Coastal break southern england suggestions?

Shicky

Shicky

Shicky

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Joined
13 Jan 2007
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Location
Belfast,Northern Ireland
Hello all,

moved over to London about two months ago and looking to get a long weekend away with the missus. As a new one here I'm not too familiar which would be the best spot to go to. Really want to get near the water with hopefully plenty of wandering about to do and surfing/watersports lessons easily available to us. Not looking to wipe out my bank account for the foreseeable future either.

No car available so will just be taking the train. Ideas at the minute are Brighton, Weston-super-mare, bournemouth - welcome to other suggestions though. Leaning towards Brighton but the missus has been there a decent bit so wouldn't mind taking her somewhere she hasn't been.

So does anybody have good experiences somewhere they fancy sharing?
 
Has to be Brighton if anywhere. (Source, spent the last few years living here).

Fantastic place. Hopefully the weather will be nice. ^^
 
Brighton aka Croydon by Sea is worth a visit if grubby, Eastbourne is nice, the Sovereign Harbour is busy and new and not 'old' Eastbourne, Hastings old town surprised me.

Newhaven Fort is worth a visit, Lewes is very nice end up having dinner in The Griffin in Fletching and you'll defiantly be in her good books.
 
Craig321 said:
Newquay! Nice beaches & waves there.
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+1


easily my favourite place in england, such a brilliant place, love the atmosphere there, so chilled, also good night life if you want to get out on it.
loads of water sports/outdoors stuff, beautiful coastline and beaches, pop down to fistral beach for surfing and such lessons and kit hire pretty cheap, can get pretty busy down there at times though.
been down a few times, infact just got back from a week down there, without a doubt i'll be back at some point:D.
 
problem with Newquay though, and pretty much everywhere here in Cornwall, you cannot get there by train, and buses are hit and miss too. but are excellent places otherwise. Perranporth is a really undervalued place too, its a lot quieter than Newquay, so if nightlife is what you want then you would need to venture out.
 
Kenai said:
Interesting, as I have travelled to several places in Cornwall on a train.

I guess I imagined it :p
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yes several places, but I would love you to show me a train that goes to a lot of the biggest tourist hotspost, ie. Newquay, St Ives, Bude..... I didn't say Cornwall had NO trains, I am just saying, its very limited on where does :rolleyes:
 
maccapacca said:
Brighton aka Croydon by Sea is worth a visit if grubby, Eastbourne is nice, the Sovereign Harbour is busy and new and not 'old' Eastbourne, Hastings old town surprised me.

Newhaven Fort is worth a visit, Lewes is very nice end up having dinner in The Griffin in Fletching and you'll defiantly be in her good books.
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Lewes is nice, but it's hardly by the sea which surely is one of the main attractions? Eastbourne is good if you like wandering around old dolls.

Brighton may have a few seedy elements but it's certainly alive and kicking!
 
paradisiac said:
yes several places, but I would love you to show me a train that goes to a lot of the biggest tourist hotspost, ie. Newquay, St Ives, Bude..... I didn't say Cornwall had NO trains, I am just saying, its very limited on where does :rolleyes:
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Well Newquay and St Ives both do (First Great Western), dunno about Bude.

Not really sure where you get the idea that you can't get to Newquay by train.
 
Kenai said:
Well Newquay and St Ives both do (First Great Western), dunno about Bude.

Not really sure where you get the idea that you can't get to Newquay by train.
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ok my bad, I wasn't aware there was a station in Newquay, I always thought it was the penzance-truro line, wasn't aware it branched from Truro off to Newquay.
 
There are multiple branches off the Cornish Main Line, one to St Ives, one to Newquay, one to Falmouth and one to Looe.

The Newquay line branches off at Par though, not Truro. Truro is where the Falmouth branch joins.
 
Kenai said:
There are multiple branches off the Cornish Main Line, one to St Ives, one to Newquay, one to Falmouth and one to Looe.

The Newquay line branches off at Par though, not Truro. Truro is where the Falmouth branch joins.
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ah, see I wasn't aware of that, I lived half my time in cornwall near slatash and the other half near penzance, so all the advertising and stuff we get here is the direct line. I must admit in all my trips to newquay I have never seen any signs for a station.
 
Newquay is a **** hole. There are so many nicer places in Cornwall. It isn't representative of Cornwall, it's such a shame many people think that's all there is...
 
Brighton is easy to get to from London, cheap advance tickets from southern railway online.

Bournemouth has the beach and a lively nightlife, or at least it 7-10 years ago.

For genuine coast and more of a get away from urban life cornwall is decent, the bus service is decent (stayed in Mousehole a couple of times, you can get bus from there to Penzance then change for e.g. St Ives).
 
Panzerbjorn said:
Newquay is a **** hole. There are so many nicer places in Cornwall. It isn't representative of Cornwall, it's such a shame many people think that's all there is...
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agreed I would look at somewhere more like perranporth (which is close enough to newquay if you fancy visiting it). but if you were coming to cornwall I would suggest renting a car, as its better to stay somewhere cheap and have day trips to different places than stay in one area all holiday.
 
Only trouble with Bournemouth is if it's even remotely nice weather then everyone from what seems like a 50 mile radius descends on the beach and pack themselves in like sardines, which is really not my idea of an ideal day at the seaside
 
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