Hastings makes an easy day trip from London by train. In as little as 90 minutes, you can be strolling along the beach and taking in nine centuries of history in this East Sussex town.
Follow my self-guided walking tour to see the best of Hastings in a day, from the ruins of William the Conqueror’s castle to the country’s steepest funicular railway.
Planning Your Hastings Day Trip
Here’s a map of the route I walked, which doubles as a self-guided tour. To send to your phone and for step-by-step directions, click here or on the map itself.
Hastings Castle
The climb is worthwhile. The site has spectacular views and a few benches if you fancy an early picnic lunch. But first, a little history.
In September 1066, William the Conqueror landed his invasion force at Pevensey and marched along the coast to Hastings, bringing with him a prefabricated wooden castle, the first Norman castle built in Britain. After defeating Harold II at the Battle of Hastings on 14th October that year, William took the English crown and rebuilt the castle in stone.
Much of the castle has been lost to enemy attack and storms over the centuries, but the ruins of the Collegiate Church of St Mary-in-the-Castle survive, its towers, cloister and chapel still visible. Built around 1075, the church started out free-standing before it was later folded into the castle’s defences.
West Hill to Hastings Old Town
Coburg Place is a good example of Hastings Old Town’s distinctive twittens, the narrow stairways and passages that connect its streets.
St. Clement’s Church is at the end of Coburg Place. Built in the late 14th century, this is where the poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti married Lizzie Siddall in 1860. It is also where Inspector Foyle attended church in Foyle’s War.
Check its opening hours if you want to peek inside (they are very limited).
Across from the church is a small memorial garden marking the site of the Swan Inn, once Hastings’ best known pub. A pub is thought to have stood here since 1309, rebuilt several times before its final destruction by enemy planes in 1943.
Opposite the garden is a striking piece of street art, a nod to the town’s smuggling past. I hadn’t realised until this visit that Hastings and neighbouring St Leonards are something of a street art hub.
You are now on Hastings High Street. Its shops sell antiques, homeware and knick knacks, and pretty Sinnock Square, another twitten, is worth a detour off it.
All Saints’ Street
A plaque on one higgledy piggledy house shows it once belonged to the mother of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell (1650 to 1707). Now that’s a name to conjure with. He wasn’t the Navy’s finest: in 1707 he led an estimated 2,000 men to their deaths when he steered his ship and three others onto rocks off the Scilly Isles, and died there himself.
The 19th century Piece of Cheese Cottage made me laugh. Brothers George and Stephen Starr built it on a triangular plot left over after building nine other cottages, having bet £5 (about £300 today) that nothing could be built there.
They won the bet, and England’s only triangular cottage was the result. The blue plaque nearby commemorating a visit from “Mr and Mrs Michael Mouse” is, of course, a joke.
Rock-a-Nore, Net Shops and Fish’n’Chips
This is a great place to break for lunch. I had a hearty portion of fish and chips on a seafront balcony at Maggie’s (voted “One of the top 20 fish & chips by the sea” by The Observer in 2022). Just watch out for ravenous seagulls.
Rock-a-Nore is famous for its Net Shops, tall dark-wood sheds unique to Hastings, built to keep fishing gear safe and dry.
Look out for the Golden Sovereign, a boat built by Stanley Curd in his garden near Tunbridge Wells and split in two in 1999 to form the Half Sovereign Cottage and a net shop.
Hastings Old Town Museums
Rock-a-Nore has two small museums, both free to visit, though donations are welcome.
The Fishermen’s Museum, in the former Fishermen’s Church of St Nicholas (built 1854, used until the Second World War), tells the story of Hastings’ fishing trade.
Its star exhibit is Enterprise, the last Hastings sailing lugger, built in 1912. It’s also where you’ll learn about the Winkle Club, formed by fishermen in 1900 to help the town’s poor families, and still raising money for good causes today.
I think it’s safe to say the larger Shipwreck Museum is more niche.
Many of its 3000+ artefacts were salvaged from shipwrecks in the English Channel. These include the 18th-century Amsterdam, the Dutch East Indiaman and the 17th-century warship Anne, part of Charles II’s fleet.
I was excited to see a timber pier from the first London Bridge, thought to date from 85-90 AD.
The East Hill Lift
Did I want to travel on the UK’s steepest funicular railway? You bet I did.
Opened in 1902, the East Hill Lift takes around one minute to reach Hastings Country Park and its vantage points over the Old Town and Rock-a-Nore. Hastings resident John Logie Baird came up with the concept of television whilst walking here.
Although the park’s hiking trails beckoned, I had a beach to visit.
Hastings Beach & Pier
I won’t oversell it: if you want soft sand, this isn’t the beach for you. The dunes at Camber Sands, 40 miles southwest, are a better bet.
Hastings Beach is sand and shingle, its promenade lined with amusement arcades, a small funfair and a mini golf complex (Hastings is the national home of crazy golf and hosts the World Crazy Golf Championship). Find a spot at the shoreline and look out at the pier, and the arcades feel a long way off.
My belly full of fish and sea air in my lungs, I walked the short distance to the railway station for my train back to London.
And That’s a Wrap
I enjoyed my day trip to Hastings. Trains from London are quick and frequent, it’s packed with history, there’s plenty of shopping and browsing to be had, and you can feast on the freshest fish and seafood.
My one regret is that I didn’t have enough time to browse as many shops as I wished, visit Hastings Museum & Art Gallery or walk in Hastings Country Park.
Happy travels!
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.