Things to do in Canterbury
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Canterbury
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is one of the two best times, with gardens in flower and nightingales in the Blean.
Summer is warmest and fullest, with punting, paddling, Cricket Week and graduation weeks filling hotels.
Autumn is the other best time, with the Food and Drink Festival, Canterbury Festival and oysters in season.
Winter brings the Christmas Market and Advent services, then the quietest and cheapest weeks in January and February.
Best months overall are May, September and October.
Late January is the worst month unless you are deliberately chasing the quiet and cheap version.
What's on
- Canterbury Wine Festival May
Wine festival at Westgate Hall in May.
- Whitstable Oyster Festival usually July
Parade and harbour fair in Whitstable, though native oysters themselves peak in autumn.
- Canterbury Food & Drink Festival September
The city's best eating weekend, filling Dane John Gardens.
- Canterbury Festival October to November
Kent's international arts festival, roughly two weeks and some 200 events.
- Canterbury Christmas Market December
Christmas market in the centre streets, with Cathedral Advent services and carol concerts the real draw.
Best things to do in Canterbury
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury's mother church rewards a slow half day through nave, Martyrdom, crypt, cloisters and precincts.
St Augustine's Abbey
Ruined abbey founded after Augustine arrived, with lawns, cloister outlines and a museum that makes the site legible.
St Martin's Church
England's oldest church still in use, quiet and part Roman and part Saxon, five minutes beyond the abbey.
Canterbury Punting Company
Chauffeured punts show medieval Canterbury at water level, past King's Bridge, the Old Weavers House and Greyfriars.
Canterbury Historic River Tours
Another operator for chauffeured historic river tours along the Stour through the medieval centre.
The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge
Free museum, gallery and library in one grand Victorian building, with eclectic Kent collections and Bagpuss history.
Westgate Towers
England's largest surviving city gate, now a small museum with a viewpoint over Canterbury's rooftops.
Westgate Gardens
Riverside gardens along the Stour with formal beds, lawns and a two hundred year old oriental plane tree.
Where to stay in Canterbury
Inside the Walls / Cathedral Quarter
first trip, all-round base
Cathedral on your doorstep and dinner without a taxi, at the highest prices and with no free parking.
St Peter's / Westgate
character, the river and Canterbury West station
Timbered inns, gardens and punt stations, quieter at night than the Cathedral quarter.
Wincheap / Thanington, south
value, parking and drivers
Larger guesthouses with parking, a 10 to 15 minute walk in through Dane John Gardens.
Old Dover Road / St Lawrence, south-east
cricket, calm, longer stays
Guesthouses toward the cricket ground, good for families and golfers heading for Sandwich.
Fordwich, north-east
a river and food weekend
Rooms near the Fordwich Arms and the Stour, with canoeing from the door, two miles out.
University hill
visiting the University of Kent
Campus a mile and a half north up a hill, well served for parents and conferences, not sightseeing.
Think twice about
- Wincheap / A28 and New Dover Road corridors for light sleepers
Good properties on main road corridors with early lorries. Ask for a rear room if noise matters.
- St George's / bus station block on a term-time weekend
Student nightlife concentrates here and front rooms can be lively, young and loud, not unsafe.
- Listings in Hersden or out on the A2 sold as Canterbury
Decent places, but you trade walking everywhere for a bus commute. Price it as a countryside stay.
- University campus rooms in term time
A bargain in vacation but simply unavailable in term, and a hilltop base away from the sights.
Best restaurants in Canterbury
The Fordwich Arms
Starred riverside pub in England's smallest town serving refined seasonal British menus.
The Bridge Arms
Starred village pub in Bridge serving fire led, produce first cooking in a handsome room and garden.
The Goods Shed
Victorian goods shed that is half Kent farmers market and half restaurant cooking what the stalls sell that day.
The Corner House Canterbury
Seasonal, locally sourced British cooking just east of the walls, with a much praised Sunday roast.
Café des Amis
Long running family Mexican cantina opposite Westgate Gardens, loved locally for sizzling fajitas and margaritas.
Il Posticino
Intimate date night Italian with careful cooking, where reviewers name the duck most often.
Pinocchio's
Old school family Italian in the centre, generous with pasta and good for groups as well as couples.
The Foundry Brew Pub
Working brewery pub in a former foundry serving house Canterbury Ales and pub plates a notch above standard.
Outdoor things to do in Canterbury
Canoe Wild
Canoe, kayak and paddleboard hire from Fordwich toward Grove Ferry, with guided wildlife paddles at dawn and dusk.
Crab & Winkle Way
Traffic free old railway route through the Blean woods from Canterbury to Whitstable harbour and the sea.
Blean Woods National Nature Reserve
Ancient broadleaved woodland with waymarked trails, nightingales in spring and heath fritillary butterflies in summer.
Whitstable
Canterbury's seaside day out for a working harbour, shingle beach, Harbour Street shops and native oysters in season.
Dover Castle
A great Norman fortress above Dover with wartime tunnels from which the Dunkirk evacuation was directed.
The White Cliffs of Dover
Cliff path east from Dover toward South Foreland Lighthouse, with France visible across the Channel on clear days.
Canterbury Golf Club
Harry Colt parkland course from 1927 in wooded hills just east of Canterbury, the realistic visitor round.
Prince's Golf Club
Twenty seven links holes in three loops at Sandwich Bay, host of the 1932 Open and the value Sandwich pick.
Best hotels in Canterbury
ABode Canterbury
Flagship boutique hotel inside the walls on the High Street, two minutes from the Cathedral, with a champagne bar.
Canterbury Cathedral Lodge
Modern lodge inside the Cathedral precincts with garden views and free Cathedral entry for guests.
Broome Park Hotel
Jacobean country house hotel in parkland at Barham, with golf and a pool, six miles from Canterbury.
Cathedral Gate Hotel
Historic building against Christ Church Gate with beamed rooms and Cathedral views you cannot buy closer.
The Falstaff
Historic coaching inn by the Westgate with a cocktail bar, garden and rare central parking.
The Miller's Arms
Pretty pub with rooms by the river and the Marlowe, with a well regarded pub below and calm rooms above.
Hampton by Hilton Canterbury
Reliable modern chain hotel on St Margaret's Street with air conditioning and family rooms near the Cathedral.
The Corner House Canterbury
Rooms above one of the city's best restaurants just east of the walls, so dinner is a staircase away.
Is Canterbury expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £155 a person |
| Splurge | £340 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Canterbury Punting Company: a few days ahead
- Canterbury Historic River Tours: a few days ahead
- The Marlowe Theatre: weeks ahead
- Canterbury Festival: weeks ahead
- Canoe Wild: a few days ahead
- Royal St George's Golf Club: months ahead
- ABode Canterbury: weeks ahead
- Canterbury Cathedral Lodge: weeks ahead
- Fordwich Arms and Bridge Arms weeks ahead in summer, especially Friday and Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch.
- Beds for Canterbury Festival, Cricket Week, graduation weeks and Christmas Market dates go first and prices spike.
- Marlowe headline shows, punting on summer weekends, Canoe Wild guided paddles, and Wheeler's in Whitstable months ahead in summer.
Is Canterbury safe?
- Canterbury is a low crime small city with no area visitors need to route around. Use normal city awareness, not anxiety.
- Late night student drinking centres on St George's Street and the bus station in term time, with street marshals on patrol.
- Low Stour paths can flood in wet winters and meadow sections are unlit after dark.
Canterbury travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- A four hour London day trip buys queues and a photo. Stay overnight for Evensong, a village pub dinner and a quiet precinct.
- The Cathedral is a working church and graduation venue, so areas close at short notice. Check the visiting page the day before.
- The classic Canterbury Tales attraction no longer exists in its old form, and Whitefriars could be anywhere. Use the King's Mile and Burgate instead.
- There is no direct train to Whitstable. The bus takes about half the rail time via Faversham, and the bike path beats both.
- July and August language school groups fill the centre. Do the Cathedral and the Beaney early.
Getting around Canterbury: public transport and more
- Canterbury West is for high speed London St Pancras and the Goods Shed. Canterbury East is for slower London lines and Dover. Check which station your ticket names.
- Walk the walled city, half a mile across. Use Stagecoach buses for Whitstable, Herne Bay, villages and university hill, and park and ride rather than driving into the walls.
- Book a taxi for Fordwich or Bridge dinners rather than hoping for one at 10pm in a village. River meadow paths are largely unlit after dark.
Who Canterbury suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Canterbury 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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