Things to do in Brighton
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Brighton
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Brighton Fringe, The Great Escape and Artists Open Houses, extraordinary and expensive, book early.
Connoisseur month, long evenings and saner prices, weather without the summer chaos.
Local favourite balance, swimmable sea, fewer crowds and Brighton Comedy Garden.
OctoberBest in mid October makes this the best value eating fortnight of the year.
Spring, quiet and cheap in March, Marathon weekend and Easter crowds in April.
Beach concerts in July and Pride in early August, warmest sea, busiest beaches and priciest rooms.
Indoor season of pubs, gigs and restaurants, lowest hotel prices and Burning the Clocks in December.
Worst months, late January to February, empty festival calendar and rawest weather, offset only by price.
What's on
- Brighton Marathon April
City filling marathon weekend in April, book or avoid.
- Brighton Fringe May
England's largest fringe festival, hundreds of shows through May.
- The Great Escape Mid May each year
450 plus acts across 35 plus venues.
- Artists Open Houses Weekends through May
Around 200 artists homes open for free on May weekends.
- On The Beach Mid July most summers
Beach concerts including Fatboy Slim's Big Beach Boutique, seventh edition.
- Brighton Pride Usually the first weekend of August
Biggest weekend of the year, free parade and a ticketed Preston Park festival, total accommodation sell out.
- Brighton Comedy Garden Usually early to mid September
Comedy festival in Preston Park, the emblem of September in Brighton.
- OctoberBest Usually mid to late October
Set menus at around 38 top restaurants, the best value eating fortnight.
- Lewes Bonfire 5 Nov
England's most famous bonfire night, visitors warned to avoid it without a local base and plan.
- Burning the Clocks 21 Dec
Lantern parade, beach bonfire and fireworks, free and beloved.
Best things to do in Brighton
Royal Pavilion
George IV seaside palace with onion domes outside and a dragon chandelier banqueting room inside, unlike anything else in Britain.
North Laine
Bohemian quarter of around 400 independent shops, vintage and record stores, street food cafes and colour everywhere.
The Lanes
Narrow, twisty alleys of the old fishing town, with jewellers, boutiques, pubs and restaurants to get briefly lost in.
West Pier
heart of the westward seafront walk past the Bandstand to Hove Lawns and beach huts, best in the last light of day.
Trafalgar Street
Street art hunting starts here, at the Prince Albert music mural and the replica Banksy Kissing Policemen.
Brighton Dome
Prestige room in the Pavilion former stables, for classical music, major comedy, dance and festival headliners.
Komedia
North Laine comedy institution, home to the Krater Comedy Club, the default local answer for tonight.
Brighton Centre
Seafront arena venue for big touring acts alongside the Dome and Komedia for an evening out.
Where to stay in Brighton
The Seafront, Regency Square to the Old Steine
first trip, all-round base
Regency terraces facing the sea, Pavilion and Lanes 5 to 10 minutes away, Hove in the other direction.
The Lanes / Old Town
food-first short breaks
Sleep inside the restaurant map, station 10 minutes uphill, mostly guesthouses and small rooms.
North Laine / station side
value, train travellers
Independent everything, Komedia and the best cafes, beach 5 to 10 minutes, no sea view.
Kemptown
character, LGBTQ+ scene, quieter beach
Marine Parade terraces, St James's Street bars and drag cabaret, best value guesthouses in the crescents.
Hove, Brunswick and west
families, longer stays, sleeping well
Wide avenues, Church Road restaurants, Hove Lawns and beach huts, quieter and roomier than the centre.
Seven Dials / Preston Park
repeat visitors, residential base
Pretty, cafe served streets at local prices, Downs close, no sea view and no headline hotel.
Think twice about
- West Street and the immediate club strip
Stag and hen chain bar artery, very drunk and very loud on Friday and Saturday nights. Stay two streets away and the problem disappears.
- London Road
Busy, traffic heavy corridor of discount stores and takeaways, with visible street drinking and budget rooms a charmless walk from the sights. Visit by day.
- Brighton Marina
Not unsafe, soulless and stranded. Chain restaurants around boat berths, 30 plus minutes walk east of the centre along a main road.
- Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb and the outer estates
Ordinary residential estates on the eastern and northern fringes, no sights or restaurant scene and a bus ride to everything. Not a bargain Brighton base.
Best restaurants in Brighton
Maré by Rafael Cagali
Brighton's first starred table in nearly 50 years, Brazilian and Italian tasting cooking with Sussex produce in Hove.
Etch. by Steven Edwards
Steven Edwards ingredient led tasting menu room on Church Road, long a fixture at the very top of city lists.
Furna
Dave Mothersill tasting menu temple on New Road in the centre, the chef's chef room for a special occasion.
The Little Fish Market
Tiny chef led seafood room cooking a set menu from the day's catch, the most sought after fish cooking in the city.
Burnt Orange
Wood fired Mediterranean sharing plates and a serious bar, the default great Brighton dinner that is not a tasting menu.
Terre à Terre
Vegetarian institution for over 30 years, inventive and technically serious, voted the city's best restaurant in 2026.
The Salt Room
Elegant modern seafront seafood, whole grilled fish and Sussex catch with sea views and a decade of consistency.
Riddle & Finns
Champagne and oyster bar in the Lanes and on the beach, for oysters, crab and a celebratory lunch that drifts.
Outdoor things to do in Brighton
Seven Sisters Country Park
White chalk cliff walk from Seaford Head past Birling Gap toward Beachy Head, the essential full day out from Brighton.
Devil's Dyke
Vast dry valley 15 minutes by bus from the centre, start of South Downs Way walks and rides toward Ditchling Beacon.
Undercliff Walk
Flat, car free promenade at the base of the white cliffs, running from the Marina through Rottingdean to Saltdean Lido.
Lagoon Watersports
Sheltered lagoon classroom for paddleboarding, windsurfing, sailing and wakeboarding, with lessons for complete beginners.
Brighton Beach
Sea swimming and paddleboarding off Hove Lawns, calmer and more local than between the piers, with bracing water.
East Brighton Golf Club
Better of the city's two downland courses, 18 holes with coastal and Downs views and the 11th as signature hole.
Hollingbury Golf Club
Municipal value golf at the city's highest point, with sea views, improving greens and rights of way crossing it.
Tandem paragliding, Devil's Dyke
Tandem paragliding over Devil's Dyke and the Downs ridge, weather dependent and the most memorable active splurge nearby.
Best hotels in Brighton
The Grand Brighton
1864 seafront landmark and the default luxury answer, full service with sea view rooms, spa and the Cyan restaurant.
No. 124 by GuestHouse
New boutique benchmark next to the Grand, 32 calm rooms, Pearly Cow restaurant, small spa and a guest pantry.
Artist Residence Brighton
Bohemian boutique one row back from the front, characterful rooms with sea and i360 views and a lively bar.
Hotel du Vin Brighton
Reliable upscale chain boutique in a former inn, with courtyard, bistro and serious wine list, walk everywhere.
Drakes of Brighton
Small, sharp, adults leaning boutique with some of the best sea view rooms in the city and an acclaimed restaurant.
Harbour Hotel Brighton
Younger, playful seafront hotel with sea view rooms and a grotto pool spa, Lanes dinner map at the door.
Leonardo Hotel Brighton
Station side full service mid range on Queen's Road, nobody's dream and everybody's dependable backup for trains.
ibis Brighton City Centre - Station
Clean station side budget hotel for private room stays, part of our honest cheap tier.
Is Brighton expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £165 a person |
| Splurge | £400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Royal Pavilion: a few days ahead
- Brighton Dome: weeks ahead
- Komedia: a few days ahead
- Brighton i360: a few days ahead
- Old Police Cells Museum: a few days ahead
- American Express Stadium: months ahead
- Seven Sisters Country Park: a few days ahead
- Lagoon Watersports: a few days ahead
- Top tasting rooms book out weeks ahead for Friday and Saturday, book the dinner when you book the hotel.
- Pride weekend sells out the entire city, book months in advance, May festival weekends also spike hard.
- Pavilion needs timed advance tickets at peak weekends, and the audio guide is worth the small extra.
- Book the i360 slot only once the forecast is clear, and book watersports and Seven Sisters tours days ahead in school holidays.
- Amex home tickets are effectively membership and loyalty allocated, do not build a trip around availability.
Is Brighton safe?
- West Street and the seafront in the small hours bring drunken altercations, spiking awareness and phone theft, as in any nightlife district.
- Station and Old Steine late at night are busy and lit, take a licensed taxi rather than walking an unfamiliar route drunk or tired.
- The sea shelves steeply with currents and cold shock, swim in lifeguarded zones, never after drinking or alone at night.
- Cliff edges at Seven Sisters and Beachy Head crumble and undercut, stay well back from edges and away from cliff bases.
- Rough sleeping is a welfare issue, not a visitor safety threat, use StreetLink if someone needs help.
Brighton travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Palace Pier pay per ride all afternoon, walk it free and pick a ride or two or a wristband with intent.
- Anonymous seafront and Preston Street tourist restaurants, every cuisine exists better two streets away.
- SEA LIFE at full price on a sunny day, and the i360 in bad weather, plus any skip the line resale markup.
- Brighton Marina as a destination, and expecting sand, the beach is shingle with sand only at low tide.
- Seagull naivety, gulls take chips and ice creams from hands and tables, shield food and never hold it aloft.
- Driving in on a summer Saturday, queue in, pay heavily to park, queue out.
Getting around Brighton: public transport and more
- About an hour by direct train from London, and around 30 minutes by train from Gatwick Airport.
- Do not drive if you can avoid it, parking is scarce and expensive and the car goes unused once you arrive.
- Walk the centre, station, North Laine, Pavilion, Lanes, pier and Regency Square sit inside a 20 minute radius.
- Buses cover Hove, Kemptown and the Downs, and the seafront cycle path makes Hove to Marina a 20 minute ride.
Who Brighton suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Brighton your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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