Photo: Chensiyuan (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Things to do in Hastings
The best holidays are planned around great days out. Here's what's on the doorstep in Hastings, from big-ticket attractions to rainy-day savers.
🎟️ This weekend near Hastings
Events from
Skiddle
Fri 13 Nov · 23:00
Aura Weekends
Aura Nightclub Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells · 23.3 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 16:30
DIY Basics
Doityourself, Lewes · 24.6 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 19:30
Craig Charles Funk & Soul House Party
Eastbourne Winter Garden, Eastbourne · 14.1 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 23:00
The Essence Friday's at Aura
Club Aura Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells · 23.3 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Aquariums
1 mi from Hastings
Blue Reef Aquarium
Blue Reef is a national chain of public aquariums in England owned by Aspro Parks. — Wikipedia
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Museums & Galleries
0.1 mi from Hastings
The True CRIME Museum
The True CRIME Museum in Hastings offers a chilling look into the world of serial killers, forensics, gangsters, prisoners and poisoners. You'll see genuine artefacts such as a let...
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0.2 mi from Hastings
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Hastings Museum & Art Gallery is a community-focused museum bringing together art, natural history, local history, archaeology and world cultures collections. You can explore the r...
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1 mi from Hastings
Shipwreck Museum
The Shipwreck Museum is an independent charitable museum in the historic Old Town of Hastings, UK. The museum has artefacts from many ships wrecked in the English Channel from the... — Wikipedia
1 mi from Hastings
Hastings Fishermen's Museum
Hastings Fishermen's Museum is a museum dedicated to the fishing industry and maritime history of Hastings, a seaside town in East Sussex, England. It is housed in a former church,... — Wikipedia
4.8 mi from Hastings
Bexhill Museum
Bexhill Museum is a volunteer-run town museum housed in a building that mixes modern and Edwardian styles across four galleries. Inside you'll find dinosaur footprints, local fossi...
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5.7 mi from Hastings
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey marks the site of the 1066 Battle of Hastings, where William the Conqueror's Norman army met King Harold's English forces. You can explore interactive displays in the...
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5.9 mi from Hastings
Battle Museum of Local History
Battle Museum of Local History brings together the story of Battle, East Sussex, from prehistoric times through to the modern day, with collections that began life as a 1951 Festiv...
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7.7 mi from Hastings
Winchelsea Corporation Museum
Museum in Winchelsea, England, United Kingdom
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9.7 mi from Hastings
Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower
Rye Castle Museum is based around the Ypres Tower, a Scheduled Monument built in the 13th century, which together with the Medieval Garden and Women's Tower forms Rye Castle. A sec...
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9.7 mi from Hastings
Rye Castle Museum
Rye Castle Museum is run across two sites in the medieval town of Rye: the Ypres Tower, a 13th-century Scheduled Monument with its Medieval Garden and Women's Tower, and the East S...
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10.6 mi from Hastings
Pevensey Courthouse Museum
Pevensey Court House, formerly known as Pevensey Town Hall, is a municipal building in the High Street, Pevensey, East Sussex, England. The structure, which currently accommodates... — Wikipedia
13.3 mi from Hastings
Rolvenden Layne Sound Museum
Rolvenden Layne Sound Museum is a disused village phone box in Rolvenden, Ashford, transformed into a tiny museum of sound. Inside, a hand-cranked digital audio player replaces the...
14 mi from Hastings
Morgan Museum
This is a small motoring museum in Kent, home to the unique collection of Morgan 3 wheel cars, with 11 normally on display, dating from 1909 to 1935. Other vehicles include a 1929...
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15.6 mi from Hastings
Tenterden District Museum
Tenterden & District Museum sits in a two-storey weather-boarded building in Tenterden, Ashford, and tells the story of the town and its surrounding villages across six exhibition...
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15.7 mi from Hastings
Colonel Stephens Railway Museum
The Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, housed in the John Miller Building at Tenterden Town Station, tells the story of Holman Fred Stephens, the engineer behind Britain's light rail...
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16.6 mi from Hastings
Farleys Barn Gallery
Farleys House & Gallery was the home of Surrealist artists Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, who lived there for 35 years and filled it with contemporary art treasures, hosting many k...
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Theme Parks
13 mi from Hastings
Treasure Island & Adventure Golf
Treasure Island Adventure Park is a pirate-themed attraction in Eastbourne, East Sussex, combining indoor and outdoor fun for a day out whatever the weather. Inside, Buccaneers off...
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14.8 mi from Hastings
Knockhatch Adventure Park
Knockhatch Adventure Park is a family theme park in Arlington, Wealden, bringing together rides, animals and play areas for a full day out whatever the weather. You can explore the...
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15.9 mi from Hastings
Go Ape Bedgebury
Go Ape Bedgebury sits within Bedgebury National Pinetum, offering high ropes courses, zip lines and a dual Tarzan Swing among the treetops, plus graded forest biking trails for tho...
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18.3 mi from Hastings
Blackberry Farm Park
Blackberry Farm Park is a family run farm park set in the East Sussex countryside, offering a fun filled family day out. You can enjoy pony rides for ages 2 and up, feed our animal...
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21.8 mi from Hastings
Dymchurch Amusements
Dymchurch Amusements is a traditional seaside amusement park in Dymchurch, Kent, offering a fun-filled family day out with no admission fee. You'll find a range of rides suited to...
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27.7 mi from Hastings
Go Ape Leeds Castle
Go Ape Leeds Castle brings high ropes and zip line adventure to the grounds of Leeds Castle in Kent, with obstacles set among the treetops and a castle backdrop. The main Treetop C...
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Water Parks
27.1 mi from Hastings
Saltdean Lido
Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, in the city of Brighton and Hove, in the ceremonial county of East Sussex, England, is an Art Deco lido designed by architect R.W.H.... — Wikipedia
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Zoos & Wildlife
18 mi from Hastings
Drusillas Park
Drusillas Park is a family-run zoo in Alfriston, East Sussex, combining hundreds of exotic animals with play and rides for children. Alongside the animal habitats, you'll find SPAR...
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21.6 mi from Hastings
The Big Cat Sanctuary
The Big Cat Sanctuary is a conservation centre in Smarden, near Ashford, dedicated to protecting and rescuing wild cats from around the world. You can meet more than 30 cats across...
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24.2 mi from Hastings
Port Lympne Reserve
Port Lympne Reserve is a large wild animal park set in over 600 acres near Lympne, close to Hythe in Kent. You can go on safari to see giraffes, spectacled bears and water buffalo,...
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Where to stay near Hastings
Places to stay within easy reach of these days out.
More around Hastings
Haunted Britain
Hastings gives you a lot in a small space: a working fishing beach, steep old streets, big skies, and a stretch of East Sussex coast and countryside behind it that's full of castles, gardens and small, well-kept museums. It's the sort of place where you can plan loosely and still have a good day, but a little structure helps — especially if the weather turns, which on this coast it often does twice before lunch.
Start with the sea and the fishing quarter
The obvious first stop is the Hastings Fishermen's Museum, which sits right among the tall net shops and the boats drawn up on the shingle. It's compact, free of fuss, and it explains why the beach looks the way it does — which makes everything else you see that day more interesting. Children tend to like it because there's a real boat indoors and plenty to look at rather than read.
From there, the seafront is your own to wander. Bring layers, because the wind off the Channel doesn't care what the forecast said. If you want an easy reward at the end, Bexhill Gelateria is the kind of stop that turns a grumpy walk back into a cheerful one.
Rainy-day options that actually hold up
Hastings is unusually well served for wet weather, and you can string two or three indoor stops together without repeating yourself:
- The True CRIME Museum — dark, detailed and best suited to older teenagers and adults rather than small children.
- Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower — a proper stone tower with a long, complicated past, and the kind of views you earn by climbing.
- Rye Castle Museum — the second half of the same story, with more of the everyday objects and local history.
- Bexhill Museum — a genuine mixed bag of local history, natural history and motoring, and good value for a slow afternoon.
Pair two of these with a long lunch and you've filled a washout day without anyone complaining.
Heritage worth making time for
Battle Abbey is the heavyweight — the site tied to 1066 itself, and the reason so many people come to this corner of East Sussex in the first place. Give it longer than you think; the grounds are as much of the visit as the buildings.
For something quieter, Lamb House is National Trust and has the domestic, lived-in feel that big castles never manage. Great Dixter is the one to prioritise if anyone in your group gardens — it's a stately home and garden where the planting is the main event, and it rewards a slow circuit rather than a quick look.
Further afield in East Sussex, Charleston House suits art lovers and anyone who enjoys houses with strong personalities, while Tonbridge Castle Gatehouse is a solid half-day for castle-minded families.
Getting outdoors
The coastline is the main draw, and the walking is straightforward: shingle, cliffs, big views, and plenty of places to stop. If you fancy a swim with a bit of occasion to it, Saltdean Lido over towards Brighton is an outdoor pool worth the trip on a settled day. For a slower outdoor day with a viewpoint at the heart of it, The Beachy Head Story at Eastbourne makes sense of the cliffs before you walk them.
Where to eat
These all hold 5-star hygiene ratings, which is a reasonable first filter when you're somewhere new:
- First In Last Out — a pub for an unhurried Hastings lunch or an early evening pint.
- The Dolphin Inn — another pub option, good for a sit-down after a windy beach walk.
- The Rodmill — handy when you want a full meal rather than a snack.
- Coastguard Café — tea room territory, best for breakfast, cake or a mid-walk thaw.
- Bexhill Gelateria — the ice cream stop, and a fair bribe for tired legs.
Grouping it into sensible days
Don't try to mix the coast and the countryside in one day. A workable pattern is: day one, Hastings Fishermen's Museum, a seafront walk, then The True CRIME Museum, with lunch at First In Last Out. Day two, Battle Abbey in the morning and Great Dixter in the afternoon, eating at The Dolphin Inn between the two. Day three, keep it gentle — Bexhill Museum, Coastguard Café, and Bexhill Gelateria on the way back.
Turning it into a short break
Two nights is the minimum that makes the heritage sites worth the effort; three lets you add Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower and Charleston House without rushing. There are 119 places to stay on BritStays across the region, so it's worth deciding first whether you want to walk to the seafront in the evening or wake up somewhere quiet inland, then book around that.
Practical points: check opening days before you travel, as several of the smaller museums and houses don't open every day of the week; parking near the seafront fills early in summer and on bank holidays; take waterproofs rather than umbrellas, because the wind will win; and if you're visiting gardens, go early in the day when the light is better and the paths are emptier.
Frequently asked questions
What should I see in Hastings if I only have one day?
Start at the Hastings Fishermen's Museum among the net shops and boats on the shingle, walk the seafront, then head indoors to The True CRIME Museum in the afternoon. Lunch at First In Last Out or The Dolphin Inn fits neatly in the middle.
What is there to do in Hastings when it rains?
There are several good indoor options: The True CRIME Museum, Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower, Rye Castle Museum, the Hastings Fishermen's Museum and Bexhill Museum. Two of these plus a long lunch will fill a wet day comfortably.
Which attractions near Hastings are best for history and heritage?
Battle Abbey is the main one, tied to 1066. Lamb House is a National Trust property with a quieter, domestic feel, and Great Dixter is a stately home and garden. Further into East Sussex you also have Charleston House and Tonbridge Castle Gatehouse.
Where can I eat in and around Hastings with a 5-star hygiene rating?
The Rodmill, First In Last Out and The Dolphin Inn are pubs and inns; Coastguard Café is a tea room; and Bexhill Gelateria is the place for ice cream.
Is The True CRIME Museum suitable for young children?
It's dark and detailed in subject matter, so it suits older teenagers and adults better than small children. For a family-friendly indoor stop, the Hastings Fishermen's Museum or Bexhill Museum are easier choices.
How many nights do I need for a short break in Hastings?
Two nights is the minimum if you want to see the coast and the heritage sites without rushing, and three lets you add Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower and Charleston House. There are 119 places to stay on BritStays across the region.
More ways to explore
Not booked yet? See the best places to stay in Hastings.