Hastings is a very good family town and an unusually cheap one. The Old Town is compact and full of things children like — a fishing beach with boats pulled up on the shingle, two funicular railways, caves full of smugglers, a castle on a cliff and an aquarium — and almost all of it is within ten minutes of everything else.
It is also a town that wears its scruffiness openly. Parts of the seafront have seen better days and nobody here pretends otherwise. What that buys you is a resort where a family can spend a day for a fraction of what it would cost in Brighton.
The Stade is the shingle beach at the eastern end of the town where the fishing boats are drawn up — Europe’s largest beach-launched fleet, with no harbour, so the boats are winched up the shingle. Around them stand the net shops, tall black tarred wooden towers built in the nineteenth century for drying nets. Children can walk among all of it for nothing, and there are usually boats being worked on.
The beach itself is shingle with sand exposed at low tide, and it shelves quite steeply. Lifeguards operate in season on the main stretch.
On Rock-a-Nore, next to the fishing beach. A compact aquarium with a walk-through tunnel, sharks, rays, tropical tanks and a good deal for younger children. An hour and a half, and it is indoors.
Under the West Hill, in St Clement’s Caves — a genuine network of sandstone caves used for smuggling in the eighteenth century, now dressed with tableaux, sound and lighting telling the story of the Sussex smuggling trade. It is atmospheric, it is entirely underground, and it is the wet-weather standby. The caves run under Hastings Castle on the same hill.
Two Victorian funiculars, both cheap and both a small adventure in themselves. The East Hill Cliff Railway from Rock-a-Nore is one of the steepest in the country and lands you on open grassland above the town. The West Hill Lift from George Street runs up to the castle and the caves.
On the West Hill, the ruin of the first castle William built in England, much of which has fallen into the sea. There is an audio-visual presentation, the ruins to walk round and an enormous view. Short, cheap and popular.
Hastings takes miniature golf seriously — it has hosted the world championships — and the seafront course is one of the most popular attractions in the town by visitor numbers alone.
Under the seafront near the pier. Worth flagging that this is aimed squarely at adults and older teenagers rather than young children.
Alexandra Park is a kilometre inland and is the best free family space in Hastings: sixty acres of lakes, streams, playgrounds, tennis courts and open lawns, with a chain of ponds running up the valley.
Hastings Country Park, east along the cliffs and reachable by the East Hill railway, has grassland, wooded glens and beaches at the bottom of them. It is a proper walk rather than a stroll, and older children love it.
Camber Sands, twenty-five kilometres east past Rye, is the best sandy beach in this part of England — miles of dunes and flat sand at low tide. It is the standard Hastings family beach day and it gets very busy in August.
Battle, ten kilometres north, has the abbey and the battlefield of 1066, with an audio tour that works well for children and plenty of space to run about. Our 1066 guide has more.
Bexhill, eight kilometres west, has the De La Warr Pavilion with free galleries and a sandy beach at low tide.
Bodiam Castle, twenty kilometres north, is the moated castle that children draw when you ask them to draw a castle, with a boating station on the river and the Kent and East Sussex heritage railway nearby.
Rye, fifteen kilometres east, is cobbled and photogenic, with a heritage centre and a good beach at Rye Harbour.
Hastings is well supplied. Smugglers Adventure in the caves and the aquarium are the two obvious ones. Beyond them: the Shipwreck Museum and the Fishermen’s Museum on Rock-a-Nore are both free and both small enough for short attention spans; Hastings Museum and Art Gallery on Bohemia Road is free and has a strong local collection; and Hastings Contemporary on the seafront runs family activities. Our wet weather guide covers the list.
The Old Town and the seafront have chips, ice cream and fish straight off the boats. There is an unusually good Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant scene in the town, most of it informal and family-friendly. Our eating guide covers where to go.
Getting here. Trains run from London Charing Cross every half hour, taking about an hour and forty minutes, and hourly from London Victoria via Gatwick. Ashford International is forty minutes away by train via Rye.
Parking. Rock-a-Nore for the Old Town and the beach; Pelham Place and Carlisle Parade for the centre; Priory Meadow multi-storey for the shops.
Pushchairs. The seafront and Alexandra Park are flat. The Old Town twittens and both hills are not — use the lifts.
Shingle. Hastings beach is stones rather than sand for most of the tide. Beach shoes help, and Camber is where to go if sand is the requirement.
An Old Town day. Start on the Stade in the morning while the boats are landing, look at the net shops, and do the Fishermen’s Museum and the Shipwreck Museum — both free and both short. Take the East Hill Cliff Railway up for the view and a run about on the grass at the top. Come down for fish and chips on the beach, then Smugglers Adventure in the caves or the aquarium in the afternoon, depending on the weather. Everything is within ten minutes of everything else.
A beach and castle day. Drive or take the train and bus east to Camber Sands for the morning — dunes, flat sand and space to run — then back via Rye for the cobbled streets and an ice cream. Or head north instead to Battle for the abbey, the battlefield walk and the woods, which suits older children who have had enough of shingle.
Under five: the fishing boats, the beach, Alexandra Park’s playgrounds, the cliff railways, Camber Sands.
Five to eleven: the sweet spot. Smugglers Adventure, the aquarium, the castle, crazy golf, the glens in the country park, Bodiam Castle.
Teenagers: the True Crime Museum, Hastings Contemporary, the coast walk east to Fairlight, and Hastings itself, which has a music and skate culture that surprises visitors.
Worth stating plainly, because it is Hastings’ main advantage over its neighbours. The beach, the Stade, the net shops, the fishing boats, Alexandra Park, both hills, Hastings Country Park and three museums are all free. The cliff railways cost a small fare. The castle, the aquarium and Smugglers Adventure are modestly priced by south-coast standards.
A family of four can have a full day here — two museums, a funicular, a castle and a beach — for less than the price of admission to a single attraction in Brighton. It is the reason a lot of families keep coming back.
Smugglers Adventure in the caves, the aquarium, and the cliff railways — all within ten minutes of each other.
Shingle, with sand exposed at low tide. Camber Sands, twenty-five kilometres east, is the sandy alternative.
Less than most south coast resorts. The beach, the Old Town, the net shops, Alexandra Park and two free museums cost nothing.
Yes — it is small, cheap, dramatically sited and takes under an hour.
On the Stade at the eastern end of the beach, where the fleet is winched up the shingle. Best in the morning.