Sights in Brighton & Hove
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Brighton Pier
This grand old centenarian pier, full of glorious gaudiness, is the place to experience the tackier side of Brighton. There are plenty of stomach-churning fairground rides and dingy amusement arcades to keep you amused, and candy floss and Brighton rock to chomp on while you're doing so.
Look west and you'll see the sad remains of the West Pier, a skeletal iron hulk that attracts flocks of birds at sunset. It's a sad end for a Victorian marvel upon which the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel once performed.
So far there's no sign of the i360 observation tower ('Hurray!' some may cry), a spectacularly space-age piece of architecture from the creators of the London Eye…
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Royal Pavilion
The city's must-see attraction is the Royal Pavilion, the glittering party-pad and palace of Prince George, later Prince Regent then King George IV. It's one of the most decadent buildings in England and an apt symbol of Brighton's reputation for hedonism. The Indian-style domes and Moorish minarets outside are only a prelude to the palace's lavish oriental-themed interior, where no colour is deemed too strong, dragons swoop and snarl from gilt-smothered ceilings, gem-encrusted snakes slither down pillars, and crystal chandeliers seem ordered by the tonne. While gawping is the main activity, you can pick up an audiotour (included in the admission price) to learn more abou…
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West Pier
The historic West Pier, which closed in 1975, began to collapse into the sea in December 2002 and, having since caught fire twice, is just a dark shadow on the water. It’s still quite an arresting, beautiful sight and many visitors – including thousands of starlings in November and December – flock to see it. There are plans to mark the spot on shore with a controversial 176m-tall observation mast called the Brighton i360 designed by the same husband-and-wife team of architects behind the London Eye. For details, see the West Pier website or visit the quirky Brighton Fishing Museum on the seafront.
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Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Across the Royal Pavilion Gardens is the surprisingly captivating Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Of the half-dozen galleries here our favourites are World Art, which effectively displays the spoils and souvenirs brought home by 19th-century colonialists; the excellent Brighton History gallery, with its ‘naughty-but-nice’ displays; and the new Ancient Egypt collection. Other galleries show ceramics, fashion and costumes and fine arts from the 15th to 20th centuries.
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Palace Pier
A grand old centenarian, Palace Pier is Brighton beach's centrepiece and the place to shake off the city's cosmopolitan gloss and embrace its tackier seaside soul. Start by dizzying yourself on a few stomach-churning fairground rides, whiz around the Helter Skelter made famous by the Beatles song, buy a few souvenir sticks of Brighton Rock, then flop into a candy-striped deck chair and scoff candyfloss to your heart's content.
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Brighton Sea Life Centre
Just north of Brighton Pier is the very up-to-date Brighton Sea Life Centre, the world’s oldest operating aquarium, with some 150 species in almost five dozen tanks and pools, as well as a walk-though tunnel.
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Kissing Cops Mural
Check out the Kissing Cops mural by guerrilla artist Banksy just south of the train station.
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Hove Museum & Art Gallery
It may surprise you that Hove can justifiably claim to be the birthplace of British cinema, with the first short-film shot here in 1898. You can see it alongside other fascinating films at this attractive Victorian villa. Another highlight is the kids' room, full of fairy lights and reverberating to the snores of a wizard and the whirr of an underfloor train. Exhibits include old zoetropes, a magic lantern and a small cupboard with a periscope inside. From central Brighton take bus 1, 1A, 6 or 6A from Churchill Sq.
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Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Set in the Royal Pavilion's renovated stable block, this museum and art gallery has a glittering collection of 20th-century art and design, including a crimson Salvador Dalí sofa modelled on Mae West's lips. There's also an enthralling gallery of world art, an impressive collection of Egyptian artefacts and an 'images of Brighton' multimedia exhibit containing a series of oral histories and a model of the now defunct West Pier.
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Brighton Marina
Brighton's wave-shaped marina, the largest in the UK, washes ashore 1.5 miles east of the pier. In addition to brand-name shopping and numerous chain eateries, you'll also find Brighton's Hollywood-style Walk of Fame, which dedicates a pavement-embedded plaque to anyone rich, famous and with a link to the city, though some associations are tenuous. Big-hitting names honoured include Graham Greene, Winston Churchill and Lewis Carroll.
Reaching the marina is half the fun when you hop aboard the Volks Electric Railway. The world's oldest electric railway, opened in 1883, trundles along the seafront from just short of the pier. Otherwise take bus 7.
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Booth Museum of Natural History
This odd Victorian taxidermy museum has several creepy sights such as walls full of mammoth butterflies and cabinets of birds poised to tear apart small mammals – particularly disturbing if you've seen the Hitchcock movie. The museum is about half a mile north of the train station. Buses 27 and 27A stop nearby on Dyke Rd.
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