Things to Do
Best things to do in Eastbourne, attractions, days out, and places to visit for visitors, families, and residents.
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Treasure Island & Fort Fun: Eastbourne’s Family Fun
A guide to Treasure Island and Fort Fun, two of Eastbourne’s most popular family attractions, on Royal Parade at the eastern end of the seafront. Treasure Island is a pirate-themed adventure park with two-level indoor soft play, a seasonal outdoor shipwreck park and paddling lagoon, and pirate mini golf; Fort Fun offers a popular indoor…
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Knockhatch Adventure Park: A Family Day Out Near Eastbourne
A guide to Knockhatch Adventure Park, the 80-acre family attraction near Hailsham, around nine miles north of Eastbourne. Open all year, it packs in indoor and outdoor rides, a Jungle Kingdom zoo with meerkats and lemurs, daily owl displays, a farm trail, water play and splash pads, giant playgrounds and four indoor soft-play barns —…
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Newhaven from Eastbourne: A Day Trip Guide
A guide to Newhaven from Eastbourne — the working harbour town where the River Ouse meets the sea, around 14 miles west along the coast. It’s more workaday than pretty, but earns a family day out with the mighty Victorian Newhaven Fort and its chalk tunnels, the gardens and dinosaur museum of Paradise Park, and…
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De La Warr Pavilion: Bexhill’s Modernist Icon
A guide to the De La Warr Pavilion — the gleaming 1935 Modernist icon on the Bexhill seafront, a short train ride from Eastbourne. This Grade I-listed masterpiece by Mendelsohn and Chermayeff is now a free contemporary arts centre, with changing galleries, live music and comedy, films, a sea-view terrace and café, and summer events.…
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Charleston: The Bloomsbury Group’s Painted Sussex Home
A guide to visiting Charleston from Eastbourne — the country home and studio of Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, near Firle beneath the South Downs. Every surface of the house is painted, and there’s a magical walled garden, the Famous Women Dinner Service, year-round exhibitions, a second site in Lewes and the…
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Camber Sands: A Sandy Beach Day Out from Eastbourne
A guide to Camber Sands from Eastbourne — the only proper sandy beach for miles on the largely shingle Sussex coast. Miles of soft golden sand backed by East Sussex’s only dune system, it’s a favourite for sandcastles, kite-flying and world-class kitesurfing. How to get there from Eastbourne (via Rye), parking, essential tide-and-flag safety advice,…
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Rye from Eastbourne: A Medieval Day-Trip Guide
A day-trip guide to Rye from Eastbourne — one of the most beautiful medieval towns in England, in 1066 Country. Explore the famously photographed cobbles of Mermaid Street, the smugglers’ Mermaid Inn, the ancient Ypres Tower castle and Lamb House, home to Henry James and the Mapp and Lucia novels. How to get there via…
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Bexhill from Eastbourne: A Relaxed Day-Trip Guide
A day-trip guide to Bexhill-on-Sea from Eastbourne — just 15 minutes along the coast. Explore the iconic De La Warr Pavilion, a free-to-enter modernist masterpiece and arts centre; discover Bexhill’s claim as the birthplace of British motor racing; and enjoy one of the most peaceful promenades on the Sussex coast. How to get there, what…
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Drusillas Park: The Family Zoo Near Eastbourne
A family guide to Drusillas Park near Eastbourne — one of the best-loved small zoos in the South East, just off the A27 near Alfriston. Meet lemurs, penguins, sloths and red pandas up close, ride the Safari Express, explore huge play areas and a splash pad, and discover how a 1920s tea cottage grew into…
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Polegate Windmill: The 1817 Tower Mill & Milling Museum
Polegate Windmill near Eastbourne — the graceful 1817 brick tower mill with a milling museum. The story of the mill with three names (Willingdon, Mockett’s, Ovenden’s), how it worked by wind until 1943, its rescue and restoration, the Battle-of-Hastings windshaft in its grounds, and how to visit this Grade II* listed Sussex heritage landmark today.