A day in Whitstable

What it is

Oysters on the harbour, a shingle beach with the huts along it, and a working harbour that has not been prettied up. It is a small town and that is the whole character of it: an afternoon rather than a full day, and better on a weekday, because summer weekends fill the front and the queue for the oyster stalls goes round the corner.

Getting there

Southeastern’s highspeed from St Pancras takes around an hour and fifteen minutes, and the station is under ten minutes’ walk from the beach, which is not true of most towns on this coast.

What it costs

No fixed fare worth printing: an advance single booked weeks out and a walk-up return on the day are different amounts of money, and one number quoted for a train ticket is really a statement about the day somebody looked. Book ahead and it is cheap. The one thing Southeastern publishes and holds to is Kids for a Quid, which lets an adult travel with up to four children at a pound each, and on a family day out that is most of the cost gone.

Nearby

Filed under Food and drink.