The Marine Drive is the essential Scarborough walk: a Victorian seafront road that circles the base of the castle headland between the North and South Bays, offering continuous sea views and a sense of the town's dramatic coastal geography that you cannot get from inland. The road was carved from the cliff face in the 1890s and is frequently wave-washed in rough weather.
The walk from the South Bay side to the North Bay and back takes about 45 minutes at a comfortable pace. At the north end, the road continues to Scalby Mills where the Sea Life Centre is located. The light in the late afternoon, with the castle headland silhouetted above and the North Sea stretching east, is particularly good for photography. The walk is exposed and breezy — dress accordingly.