Hastings sits in a gap between two hills, with a working fishing beach at one end and a Victorian resort stretched west of it. Almost everyone who drives here aims for the first seafront they can see, which is how a Saturday morning becomes a queue on Rock-a-Nore Road. The day you are having decides the car park, not the other way round.
Charges, hours and overnight locks sit on the council tariff page and the per-park pages. They move. Summer and winter are different bands. The board on the day is the tariff. This page is which park is which.
There is no park-and-ride. If you can come by train, do that. Hastings station is a short walk from the seafront and a longer one to the Old Town. Our getting here page has the walk from Hastings station to the seafront and the Old Town.
For the Old Town, the Stade and the East Hill Lift, Rock-a-Nore is the park you want — and the trap. On summer weekends and bank holidays it fills, it queues on the way out, and the council itself tells you to use Priory Street multi-storey instead. For the pier, the town and the central beach, use Pelham Place or Carlisle Parade. For Hastings Castle and the West Hill, Castle Hill Road is the small park on the slope; it is not a beach park.
Do not drive to Rock-a-Nore for Battle Abbey. Battle is a different town.
Rock-a-Nore (TN34 3DW) sits on the shingle at the eastern end of the seafront: a rough-surface park of about 450 spaces, fifteen Blue Badge bays, RingGo 17162, height 2.2 metres. It is the right park for the net shops, the fleet, the free museums, Hastings Aquarium and the lower station of the East Hill Cliff Railway. That is why it is the wrong park after ten on a fine Saturday in August.
The council is blunt. Summer weekends and bank holidays are busy, with delays getting out. Their suggested alternative is Priory Street. Use that advice. Circling Rock-a-Nore while a boat is being winched up is how people lose the morning.
The park is locked 23:00–07:00. You can stay; you cannot exit once the barrier is down. Charging on most seafront parks runs 07:00–21:00, with no charge after 21:00 — read the board.
The Bourne (TN34 3BD) is the Old Town-edge park: a couple of dozen spaces on the A259, a walk through to the High Street. Useful before nine for All Saints Street. Not overflow for Rock-a-Nore.
Pelham Place (TN34 3AD) is the central seafront park: about 276 spaces, Blue Badge and motorcycle bays, a handful of EV chargers. The council has been changing the charging provider; parking is still payable while you charge, and you move once the car is full. It sits on the A259 between the pier and the Old Town. Toilets near the entrance. Same weekend warning as Rock-a-Nore: it fills, and Priory Street is the overflow they name.
Carlisle Parade (TN34 1JG) is underground, by Robertson Terrace, around 170 spaces, linked to beach and town by subway. On the published tables it sits in a cheaper band than Pelham and Rock-a-Nore. Locked 23:00–07:00. The ramp is steep; the council does not consider it suitable for wheelchair users. A good wet-day park if you can use the ramp.
Priory Street multi-storey (TN34 1EA) is the town-centre answer: about 250 spaces, cheaper than the seafront on the published tariffs, Blue Badge bays on the ground floor, EV chargers, a 2.0-metre height restriction — lower than the seafront — and a lock 23:00–06:00. Pay-and-display uses levels 1–6; upper floors are permit. Navigate here when Rock-a-Nore is a queue.
Priory Meadow shopping multi-storey is private — APCOA, not the council. Different rules, different app. Do not treat a council RingGo session as valid there.
Falaise Road (TN34 1EU) is the White Rock / leisure park: small, a four-hour maximum, a cheaper band, no season tickets. Right for the sports centre. Wrong for an Old Town day.
Castle Hill Road is the park for the castle and the West Hill: about sixty spaces, of which a block are reserved in red — unusable on an ordinary ticket. Blue Badge bays are few. It fills with people who work in town as well as people going up. Height 2.2 metres. RingGo 17151.
If you are going to the castle, park here, walk up from the Old Town, or take the West Hill Lift from George Street. Do not leave the car on Rock-a-Nore and drive round. On-street on Castle Hill Road is limited and metered. A large van does not belong on this slope.
Hastings Country Park is a different problem. The parks at the visitor centre, Barley Lane and the helipad share RingGo 17158 and a different charging window — historically 08:00–16:00. The country-park parking page and the board are the live documents. Machines here have been coins-and-RingGo; do not assume a card reader.
This is the park for Fairlight Glen and a walk in from the east. It is not a substitute for Rock-a-Nore if you then want the Stade. From the East Hill you walk into the park without moving the car; that is the point of the lift. See walks around Hastings. Blue Badge holders may park free in the country-park sites if the badge is displayed correctly — not the same rule as the seafront.
Marina (TN38 0DW) is the cheaper seafront park at the St Leonards end: under a hundred spaces, Blue Badge bays, a few EV chargers, height 2.2 metres. Charging hours here have been shorter than the main seafront — historically 07:00–20:00. The machine has been coins-only; RingGo covers the rest. Watch the cycle lane on the way out.
Use it for a St Leonards beach day, Bottle Alley, Marine Court. Do not use it as overflow for the Old Town unless the promenade is the plan.
Battle Abbey stands thirteen kilometres inland, in the town called Battle, because that is where the battle was fought. Park in Battle. English Heritage has parking at the abbey; the high street has more. Do not drive back to Rock-a-Nore between the battlefield walk and lunch. The two visits are a train apart — about twenty minutes from Hastings station — or a short run up the A2100.
On-street in the Old Town is not a visitor plan. Residential streets are permit or tightly timed. Confirm parking when you book a bed.
Most council parks take RingGo and a machine. Tickets are not transferable between parks. Some machines take coins, card and contactless; Marina and Falaise Road have been coins-only on the machine. If the machine is down and you cannot pay by phone, the council pages tell you to call them rather than leave a note. Have the app set up before you leave the A21.
Tariffs are seasonal: 1 April–31 October and 1 November–31 March are different columns on the charges page. Figures move.
Blue Badge: in the main council parks, holders may park free for up to three hours in a marked disabled bay, badge and clock displayed. An ordinary bay is payable. Longer than three hours, you pay the extra. The Blue Badge page is the rulebook. Country Park is the exception above.
Height: 2.2 metres on most seafront parks, 2.0 metres at Priory Street. Motorhomes do not belong in the Old Town. EV bays still need a parking payment; move when charged.
A wet day fills every covered park. Carlisle Parade and Priory Street take the people who have come off the shingle. Rock-a-Nore does not empty just because it is raining — the free museums on that road are the indoor plan. See Hastings in the rain.
Jack in the Green, over the May Day weekend, fills the Old Town. In 2026 that is Friday 1 May to Monday 4 May, with the main parade on the bank-holiday Monday — confirm hours on the organiser listings. Do not aim for Rock-a-Nore or The Bourne that morning. Priory Street, a walkable bed, or the train. The same is true of Old Town Carnival Week in August and the Seafood, Wine & Music Festival on the Stade in mid-September. Details in when to visit Hastings.
Coaches set down on the front. You cannot out-park a coach.
Old Town and Stade. Rock-a-Nore before nine; Priory Street if you are later. Walk. Do not relocate to Pelham at lunch.
Pier, town and Pelham beach. Pelham Place, or Carlisle Parade if you want cheaper and covered.
Castle and West Hill. Castle Hill Road, or the West Hill Lift from George Street and no car on the hill. See the castle guide.
East Hill and country park. Rock-a-Nore for the lift; the Fairlight parks if you start from the east. Do not mix the two in one car movement.
St Leonards. Marina. Stay west. Battle. Park in Battle. A wet family day. Priory Street or Carlisle, then the caves and the aquarium. Hastings with kids is the rest of that day.
The car’s job is to reach the right end of the front.