"Not just goths and gravestones!" Whitby by Evenith666

The port town of Whitby is located on the East Coast of England in North Yorkshire. Close to the more popular holiday town of Scarborough, Whitby still enjoys its fair share of tourists throughout the year. The ruined Abbey dominates the town, overlooking the town and the north sea from high up on the East Cliff. The Abbey, ever a major landmark for sailors, helped inspire Bram Stoker's Dracula, no doubt Whitby's most famous attribute.

Whitby Abbey

The town has several notable literary connections, but none more so than Bram Stoker's Dracula. Whitby served as the spot where Dracula landed in England, which served to incorporate the actual beaching of the Russian ship 'Dmitri', and Bram Stoker even discovered the name Dracula while at the library on Maine Parade. Thus, Dracula and general vampire memorabilia fills the shelves of many of the gift shops in Whitby, and fans of the novel can visit 'The Dracula Experience' to watch the story come to life.

Whitby has several other connections with literature, such as being the setting for Elizabeth Gaskell's novel 'Sylvia's Lovers' after she visited the town in 1859. It is also likely that Lewis Carrol's first works were published in the Whitby Gazette.

It is no coincidence, then, that Whitby is the spiritual home of the Goth subculture, hosting the biannual goth festival 'Whitby Goth Weekend'.

• Pros:Great culture and history here, plenty to see and do!
• Cons:Very hilly, very chilly!!
• In a nutshell:Try the Scampi!