When we took a trip to the white cliffs, we went on to the South Foreland lighthouse, beautifully…read moreperched on the white cliffs, overlooking a sandbank in the water. Nowadays all navigation is done via satellite, so this beauty was decomissioned in 1988. It is very well preserved though and well worth a guided tour.  Almost a thousand ship wrecks accumulated in the sands, even after this Victorian lighthouse was built, the first to use electric light! We even got to crank up the weights to get the light spinning again! I absolutely love lighthouses, they're just so beautiful!

Very nice, british atmosphere. Reasonable prices for a tea pot incl. scones. Personnel is very…read morefriendly and German speaking choose a nice and sunny day, it's a lovely walk from the Dover cliffee national park visitor center.

We did lots of castles, cathedrals and abbeys on this years Road Trip through England and Scotland…read more And this here was one of the finest we've encountered. We came by car, there's a huge parking lot with even some options at the shade. If you're a member then parking and entrance is free (scan your card for free parking). At the entrance there's a ticket office, a fine little restaurant and some shops. It's a short walk to the wonderful castle. Pretty flat and goes around the whole site. Dogs are allowed - our Bulldog had a great time. And not just our Bulldog; we did as well. It's a fantastic, well-preserved and well taken care of castle. With the mout surrounding it, it looks just like a "typical" castle you'd imagine. It was built from 1380-1385. By by Sir Edward Dallingridge. He was even promoted by King Richard II himself. So this castle here belonged to a person of great importance. Be sure to check out the interiour as well. It's a stunner from outside, but it's really worth your time going in and on top of it for some great views. There are lots of facilities on the site and also picnic spots with views of the castle. A great place to spend a few hours. One of the highlight of our Road Trip surely. Staff was very friendly and helpful. And be sure to grab a bite at the restaurant by the entrance (jacket potatoes were great).

This is what a castle should look like. Tall towers, complete ramparts, portcullis, drawbridge and…read morea huge moat. It's every child's dream! Built in 1385, it functioned as both castle and a comfortable late mediaeval home. Now owned by the National Trust, it is set in lovely well-maintained grounds which are perfect for a family picnic. In the summer, there are lots of activities going on (check website for details), with people dressing up as mediaeval knights, jousting and cool stuff like that. For the adults there are also occasional concerts. The site is very family friendly, with the information office supplying all kinds of material to help children (of all ages!) enjoy their visit, and to stimulate their imaginations. The website has excellent information about access for wheel-chair users. The site has ample car-parking, and is close to some other excellent attractions - the Kent & East Sussex preserved steam railway, and the village of Battle where William the Conqueror beat the Anglo-Saxons in 1066.

My daughter was sending us photos and videos of the White Cliffs of Dover and when we visited her…read morelast April she brought us here to see an amazing place with amazing views and full of natural beauty. The cliffs are a stunning sight, there are a few different walkways, make sure you allow couple of hours to look around. Enjoyed the view down to the ferry docks, I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to see it from the water. A must visit place for a great experience. I will come visit again to see this picturesque sight.

A couple months ago I had the privilege to visit this beautiful cliffside park as part of a day…read moretour to Dover Castle, the White Cliffs and Canterbury Cathedral. Being a visitor to these parts, the distance between the town of Dover and the cliffs wasn't apparent until I looked up arrival by train to the city (roughly 1.5 hours from where I was in London), followed by the distance to walk between the city and the cliffs (easily a 45 minute walk). At this point I decided a pre-set itinerary with reliable, organized transportation was probably the way to go, being the least stressful option to plan. For those wanting to take their time, car rental is an option, but for me it seemed more tedious and tiring to plan out. All that being said, the cliffs are a beautiful and historically meaningful destination to visit. Walking from the parking lots to the park, at the trail head there's a small, nicely maintained visitor center, cafe and gift shop, and a small used bookseller pop-up as of September 2023. There are a few options for trails that make different loops around the cliffs. Being on limited time, I ended up walking the shortest path which took about 30-35 minutes round trip. It takes you to a viewpoint where edges of the white cliffs are visible.There is a longer trail that takes about 1.5 hours round trip to the light house on the eastern edge of the cliffs, which looked like a lovely, fairly easy hike around a gradually rolling slope. If I had more time I definitely would've made it over! A note for accessibility--while it's a easy walk for most able folks, and the trails are well-worn, they are still dirt paths which aren't paved, so this may be challenging to families with small children, and perhaps inaccessible to those with more significant handicaps.

Truth be told, it's a ruin. And it's on the ruined side of ruins. Don't expect much to see, there…read moreare only a few wall fragments and arches left. But it's still a quite attractive site as it offers pleasant panoramic views of the area. The castle is just a 10 minute walk from Hastings Central train station. There's a short film (shown in half hour intervals) that will tell you about the history of the castle from medieval times to the present - it's basically just a TV documentary, but moderately interesting. A nice place to relax and while away an hour looking down on Hastings and the sea. Don't expect to learn much about history here, as there is no audio guide either. There's a dungeon, too - but that's just a few narrow corridors under the ground, completely empty. Is it worth the 4 plus xx UKP you have to pay? I'd say yes.

I'm a sucker for medieval history in England, and in particular castles. A recent visit to the…read moreSouth coast saw me head to Hastings Castle for the first time. You can walk up to it, or take the West Hill Cliff Railway (a vertical, carved into the cliff railway built by the Victorians). Even if you are feeling fit you should plump for the railway to experience another of England's historical gems. Don't go expecting a fully fledged castle - what you have at Hastings are a series of fairly spaced out ruins. The most complete remains are the dungeons at the entrance, and are well worth a walk into as even on a hot day they are pretty cold, grim and eery. The castle became ruins for a number of reasons, but principally because of a)time, b)Henry VIII's sacking of monasteries, c)WWII bombing and d)coastal erosion. Indeed, if you want to see the spectacular results of unchecked coastal erosion over the last century or so then a visit to these ruins will tell you a lot. Over half the castle has been lost, and the vast majority of that is over the last 100 or so years. So, if it's ruins, why 5 stars? As I said, I'm a sucker for it all anyway, but to stand among the stones and look out over the channel it is virtually impossible to not allow your mind to wander back all those years, and to appreciate the past and present of this sceptered isle. Also, it gives you a perspective on the future, particularly with regard to the continual erosion we are facing. There is a large 'siege tent' (or portacabin) in the middle of the ruins where you can watch a film about Hastings and adjoining towns in the '1066 story' - worth a watch if you've taken the time to go up there. The entrance fee helps preserve what remains of the castle, and as long as you accept that is what you are paying for, rather than a glimpse of a magnificently kept castle, you won't be disappointed.

Came here without much expectations. And were suprised by the size of the grounds, all the…read morebuildings and all the things to discover. We've spent many hours here in the end. A real highlight on this years Road Trip through the UK. Parked right next to on the official carpark. Fixed price of 4£ was a fair deal (free for members). We bought tickets online before and there was next to no wait to enter. The Battle of Hastings, fought on 14 October 1066, is one of the best-known events in England's history, when William of Normandy defeated the army of King Harold of England. William the Conqueror founded Battle Abbey. The abbey thrived as a Benedictine monastery for over 400 years, and after its suppression in 1538 the abbot's lodging was transformed into a grand country house. Exploring the Abbey is a great and fun thing to do. There's so much history to read and to take in here. You can go to the top as well, enjoying the views. Or go explore every corner there is - you might find the old toilet here as well (it's named "garderobe"). After enjoying history at the Abbey we walked on the grounds. Checking out the Ice and Dairy House, the King Harold and High Altar Memorial and the Crypt. And a quick look at the walled garden. Then went onto the Battelfield. If you don't have an audio guide, you still can read all the info plates along the way. Really well done and informative. And the walk around the battlefield is a pretty one. With some wildlife as well. We did have our Bulldog with (and a pet stroller) without problems. Just the first section has some steps, after that it's pretty stroller-friendly. Then in the end we've visited the old Abbey ruins. Again: very impressive architecture. We had a great day here. There's so much to see and to do. Of course there's also a shop, a restaurant, a food truck and toilets. Some games for kids as well. A fantastic visit. And surely not to be missed. A must-do.

I remember coming back here in 2011 and, well, it wasn't so much closed off, it was just that it…read morewas closed. You see, this has been turned into a private boarding school, so you can't really come trapesing through here at any hour of the day. Actually, it's a site of historical significance, so yeah, they usually fence them off as well. Anyway, it's not bad. There are actually wooden cutouts of soldiers around the fields, which is pretty cool. At first I thought this was the school, and apparently you simply can't walk into the school, but not, it is actually the ruins next to the school. The reason these are ruined is because of King Henry (which the English don't seem to be too impressed with). Anyway, it's pretty cool, and you can actually find a number of underground chambers here that you can explore, though they don't happen to be hugely extensive (or if they are, parts of them are being used by the school). Oh, the ticket includes both the abbey and the battlefield.

Such a beautiful port as we boarded this huge vessel. We did have to wait awhile before our tour…read morebus could drive aboard. But once we did everything went very fast. Everything was very organized, and very well maintained. The views surrounding us were remarkable, from the salt mountains and the clear sky ... absolutely stunning.

Visited Hastings back in May 2019 with my boyfriend and we decided to take a walk down by the new…read morepier. It was very modern clean, and spacious. The pier has a stylish restaurant near the entrance which we didn't get to go to but I assume they have amazing fish and chips. There were also tables and benches and a few artistic animal statues to sit relax on while enjoying the views. Along the sides of the pier there are cute colorful striped beach huts. Which I'm not sure if they are being used for storage or if they are little gift shops that open during weekend. Either way I thought the Beach huts were very cute and aesthetically pleasing. We came there on a Tuesday afternoon so it was not busy or crowded at all. Also it was nice and sunny which made me feel like I was back in California! Overall 5/5 star great place to relax and hangout during spring and summer my boyfriend and I enjoyed the seaside experience of Hastings.

A lovely property to wander round, we attended during the battle reinactment which made for a…read morelovely day out (held in October). As well as the Abbey there is also a small restaurant selling locally sourced produce, it can be a bit pricey however. Butyou can picnic in the grounds if it's a nice day. For the kids there's plenty of room for them to run around, an interactive museum and a themed playground.

After William the Conqueror had invaded Great Britain and made it his home he built the Battle…read moreAbbey to commemorate his victory. The Abbey is a truly an interesting site to visit because he built it on the exact spot where he first set foot on British soil. I don't want to go into much detail about the battle but if ancient history is a forte yours as it is mine then highlights of the visit include an interactive audio visual interpretation of the battle.