A day in Canterbury

What it is

A city that has been worth the trip since the twelfth century, and small enough to walk end to end in twenty minutes. The cathedral is the reason most people come and it earns it; the rest is narrow streets, independent shops and a river you can be rowed along. It works as a half day if you only want the cathedral and a whole one if you want the city.

Getting there

Southeastern’s highspeed service reaches Canterbury West in fifty-one minutes from St Pancras. There are two stations and they are not interchangeable: Canterbury East is the one five minutes’ walk from the city centre, so check which your ticket is for before you pick a train.

What it costs

There is 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 anyone quoting one number for a train ticket is quoting the day they looked. Book ahead and it is cheap; turn up and it is not. The one thing Southeastern does publish and hold 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 Exhibitions.