Camping in Hastings

What's actually on the list

There are 20 camping stays published on BritStays across the Hastings area, and every one of them is a camping-type stay — no cottages or flats padding out the numbers. In practice that single label covers a lot of ground: touring pitches, caravan sites, farm fields and glamping. You can see the range in the names alone, from Hastings Touring Park and Uckham Lane Nurseries Caravan Site to Sussex Tipi Holidays and Glottenham Farm Glamping. Work out which of those you actually want before you start comparing, because a hardstanding pitch for a motorhome and a furnished tipi are very different holidays.

Coast or countryside?

Twelve of the 20 sit in or around Hastings itself, which makes it the obvious base if you want the sea, the town and easy transport. One is at Bexhill-on-Sea and one at Pett, where Fresh Winds Camping lists WiFi — useful if someone in the party needs to check in with work.

Inland, Battle has three, including Senlac Wood Caravan & Camping, and there are single entries at Sedlescombe, Bodiam and Rye Foreign. These are the quieter end of the set. Conghurst Farm, Netherfield Place Farm and Glottenham Farm Glamping all read as working-land stays rather than resort-style parks, which tends to mean space, dark skies and fewer facilities.

A rough way to choose:

• Families who want things laid on — the holiday parks, such as Rocklands Holiday Park (restaurant, WiFi, parking) or Spindlewood Country Holiday Park.
• Couples after quiet — the farm and glamping options, or Hare and Hounds Campsite at Rye Foreign, which lists a bar and toilets.
• Touring caravans and motorhomes — Hastings Touring Park, Eagles Garth Caravan and Camping, Uckham Lane Nurseries Caravan Site.

What the facilities data tells you

A bar is the single most common facility, listed at 8 of the 20 — more than list toilets. That's worth pausing on. Cafes and restaurants appear at 5 each, WiFi at 4, and toilets at only 4. The honest reading is that facility listings on campsites are patchy rather than complete: most sites will have some form of washing and toilet provision, but if it matters to you — hot showers, a chemical disposal point, an accessible loo, washing-up sinks — ring and ask rather than assuming. The same goes for dogs. None of the 20 carries a pet policy in the data here, so if you're bringing a dog, confirm it directly and ask whether there are on-lead-only areas and somewhere to walk from the gate.

On the plus side, Bodiam boating station stands out with a bar, restaurant and cafe listed, and Senlac Wood Caravan & Camping has both a bar and a cafe — handy on the night you arrive too late to cook.

Getting there and getting about

Six stays are listed as near a train station and five as near a bus stop, which is unusually good for campsites. Spindlewood Country Holiday Park and Uckham Lane Nurseries Caravan Site both tick train, bus and EV charging nearby, so a car-free or electric-car trip is genuinely feasible. EV charging nearby appears at 6 in total, including Hastings Touring Park. Battle Normanhurst Court lists a bus stop. If you're arriving by train with camping kit, check how far the final stretch is on foot before you commit.

What to do once you're pitched

Battle Abbey is the obvious set-piece and suits the Battle and Sedlescombe sites best. Great Dixter and Lamb House give you a garden-and-house day without a long drive. In Hastings itself there's the Hastings Fishermen's Museum, the True CRIME Museum, and Rye Castle Museum at Ypres Tower alongside Rye Castle Museum. Further afield, Charleston House, Tonbridge Castle Gatehouse, Canterbury Roman Museum and Saltdean Lido at Brighton are all day-trip material — the lido being the one that saves a wet-weather week, or rather rescues a hot one.

When to book

With only 20 sites in the whole region, and seven of the towns holding just one each, availability disappears faster than the raw number suggests. If you want the single stay at Pett, Bodiam, Rye Foreign, Sedlescombe or Bexhill-on-Sea, treat it as a one-shot booking and sort it early — school holidays and bank holidays especially. Hastings, with 12, gives you the most fallback options if plans shift.

Practical steps: decide pitch type first, then confirm toilets and showers by phone, then check the dog policy and arrival times. Book the hard-to-get single-site towns ahead of the flexible Hastings ones, and keep a second choice in mind before you ring.