Visit East Sussex for green hills and weald-land that look like landscape paintings, towns blitzed by bloody Norman battles and super-cool seaside resorts. There are lots of exciting places to visit and things to do in East Sussex. Follow the in-crowd to funky Brighton for days splashing off pebble beaches and browsing lanes of alternative boutiques. Or pop over to family-friendly Eastbourne with its serene boating lakes, Victorian gardens and wow-factor white cliffs. Don your imaginary armour for days tracing 1066 dramas to abbeys and battlefields in Battle and Hastings. Or wander the stylish cobbled citadel of Rye, home to an array of art, cosy pubs and modern boutique hotels.
Places to visit in East Sussex
24 hours in Hastings
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Head down south to this arty East Sussex enclave for super-cool galleries, cute boutiques, excellent coffee shops and superb sea views.
Nightly summer bandstand concerts and weekly fireworks
The UK’s busiest bandstand on Eastbourne’s seafront offers nightly concerts from pop to rock throughout summer, with a weekly firework crescendo.
Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex
Explore Brighton's Cultural Quarter
Find an exotic Royal palace, classical concerts, West End shows and fine art all within a moment’s walk of each other.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Follow in the footsteps of movie makers in Eastbourne
Follow the film location trail from Eastbourne to Beachy Head, featured in cinema classics such as ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Diana’ and ‘Pearl Harbour’.
Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex
Follow Sussex’s Coastal Culture Trail
Discover contemporary art at three leading coastal galleries, all linked by a scenic and historic cycle route though Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex
Explore Brighton and Hove’s wartime heritage
Commemorate the First World War with a cultural holiday in Brighton and Hove, roaming around the city’s lively cultural quarter.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Explore Rottingdean, the home of Rudyard Kipling
Step into the world of Rudyard Kipling by visiting his traditional English gardens in Rottingdean, near Brighton and Hove.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Enjoy a Brighton budget break with free attractions and more
It’s easy to enjoy a cheap weekend break in Brighton and Hove, with cheap hostel accommodation and plenty of low cost museums and art galleries.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
December events: Celebrate the Winter Solstice at Burning the Clocks
Brighton marks the shortest day of the year with the Burning the Clocks winter solstice parade.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Explore the sleepy fishing village of Brighthelmstone
Before Brighton became the cosmopolitan city it is today it was a quiet fishing village, but the city has never forgotten its origins.
Location: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
Play Pooh sticks in Ashdown Forest
Take a walk through the magical wood where Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Tigger and Eeyore roam.
Location: Hartfield, East Sussex
Pay a visit to Virginia Woolf’s Monk’s House
Travel back in time to see how the poets, artists, intellectuals and philosophers of the Bloomsbury Group lived.
Location: Lewes, Sussex