastries and the usual fried options. At 9am, we were setting off on the one hour trip to Chester Zoo.

Timing was impeccable as Phil pulled into the huge car park on the stroke of 10. Not leaving until 4pm certainly gave us ample time to explore the enormous visitor attraction – and thankfully the weather was good.

All 128-acres of Chester Zoo

“Caring”

Chester Zoo, should you be unaware, is the UK’s most visited zoo and a leading conservation and education charity dedicated to preventing extinction. Operated by the North of England Zoological Society, over 1,000 staff work in it, caring for animals, running conservation projects and more.

All those animals – and those staff members – need feeding and paying, so it’s not cheap. The entry price alone is £33 for adults (making Caledonian’s £139 for 2-days + hotel look very reasonable) – but you’ll be forking out nearly £40 for 3 pizzas and drinks. In the seven hours we were there I clocked up another £45 on extra food sundries – coffees, ice creams, waters. And don’t even mention the gift shop.

So, if you’re looking for the cheap option – plan in advance and bring a packed lunch (yes, it is allowed).

One of the ‘Big 5’ spotted at Chester Zoo

“Inspired”

All that said, the zoo is still a wonderful day out. The children will be inspired, dashing from enclosure to enclosure (we don’t see many cages, thankfully), pointing at elephants, lions, rhinos, orang-utans, panthers, seeing tapirs, onagers and vultures for the first time and being well and truly terrified in the bat cave. I mean, those fruit bats look like they could take your head off.

Highlights include underwater views of the penguins, a circuitous wooden walkway around the lemurs and prettiness galore in the butterfly house. Dotted around the attraction were various adventure parks, a small fairground and a lovely botanical gardens, all of which break up the animal gazing.

Seven hours is a long day in a zoo – contrasting with the 5 hours we had in Blackpool. For perfection, maybe those times could somehow be reversed?

Coach timings were impeccable

“Travel highlights”

By the time we were back on the coach all five of us were sated and elated. It had been an experience to remember. And again, dad was pleased his aching limbs didn’t need to worry about negotiating the M62 on the journey home.

Heading back, we settled into our coach seats and the kids reflected on their travel highlights, from the donkeys of Blackpool to the lions of Chester Zoo. It was a reminder that while five might complicate logistics, it also multiplies the laughter and wonder. And in the end, it’s not about perfect numbers but perfect moments, and for this family of five, their debut coach trip had plenty of those to treasure.

Chester Zoo and Blackpool Tower is one of Caledonian Travel’s selection of Family Fun breaks. Prices start from £139 per adult and £129 per child (2-12), for two days away and includes one-night dinner, bed and breakfast, reserved coach seating, entrance to Blackpool Tower, the Blackpool Tower Eye, and admission to Chester Zoo.

Departure points include Barnsley, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, and Rotherham, with many more available outside the Yorkshire boundary.

Caledonian Travel offers a varied selection of UK and European coach breaks for friends and families, that range from one day to fourteen nights away.

Visit Caledonian.com or call 0344 815 3001 for more information, or to book.