Discovering the Charms of Brighton: Insider Tips for Making the Most of Your Visit

In episode 102 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, host Tracy Collins chats with guest Cate, who recently spent some time living in Brighton. Cate shares her insider tips, favourite places to visit in Brighton, and experiences exploring the surrounding areas. From walking along the rocky beach and exploring the pier to enjoying scones and clotted cream, Cate's adventures in Brighton during the off-season provided a unique and memorable experience. 

Join us as we delve into Cate's recommendations and insights to help you plan your perfect trip to the vibrant and picturesque seaside city of Brighton.

⭐️ Guests - Cate Brubaker of  My Germany Vacation
📝  Show Notes - Episode 102

Listen to these episodes next:

• Episode #3 - Visiting York
• Episode #92 - Visiting Portsmouth
• Episode #96 - Easy day trips by train from London (Part 1)

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. In this podcast, tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 2: 0:42

So hi everybody, and welcome to episode 102 of the UK Travel Planet podcast. This week I have a very special guest, my friend Kate. He was going to introduce herself in a second and tell you all about what she does, but she spent some time living in Brighton last year, so she was the perfect person to come on and share all about things to do and see in Brighton and to share some insider tips. So, kate, should we just get straight into it? Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us whereabouts you live, what it is that you do?

Speaker 3: 1:11

Sure, well, thanks for having me on. So my husband and I live in North Carolina in the United States, but we're semi-nomadic, so we spend some of our year in North Carolina and some of our year in Europe, and that's because we have a Germany travel planning business called my Germany Vacation. So we basically do what you do, but for Germany.

Speaker 2: 1:30

That's right. That is right, yeah, so if any of you guys are planning to do a trip to Germany, kate is the person to go and chat to Kate and Aaron, because she works for the husband on her business. So basically, she has exactly the same as we have for the UK all about Germany and I believe you're going to be doing a podcast later on in the year. Is that right, kate? Yeah, that's the plan. Okay, that'll be great. That'll be great. Well, I'm sure everybody will be going. Oh, fantastic, there'll be another travel planning podcast to listen to. So if you're going to head to Germany, that's where you need to pop over to the Facebook group as well. Kate and your website.

Speaker 3: 2:03

Yeah, so our website is mygermanyvacationcom and we have a lot of resources over there. We also have a Facebook group that is like your UK travel planning group and I'm in that group. I use your UK travel planning group a lot when we were planning our trips to the UK, and so we have the same type of thing it's called Germany trip planning from mygermanyvacationcom and it's a really friendly group and lots of great people and lots of great tips. So if you are planning a trip to Germany or anywhere kind of around Germany, come join us.

Speaker 2: 2:34

Perfect, and I will put a link in the show notes for this episode to all of Kate's social media, her Facebook and to her website as well. So, kate, let's talk about Brighton then. So it's great to hear that you used our Facebook group on our website when you were planning your trip to Brighton. So why did you end up choosing Brighton to go to first of all, and kind of, how long were you there for?

Speaker 3: 2:52

So it's funny because we chose Brighton completely randomly. We were actually in Istanbul for about five weeks and we had always thought about going back to the UK, because my husband spent some time there when he was a kid and then I had been there several times over the years, and and also we couldn't go back to the Schengen zone because we had just been in Germany and used up our 90 days. So we thought, well, let's go. We found a cheap flight. We thought let's go to London and we had a whole bunch of hotel points. So we spent about two weeks in London and we wanted to spend a month somewhere. This was February.

Speaker 3: 3:28

So we got to London in February and so you know, we were like, well, where should we go? We want to someplace around, you know, not too far away from London. I really wanted to be on the water, and so we saw Brighton and I think I actually asked in your group like, hey, what's Brighton like at this time of year? Are we crazy for going there in February and March? And so we decided, let's just try it. You know like we, when we travel we move slowly. So we thought, well, we'll just. We got an Airbnb, we stayed there for a month and we loved it. I loved being there in, you know, the off season and we enjoyed it so much. We we spend, you know, a couple of days working. Then we would go out and explore for a couple of days, then we worked for a couple of days.

Speaker 2: 4:11

And yeah, we absolutely loved it. And did you? You had an Airbnb, or where did you stay when you were there?

Speaker 3: 4:15

Yeah, we booked an Airbnb. We just had a little apartment about two blocks from the water and we were in the Kemptown part of Brighton, so we were really close to everything. We could walk everywhere.

Speaker 2: 4:25

That's brilliant. Yeah, because it is a pretty walkable little city, isn't it? You can get around fairly easily.

Speaker 3: 4:30

Yeah, and we loved that. We really wanted to be in a place that was near the water and also where we could walk but also explore outside of the town, and so Brighton was perfect.

Speaker 2: 4:41

And it's a great day trip as well from London, if you just think okay, I don't want to spend a couple of days in Brighton, but I want to pop down there for the day, you can. Actually, it's a really easy train ride to get down there from London as well. So what we?

Speaker 3: 4:52

do yeah.

Speaker 2: 4:52

And it didn't take very long. No, it doesn't take very long at all to get the UK, so it's top of my list. When I get back over again, keep saying I must go back to Brighton, must go back to Brighton. I'm a big fan of the Brighton Pavilion. I absolutely love it. But let's talk about what your favourite places are to visit in Brighton, kate.

Speaker 3: 5:13

So my favourite is the beach area. I absolutely love it. It's a rocky beach and I had so much fun going out and just walking, even when the weather was nice. We actually had really nice weather. Surprisingly, we had better weather in February and March than we did when we went back to the UK in October, November and December.

Speaker 2: 5:36

So we had lots of sun. I'm sorry I was in trouble there. Ok, I was just saying that's the UK weather for you. You can never predict it.

Speaker 3: 5:49

Yeah, we were really surprised. We, we were ready for rain. I mean, I grew up in Oregon so like western Oregon I'm I'm used to rain and um gray skies. But we actually had really nice weather and so sometimes we would finish our work day and we would walk two blocks to the to the beach area and we would just walk and walk and walk, and walk and walk. And I love that.

Speaker 3: 6:05

The whole beach area in Brighton is rocky and you know when the tide comes in and then it goes out over the rocks, it just makes this really interesting sound and it was just so relaxing to go stand there and listen to it and just be near the water. I think that's also because of where I grew up. We used to go to the beach when it was kind of cloudy and rainy and just kind of had the same feel. So I really really loved that. So we spent a lot of time all up and down the shore in Brighton and then outside of Brighton, but also in Brighton we would walk around the pier once in a while. That was kind of fun. It wasn't super crowded, which was really nice. We did go to the pavilion. That was really interesting, walking around the outside, but also touring all the rooms on the inside.

Speaker 2: 6:45

We also really like. I think it's fascinating. I think it's fascinating the pavilion. I mean, you know, the Prince Regent nearly bankrupted the country, I think the amount of money spent on that place.

Speaker 3: 7:00

Yeah, yeah, and it's really inside. It's interesting inside because it doesn't look like all the other castles, you know, and palaces. So it was, yeah, we really enjoyed going through. And then we really liked the lanes too. You know, there's that downtown shopping area and there's the more modern mall area and then, you know, at the restaurants and the shops and everything. But then the lanes were also really nice and there were a couple. There were two different parts and the very narrow little pedestrian areas that would kind of wind around, and there were these little boutiques and little coffee shops and you know. So we just had fun. Like it was only 10 minutes walking from our Airbnb and so we would just go down there and kind of wander around and pop into these little stores and boutiques and cafes and stuff, and that was really nice. And then near that I kind of on across the street I think that was also considered part of the lanes, but there were it was a little bit different. There was like like a street fair, kind of outdoor market type thing, and then secondhand stores or charity shops. I guess is what they're called there. Yeah, and I remember there was a fudge shop, because I went in and got cloudy cream fudge there that was really good and record stores and you know, just kind of like more eclectic type of store. So we really enjoyed that too.

Speaker 3: 8:15

And then we just kind of wandered all over town.

Speaker 3: 8:17

We went out to Hove, because Brighton and Hove. So we went out to Hove and kind of wandered around there and they had a lot of restaurants and cafes and people were sitting outside having brunch on the weekend when the weather was nice and and oh and then we also kind of walked around Queens Park. I think we walked past Queens Park. That was kind of near where we were staying and we walked out quite a ways, just through like normal neighborhoods, you know. And then I think there was a horse racing area that was kind of on the edge of town and then we walked back through Queens Park and that was just a really pretty park, very, very, you know, kind of quiet, and there was a little lake. I remember we sat down on a bench and this cat came over and sat on our laps, just fell asleep. It was just, you know, it was just kind of nice. And so you know, we just did a lot of kind of exploring on the days that we went out and it was lovely.

Speaker 2: 9:14

And I think that's the kind of advantage of spending as long as you did there in one place is you really get to immerse yourself?

Speaker 2: 9:21

don't you and actually get to know the place that you're staying in. So you get, you know, you find out the favorite little boutique shop that you like to pop into, you know your favorite little walk that you like and you get your favorite little tea houses and places that you like to eat. So and I know, when I go anywhere I love to find nice little tea rooms and have a nice piece of cake and a nice cup of tea. So did you have any favorite places to eat in Brighton, kate?

Speaker 3: 9:46

yes, and I remember that was something else I posted in your Facebook group. I was asking about where to have tea, because I love tea and I love scones and I love clotted cream, and so I was plotting out where I was going to have tea the whole time we were in the UK. So, after doing a lot of research, there were a lot of places in Brighton. The place that we chose was this little teeny tiny tea room and it was in Kemptown and so it's pretty close to downtown. So it's very easy.

Speaker 3: 10:12

If you're coming from London for the day, you can easily go to the Lehman tea room. It's this little teeny tiny place. I think they have like three tables in there. So we made a reservation and we were the only ones in there the morning. So we got there, I think, right when they opened, so we were the only ones in there for like an hour, and so we got to chat with the owners and we had just been in Istanbul and they were also from that area. So it was really fun to talk with them about Istanbul and then their life in the UK and the tea room, and it was delicious. I love their scones, love the tea. It was such a fun experience, so highly recommend that.

Speaker 2: 10:49

Do you have any other ones that you became regulars at that?

Speaker 3: 10:52

was the only one. Um, I was trying, I was trying not to eat too many scones and clotted cream, but I will say that, uh, so I also have a food blog and, um, so I had to do a little research for that and I went to a grocery store I think we went to a bakery, or maybe it was just the grocery store and I picked up some scones and I picked up clotted cream and I picked up some jam and we went back to our Airbnb and so we did have scones a couple more times, but we just had them in our own place and that was good too. But the experience is just so much more fun when you go to an actual tea room.

Speaker 2: 11:27

That's true. That's true. But I know the feeling because I do too many afternoon teas and then I kind of wonder why my jeans are getting a little bit tight after a few weeks.

Speaker 3: 11:33

We also. We went to one in the Cotswolds and then, um, yeah, and I, I mean I can eat scones and clotted cream every day, but I really shouldn't. So I was trying to like space it out, but yeah, it was, it was delicious.

Speaker 2: 11:46

And any other, any other foods that you enjoyed when you were there. I know you kind of mentioned something about there, yeah, so. Is it, mr Whipped Cream?

Speaker 3: 11:54

Yes, yes, yes. So well, first I want to preface this with because we were in an apartment. When we travel slowly like that, we mostly cook in our apartments. We go to the grocery store, we find lots of interesting things there and then we make them in our apartment. And the two weeks before we went to Brighton we were in London in a hotel, so we ate out every single meal, so we didn't eat out as much in Brighton.

Speaker 3: 12:15

But in addition to the tea room, we also went to. Actually, there was this like the boardwalk to the west of the pier and it goes along the shore and there's little ice cream stands and then there's also little places where you can get sandwiches and fish sandwiches and fish and things like that. And we went to one that was right next to the boat museum and we order. I think I got a bacon sandwich and my husband got some sort of fish and um, and then we got chips and we just sat there and they have chairs, we. We sat there just enjoying the sun and enjoying the beach and eating these delicious sandwiches. So that was really good. And then on the way back we stopped at another little stand, a little ice cream stand, and they had local soft serve ice cream, or soft serve ice cream, from local cows, I think, and so, yeah, I had a whippy with a flake, and that was also delicious. I could eat those every day too.

Speaker 2: 13:09

So we call that. I don't know about the rest of the UK, I think, so we call them a 99.

Speaker 1: 13:13

So you get a 99 with a flake.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Oh, okay, and then the strawberry sauce which you can get on there. Oh, I didn't see the strawberry sauce. Like Mr, whippy ice cream, that's my favourite. Ah, yeah, usually you can get strawberry sauce and then a chocolate flake and, yes, that ice cream. But that stuff, yeah, really nice. It was so good that's good to know you had that and the weather was warm enough that you could sit and enjoy an ice cream and enjoy it as well.

Speaker 3: 13:37

That's good. Yeah, we also had a couple of other things. We had the clotted cream fudge that I mentioned earlier, and I just found a fudge shop and I've made clotted cream fudge at home, because I make clotted cream at home too, so I had to try the real thing, and that was also really good. And then when we were in London, we went to Gail's Bakery a couple of times, and so we saw that in Brighton as well. So they have good sandwiches and other very delicious items, and they have really good hot chocolate. So we went there too.

Speaker 2: 14:04

Well, that's always good to know. Doug's a big fan of hot chocolate, so he'll be taking note of that when we head down to Brighton, hopefully this year or definitely next year. So when you were getting, we talked about the fact you walked around Brighton a lot. Did you also take the bus?

Speaker 3: 14:16

We did, yeah Well actually, when we were in Brighton we just walked everywhere. But when we went outside of Brighton, then we took the bus, and that was really easy. We just took our, we used our credit cards, we just, you know, tapped in, tapped out when we got on and off the bus, and it was super easy, it was very affordable, and so then we could explore lots of towns all around.

Speaker 2: 14:38

Brighton and there's plenty to see around. Brighton isn't there, so what sort? Of places. What were your favorite places to visit from Brighton?

Speaker 3: 14:44

So we went out to the Seven Sisters. We really really liked that it was not too far on the bus. I can't remember how long it took, but we went through some smaller towns and then we went to a little nature center, picked up sandwiches. Then we walked to the beach area and there you can see the cliffs and the view is really pretty. And then we were down at sea level and the whole view was just stunning. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Speaker 3: 15:10

And then you can also walk up the cliff, so kind of the grassy part of the cliff. So we did that for a little ways and then we got back on the bus and we went out to Burling Gap and I wanted to go all the way to Beachy Head but we couldn't quite make it out there because the buses weren't running. So we just went out to Burling Gap and that was really pretty too, too, I absolutely love walking on the cliffs and seeing the water and and it's just, it's a little scary walking on those cliffs because you know you get too close and you're like right on the edge. So I just think it's so, so beautiful and one of my favorite things to do is just walk and walk and walk and walk on those cliffs and it's a beautiful walk because they're white cliffs as well.

Speaker 2: 15:49

just to say that you don't have to just go to Dover to see the White Cliffs, because we have White Cliffs in that area too that are really really pretty and, as Kate said, a lovely, lovely walk. You just have to be careful not go too close to the edge. Yeah, that's for sure. So that was a favorite place that you went to. So did you go there very often? Was that a kind of regular one or was it just kind of a couple of times you popped along there?

Speaker 3: 16:10

Yeah, we did that. We went to the Seven Sisters in Burling Gap just once. But other times, you know, we would take the bus out and we would just explore some of the towns. I think there was Salt, dean and Peace Haven, new Haven, seaford, like we went out to some of those. And so sometimes we would just take the bus out and we would just randomly get out at a stop, and then we would just randomly get out at a stop and then we would just walk and walk from one town to the next, or we would just walk, you know, on the cliffs and at one time we came across the prime meridian. So we had visited that in London, in Greenwich, and then we were just walking on the cliffs one day and then we saw a little like monument and we realized that was also the prime meridian. So that was kind of interesting too to walk and see that.

Speaker 3: 16:53

We visited some of the smaller towns along the shore and that was those were also really, really pretty, and then we would take the bus back. So I felt like we got to see, you know, quite a bit of that area. And then we also went west of Brighton and we went out to Worthing, I think that was. That was the one place we went and that was that was, you know, nice. But they have a pier and they have the the shore area and that was nice too, but it was really cold and windy on that day, so we didn't see a whole lot and we didn't really spend a whole lot of time there. So next time we'll have to explore that.

Speaker 3: 17:37

And then the other one we did was we took the bus out to. I think it's called Luz, is it Luz or Lewis? I'm not sure. Luz, luz, I think I should know that. But yeah, luz, yeah. So it's a small town and we walked around um kind of the old town pedestrian area and then they also have a castle, so that was also fun oh cool, so you did.

Speaker 2: 17:46

You did a lot, I mean, and the thing is, I know you're also working at the same time, so that that's quite nice though the ability to do your work but also go out and about and explore and kind of see the area. So you got to know that particular south coast part of England pretty well, didn't you? So that's good.

Speaker 3: 18:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:02

I'm encouraging you next time to go up to the northeast coast.

Speaker 3: 18:05

Oh, you know we want to go up there. The next time, when we came back to the UK later on in the year, we also went down to Margate and then we spent a month in a village between Canterbury and Dover and just because it was easier, we fly in and out of London. It was just easier. But we want to go up north. So I definitely want to do that, and my husband spent time up there when he was a kid, so we definitely want to make a point to go up there.

Speaker 2: 18:32

Well, that'd be exciting and when you do, once you've spent some time up there, you can come on and chat about that, because obviously that's a part of the UK that I'm from, part of England, northern England so it's always good to talk about that. But it's been lovely to talk about Brighton. It is one of the places I say that I always enjoy going to, is such a nice place, wandering around the lanes, going to the pavilion, you know, just soaking in that seaside atmosphere that you only get really in England.

Speaker 2: 18:57

Uh well, in the UK that kind of you know, ice cream walking around the, the promenade and yeah, and the pier and that sort of thing.

Speaker 3: 19:04

So it's it's really good fun yeah, I'm so glad we went and I'm glad we went off season. You know, I'm not sure what it's like during peak summer and I'm sure it's much more crowded and I don't know whether I would love that or not. But I was pleasantly surprised by how much we really enjoyed being there off-season. And the same thing we were in Margate off-season as well. I think I kind of have a thing for seaside towns during the off-season, when it's not very crowded and it's a little bit, you know, sometimes stormy and rainy. I really like that.

Speaker 2: 19:33

But yeah, we really enjoyed it. The thing is in the UK that when the sun comes out, everybody just gravitates down to the seaside. It's like it's warm. Let's head down to the seaside so they can get. It can get really, really busy down there. So what would be? Obviously, I think I think I know what your answer is going to be for this, but what would be your one tip for anybody who's planning to visit Brighton for the first time?

Speaker 3: 19:54

So I have two. One would be if you are there off season, don't hesitate to go because it's lovely. And the other one would be spend some time in Brighton. But if you can get out of Brighton, you know, go to the Seven Sisters or just hop on the bus. Like one of my favorite things to do is just hop on a bus and just go exploring and so just, you know, get on one of the buses. We got their double-decker buses so we just would go up to the top level and go sit in the front and we would ride it and then just get off wherever we thought looked interesting, and exploring like that is the best way to get off the beaten path and just find things that are really interesting and very memorable. A lot of my best memories are from those days where we just went out and explored very random things.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Oh, perfect. Yeah, it sounds like you had a really good time. So, Kate, thanks so much for coming on to the UK Travel Panel podcast. It's been great talking to you this week.

Speaker 3: 20:44

Well, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 20:44

It's great talking about this and remembering our wonderful time in Brighton Brilliant and I will put in the episode show notes for this week. I will put links, as I said, to Kate's Germany Facebook group and her website and her social media so that you can pop along if you're planning a trip to Germany. I highly recommend that you have a look at that. Join the Facebook group. They're really helpful. It's exactly the same as UK Travel Planning.

Speaker 1: 21:23

We're all out there to make sure that you get the best of your trip. So you'll find that in the show notes at uktravelplanningcom, forward slash episode 102. That just leaves me, though, to say, for this week, happy UK travel planning, bye.