Stone harbour piers and red pantile roofs climb to the ruined abbey the BBC used for two Dracula adaptations.
What Whitby looks like
The harbour sits where the River Esk meets the North Sea, working boats tied along stone quays on both banks. The 1909 swing bridge connects the two sides on two steel leaves that swing open rather than lift. Beyond it, the East and West Piers run out into open water, each carrying its own lighthouse at the end.
runs along the harbour's east bank, cobbled underfoot, with cottages set close together that date from the 15th century. Most buildings in the old town are two storeys with an attic, and some rise to three storeys where a shop or a pub needs the room. Walls are stone or brick, often rendered or painted, and almost all of them carry a red pantile roof.
climb from the harbourside to St Mary's Church on the East Cliff, a squat stone tower set over a churchyard of leaning headstones looking down on the rooftops below. Whitby Abbey's ruined nave stands a short walk past the church, open stone arches against the sky where the roof used to be.
On the west bank, climbs away from the harbour past independent shops set into older storefronts. Pannett Park, above the town centre, holds the museum and art gallery in one brick building with a white columned front.
Shot in Whitby
Dracula's two BBC adaptations used the real ruins and churchyard on the East Cliff, 43 years apart. The 2020 series went further, filming inside beside the abbey and at Spanton's, a real shop on Flowergate.
Count Dracula, 1977
The BBC filmed on location in St Mary's Churchyard, with Louis Jourdan as the Count and Judi Bowker and Susan Penhaligon as Mina and Lucy. The production used the Victorian bench by the church, since replaced by the council.
Dracula, 2020
The BBC and Netflix series filmed the abbey ruins as themselves, and used Cholmley House, the Cholmley family's 17th century wing beside them now roofed as the abbey's visitor centre, as the entrance to the Jonathan Harker Foundation's headquarters. Spanton's, a real shop on Flowergate, opens the third episode.
What Whitby can double for
Tynemouth in North Tyneside, England
Tynemouth Priory's ruined arches stand on a headland above the mouth of the Tyne the same way Whitby Abbey stands above the Esk, and the pantile roofed houses below the priory are close in colour and scale to Whitby's own. Tynemouth's wider seafront and its Victorian villas give it away in anything but a tight frame on the ruins themselves. Try searching ruined arches above a headland now.
Howth's harbour sits below a headland the same way Whitby's piers sit below the abbey cliff, and its stone harbour walls and fishing boats read at a similar scale. Howth's Martello tower and the railway line along the harbour are both features Whitby does not have, so keep them out of a wide shot. Try searching stone harbour below a headland now.
Rovinj in Istria, Croatia
Rovinj's old town rises on its own small peninsula to a church tower the way Whitby's old town rises to St Mary's and the abbey, both with narrow lanes stepping down to a working harbour. The terracotta roof colour and the cypress trees are a giveaway in any wide shot, so this works best in tight lanes and doorway frames. Try searching narrow lanes to a harbour now.
