In all honesty, I don’t think I would have ever imagined spending a weekend in Brighton, a seaside resort on the English coast about 30 minutes by transport from London. And once again, the blog proved me completely wrong!
My favorite photographer and I truly loved this funky and wonderfully contrasting destination, not to mention that, as you will see in the photos, we had absolutely splendid weather during our stay (which took place at the end of February this year)!
In this first article, I will give you a general introduction to the destination, and then I will do a special food article because we really enjoyed ourselves in Brighton and I have plenty of great addresses to share with you!!!
To start off, the city of Brighton is surprising on several levels. It offers a joyful mix of genres, including students, retirees, tourists, punks, gays, hippies, vegetarians…
Its atmosphere is also contrasting; at once old (many memories of the 19th century when it developed) yet resolutely trendy and modern… It feels like a Steampunk city, at least that’s the impression it gave me.
And as the cherry on top, it is a fairly affordable English city, and I have actually put together a small budget summary for you at the end of the article, which I hope you will find useful.
For the record (yes, you know I like that!), the city of Brighton became very fashionable at the end of the 18th century, when the Prince Regent decided to spend his free time there.
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Table of Contents
How to get to Brighton?
The cheapest way to get there, while remaining relatively fast, is still flying with EasyJet, which serves Gatwick airport (one of London’s secondary airports). From Gatwick airport, it is quite simple and fast to take a train to Brighton (between 20 and 30 minutes depending on the train).
You can find round-trip EasyJet tickets for around €110 without checked baggage
The pro tip
I highly recommend booking your train in advance on the internet, because it will save you time upon arrival at the station and, above all, you will avoid queuing for your ticket. Plus, most tickets are also valid on other trains throughout the day, so if you miss the train you planned to take, you can always catch the next one (especially on the Gatwick Express).
Train ticket price between Gatwick and London: between £8 and £10
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Where to stay in Brighton? Strawberry Fields Hotel
For our part, we stayed at the Strawberry Fields hotel. This small hotel has the advantage of being located right by the sea, which allows for a pleasant view in the morning. It is also right next to a bus stop, which is very convenient when coming from the station with suitcases.
However, I found that this hotel has several details I wanted to point out to you:
- First of all, it does not offer breakfast, but this was a great opportunity for us to discover cool coffee shops in the neighborhood, which I will tell you about in the next article (so it was a blessing in disguise, after all)…
- The building is old, so the windows are poorly insulated (making it noisy as it’s not far from a busy road, and it’s cold in winter), but well, with earplugs (thanks for existing!!!!!) and a portable heater provided by the hotel, it didn’t ruin the stay… I even grew fond of the somewhat dated atmosphere of the place, that says it all…
Positive points:
- A small kettle in the room with tea and coffee to warm up
- Luggage storage to leave your belongings after checking out
- Our room #14 with a sea view and a bathtub (always a pleasure for the Parisian with a “tiny bathroom” that I am)
In short, an address with some drawbacks, but one I got used to in the end, and I even eventually appreciated its charm…
Strawberry Fields 6-7 New Steine, Brighton BN2 1PB, United Kingdom Price: £100 per night (note that the hotel is much cheaper during the week, but prices go up on weekends in Brighton)
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Ideas for things to do on a getaway to Brighton
As usual, I offer you a small selection of ideas for outings, visits, in short, things to do to discover the city.
Obviously, I can only highly recommend walking around the city (although public transport might be useful at some point because the city is quite large, after all).
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Stroll along the seafront and the Brighton Palace Pier
Brighton Palace Pier is a pier converted into a leisure complex with arcade games and fairground rides. We didn’t really enjoy the rides when we went for a walk there because it was a bit too cold (I almost lost my fingers, they were so frozen…).
Here again, we find a very 19th-century aspect of the city of Brighton, as this pier was created in the 1860s and enlarged in 1893.
It is also very pleasant to stroll along the waterfront and the promenade that stretches for miles, allowing you to soak up the different facets of Brighton & Hove (the official name of the city). There are also plenty of shops and bars/restaurants along the beach. There is even a fishing museum (free) but we didn’t have the time to visit it…
It is also an opportunity to admire a magnificent sunset over the sea for those who like that (we love it!) and to take some superb photos, like those by my favorite photographer.
Little interesting fact: the very photogenic wooden structure you see resting on the water in the photo below is all that remains of West Pier, the pier that disappeared during the fires of 2003.
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Discover the city from the sky with British Airways i360
Inaugurated in 2016, this observation tower shaped like a flying saucer rises to 138 m high and offers a magnificent plunging view of the city, the sea, and the South Downs hills. It is a perfect opportunity to learn how to better define the city’s boundaries and see how vast it is.
I highly recommend it if it’s your first time in Brighton like us, because it is a fun experience.
British Airways i360
Lower Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2LN, United Kingdom
Duration : approximately 25 minutes
Rates: between £14.85 and £15.30
Link to book the visit
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Visit the Sea Life Brighton aquarium
This aquarium is best known for being the oldest aquarium in the world still open. Inside the place, you can clearly see the original Victorian-style decor of the aquarium, which was built in 1872.
Try, if you can, to attend the demonstrations (there are some all day long) that take place in the different aquariums.
My advice: the aquarium closes its doors quite early, so don’t get caught out like us and arrive at the end of the day…
Sea Life Brighton Marine Parade, Brighton BN2 1TB, United Kingdom Rates: from £15 (online booking) Link to book tickets
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Visit the Royal Pavilion
The extravagant Royal Pavilion is one of the emblems of the city of Brighton. This extraordinary and lavish place, a true exotic palace, was the secondary residence of Prince George IV in the early 19th century, and the rooms that can be visited today have been restored in the flashy style of the era.
Unfortunately, as photos are prohibited inside the building, I won’t be able to show you what it looks like, so you’ll have to come and discover it for yourself!
Royal Pavilion 4/5 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton BN1 1EE, United Kingdom Rates: between £7.20 (children) and £12.15 (online rates) Link to book a visit
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My pro tip for these 3 attractions
On our side, we bought online before leaving a Brighton Attractions Combi Saver Ticket which allows for entries to the British Airways i360, the Sea Life aquarium, and the Royal Pavilion while saving 30% of the price we would have had to pay normally, which is rather interesting.
Simply choose the date and time for the British Airways i360 (which must be booked in advance) and then the other attractions can be done anytime during the following 7 days.
Brighton Attractions Combi Saver Ticket
Online price for 3 attractions for 1 adult: £30
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Stroll through the Street Art neighborhood of North Laines
We really liked this trendy and wild neighborhood of Brighton, which is teeming with great addresses (again, I will tell you about them in my special Food article) and walls covered with frescoes by street artists, all while rubbing shoulders with small middle-class suburban houses. A contrast that represents the city well, I think.
It is also the must-visit district for shopping apparently, even though I must admit that we couldn’t devote much time to this activity, in the end…
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Our budget for a 3-day weekend in Brighton
I tried to do the math for our stay to give you an idea of the price of a getaway of this kind to Brighton (3 days and 2 nights).
Our budget for 2 people (at the time of our stay, so check in 2026):
- £67.30 for Brighton Attractions Combi Saver Ticket (3 locations for 2 people)
- Around £40 for London–Brighton train tickets (round trip for 2 people)
- £300 for 3 hotel nights for 2 people
- €268.60 for plane tickets for 2 people with 1 checked bag
- £4.40 for bus tickets (Brighton Hove) to get from the station to our hotel for 2 people
The rest of the budget clearly went into food, but I must admit that we really treated ourselves, and I will detail that in a future article!
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Thanks to VisitBritain for giving us the idea to discover Brighton, we weren’t disappointed!
I hope that with all this, I have made you want to discover or rediscover Brighton, and if you also have your own tips for this destination, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments!
Find below all my articles about my trips to Great Britain:
⇒ All my articles about Great Britain
⇒ All my articles about England
⇒ All my articles about Brighton
MY ARTICLES ABOUT BRIGHTON (2018)
⇒ City Break in Brighton
⇒ Great addresses in Brighton
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez Photos not royalty-free, photographer's authorization required before any use
