Punch and Judy, Llandudno, Gwynedd

This year, the Codman's Punch and Judy show celebrates its 150th anniversary. The show started in 1860 when the newly-wed "Professor" Codman carved two pieces of driftwood into the much-loved glove puppets. The "swazzle" – a device puppeteers use to create Punch's inimitable squawk – has been passed down through five generations of the Codman family. Weather permitting, the show can be seen on the North Shore promenade near the pier at midday, 2pm and 4pm throughout the summer holiday.
• visitllandudno.org.uk

Pier shows, Blackpool, Lancashire

There's nowhere like Blackpool for a bit of seaside nostalgia. Fortuneteller Maria Petulengro is a must-see. You'll find her booth on the North Pier, decorated with publicity shots of her with a young Cliff Richard and Eddie Cochran (the American rock'n'roller who died in a car accident while on tour in the UK, aged just 21). Take tea in the magnificent gilded Tower Ballroom (theblackpooltower.co.uk), where you can watch serious ballroom dancers as you're served sandwiches and scones by waitresses in French maid outfits. For a souvenir, pop your head into the Old Time Portrait Studio on Central Pier (oldtimeportraitstudio.co.uk), where you can don Victorian swimwear and pose for a sepia portrait in front of a 1900 Blackpool back-drop.
• visitblackpool.com

Vintage events, Margate, Kent

Margate is a riot of kitsch and somewhat saucy seaside shenanigans. From 16 to 21 August, the Walpole Bay hotel hosts Burlesque on the Beach – a series of vintage-inspired workshops and performances, with the emphasis on cream teas and tassels. The following week (20-27 August), there'll be 1950s-style keep fit classes on the beach (8am, Mon-Fri) as part of the Dippers and Dunkers Festival of New Variety. There will be burlesque workshops for adults, the Magnificent Insect Circus Museum and five performances of Sideshow Illusions featuring a headless lady. For something a little more sedate, the Walpole Bay is hosting two seaside-themed vintage film nights (16 September and 14 October) arranged by the Friends of the Shell Grotto, including Magical Margate (circa 1919) and The Belle of Kent (1958). Expect immaculate RP narration, usherettes and lashings of gin fizz and popcorn.
• burlesqueonthebeach.co.uk; dippersanddunkers.org.uk; shellgrottofriends.org/events

Donkey rides, Skegness, Lincolnshire

Donkeys are an increasingly rare sight on Britain's beaches but those that do still hoof it up and down the sands are much loved and well cared for. The Nuttall family have kept donkeys on Skegness beach for more than 100 years, and last year they were voted the best in Britain. Alfie, Doodles, Lofty, Sooty (who won best individual), Noddy, Bentley, Pedro and Cracker are so well trained they walk in formation down the beach and back again without being led.
• £1.50, children only

Blackgang Chine, Isle of Wight

This is a surreal, slightly careworn adventure park with resident cowboys, pixies, pirates and a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a smoking jacket. The fun starts the moment you pass through the legs of a bearded giant with a barrel of rum slung over his shoulder. There are 40 acres of Victorian cliff-top gardens to explore with themed attractions at every turn – a hall of mirrors, human snakes and ladders, spinning barrels, a roller coaster, a crooked house, fairy castle, smugglers' cave… Think abandoned Terry Gilliam film set and you're halfway there.
• Near Ventnor (01983 730052, blackgangchine.com); 10-6pm, over-fours £9.95, concessions £7.95, saver for four people £37.50

Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, Lincolnshire

The mile-long miniature railway at Cleethorpes runs from Kingsway station along the sea-sprayed foreshore to North Sea Lane station. You can have a pint of shandy and a packet of peanuts from the Signal Box Inn, "the smallest pub on the planet", converted from a 2.4 x 2.4m sidings cabin. From 28-30 August there's a 60s-themed weekend on the line.
• Lakeside Station, Kings Road, Cleethorpes (01472 604657, cleethorpescoastlightrailway.co.uk); return tickets £3.90 adults, £3 children

Donald McGill's Saucy Seaside Postcard Museum, Ryde, Isle of Wight

This quirky museum had its grand opening last month. Donald McGill spent a lifetime stirring up scandal in the coastal tearooms of 20th-century Britain with his saucy postcards. He produced more than 12,000 cards, which were sold in gift shops up and down the country. Five shops in Ryde were raided by police in the 50s and nearly 2,000 postcards were seized and burned. McGill, who was nearly 80 at the time, was prosecuted under the 1857 obscenity act. See what the fuss was about in this wonderful homage to the double entendre.

• 15 Union Street (donaldmcgill.info)

Lost World Adventure Golf, Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear

Tynemouth is the place to head to enjoy the surprising sight of a diplodocus raising its head for a lungful of sea air. Velociraptors and triceratops also lurk among the semi-tropical grasses and plants at Tynemouth's Lost World Adventure Golf Course. Participants can choose between a 9- or 18-hole course, battling the sea breezes, sporadic jets of water and fearsome rumbles from the prehistoric jungle. If you survive that, tackle a skid around the park's synthetic ice-rink.

• Tynemouth Park, Grand Parade (0191-258 7593, tynemouthpark.com); 9am-5.30pm, nine holes £3 adults, £2 children; 18 holes £4.50 adults, £3 children. Ice-skating £2.50 adults, £2 children

Caister Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

One of the UK's first holiday camps, this started life in 1906 as the Caister socialist holiday camp. Holidaymakers slept in tents and were expected to pitch in with the chores. After the first world war, chalets replaced tents and organised games replaced the chores. Nowadays the camp (which sprawls over 90 acres between Great Yarmouth and the Norfolk Broads) is run by Haven Holidays, but there are still such kitsch delights as family "wake'n'shake" sessions, pedal cars, self-catering chalets and a glittering live entertainment programme. Clubbers flock here twice a year for the Caister Soul Weekenders, which have been running for more than 30 years (next one 1-3 October).

• 0871 230 1930, haven.com. Caister Soul Weekender weekenders.co.uk), £120 for three days, including accommodation

• This article was amended on 10 August 2010. The original referred to Punch and Judy as marionettes. This has been corrected.