A SURVEY of the UK’s 60 best beaches claims Whitby is the most expensive for a family day out.

According to data compiled by a price comparison website, the total cost for a family day out in the historic coastal resort costs £62.96.

The data looked at the 60 best beaches according to TripAdvisor and took the average prices of food and drink, average ice-cream prices, parking prices and TripAdvisor star ratings from local food outlets and council parking websites to come up with the figures.

According to the data, the cheapest place for a day out for a family was Three Cliffs in Swansea, which was calculated as £30, half the price of a trip to Whitby.

It calculated the average price of a pint of beer in Whitby was £4.50, the average ice-cream cone was £2.50, parking for the day was £9, but calculated the average price of fish and chips came to £9.99.

According to the figures, a day out at Whitby cost more than a family trip to Porthmeor Beach at St Ives in Cornwall, which came to an average of £52.80.

The survey calculated the average cost of a day in Cullercoats, near Newcastle came to £43.60, with the average price of beer being £2.90 a pint, an ice-cream cone costing £1.80, parking £3 and fish and chips coming to £7.80.

The information, collated by price comparison website Money Pug, found one of the greatest costs for a beach trip was the price of parking.

However, the figures have been queried by tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire, who said while the town is world-famous for fish and chips, the majority of outlets sell the dish at a much more affordable price than £10.

A spokesperson for Welcome to Yorkshire said: “By paying £9.99 for fish and chips in Whitby they have hugely bumped up the overall cost of an average day out there. The town is world famous for the dish, but the vast majority of outlets, including the top three on TripAdvisor are all much cheaper than that.

“The stunning Yorkshire coast has fantastic diversity with so many more brilliant beaches than the two focussed on in this study. Our coastline is a great value family day out, whatever your budget and this is one of the reasons our seaside destinations have been among the most visited in the UK this summer.”

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