Sights in East Sussex
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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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Mermaid St
From the tourist office, turn away from the water through Strand Quay, and clamber up the famous cobbled Mermaid St, thick with 15th-century timber-framed houses with quirky house names like 'The House with Two Front Doors', 'The House Opposite' and more.
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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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Ypres Tower
Just off Church Sq stands the sandcastle-esque Ypres Tower (pronounced 'wipers'). This 13th-century building looks out over Romney Marsh and Rye Bay, and houses one part of Rye Museum. It's overseen by a friendly warden, who's full of colourful tales from the tower's long history as fort, prison, mortuary and museum (the last two at overlapping times). New exhibitions dedicated to women and children in Rye and a medieval garden are planned. The other branch of the museum, a short stroll away on East St, is home to an 18th-century leather fire engine and other intriguing loot.
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Camera Obscura
A lovely vantage point for the sunset, Eastbourne's pretty filigree-trimmed pier also has a curious Victorian Camera Obscura that projects images of the outside world into a dish within a darkened room. In July daredevils in feathery frocks hurl themselves from the pier in the annual birdman competition.
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Lamb House
This Georgian town house is a favourite stomping ground for local apparitions, but not that of its most famous resident, American writer Henry James, who lived here from 1898 to 1916, during which time he wrote The Wings of the Dove.
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Church of St Mary the Virgin
Rye's church is a hotchpotch of medieval and later styles and its turret clock is the oldest in England (1561) still working with its original pendulum, which swings above your head as you enter. Climb the tower for panoramic views of the town and surroundings.
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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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Eastbourne Heritage Centre
Livens up exhibits on the town's history with eccentric asides, such as on Donald McGill, the pioneer of the 'naughty postcard'.
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Friars of the Sack
Cobbled Church Sq is ringed by historic houses, including the Friars of the Sack, which was once part of a 13th-century Augustinian friary but is now a private home.
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Museum of Shops
This small museum is swamped by an obsessive collection of how-we-used-to-live memorabilia.
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Landgate
At the northeastern edge of the village, the thickset pale-stone Landgate dates from 1329, and is the only remaining gate out of four.
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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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Ypres Tower Museum
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Yesterday's World
Overshadowed literally and figuratively by the abbey, this growing museum is an incredible repository of England's retail past. The first building houses entire streets of quaint old shops where costumed dummies proffer long-discontinued brands, every space in between stuffed with yester-year products, enamel advertising signs, battered toys, wartime memorabilia and general nostalgia-inducing knick-knackery. The second building is much the same except for the Royalty Room where a cardboard cut-out illustrates just how tiny Queen Victoria was (1.40m).
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Towner Art Gallery
Until Turner Margate is up and running, Eastbourne's Towner Gallery will be far and away the most exciting new exhibition space on the south coast. The purpose-built, state-of-the-art gallery building has temporary shows of contemporary work on the ground and second floors, while the first floor is given over to rotating themed shows created from the 4000-piece-strong Towner collection. Building tours include a peek inside the climate-controlled art store.
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Redoubt Fortress
One in a chain of 77 strongholds built in the early 19th century to defend the south coast from Napoleon's planned invasion. It now houses a small military museum.
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Pier
Eastbourne's striking filigree-trimmed pier is a lovely place to watch the sunset, and also has a curious Victorian Camera Obscura that projects images of the outside world into a dish within a darkened room (when it's working).
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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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