net huts, lanes and chips

Hastings

Free
Hastings · East Sussex · Charing Cross → Hastings

A proper working fishing town with tall black net huts, a tangle of old lanes and big free clifftop views if you walk up. Salt air and chips.

Getting there. Hastings station is a ten minute walk to the seafront, with the atmospheric old town a little further along the front to the east. Everything is walkable.
Free to visit
ALWAYS
FREE
Hastings · East Sussex · Charing Cross → Hastings
LONDON FREE GUIDE

The lowdown

Hastings is the salty, slightly ramshackle seaside that has not been polished smooth for tourists, and it is all the better for it. The shingle beach, the tall black timber net huts and the maze of old town lanes are free to wander, and the fishing fleet still works off the beach.

Walk up onto the East Hill cliffs for a huge free view over the town and the Channel, or follow the front for fish and chips eaten out of the paper. The old funiculars charge a small fare but legs are free and the views from the top are the same.

The catch

Getting there from London

Cheapest lineCharing Cross → Hastings
Journeyaround 1h30
Train fareadvance singles from £18 each way

The beach, the old town and the clifftop walks are free. Only the funicular railways charge a small fare.

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