Category:Eastbourne

Eastbourne's Carpet Gardens [image info]

View of Eastbourne beach from the Wish Tower, including the Bandstand and the Pier [image info]

Palm trees along the seafront provide additional shelter [image info]

Eastbourne Seafront Journey Planner signage [image info]

Eastbourne is a pleasant seaside town on England's south coast that is famously popular with retirees, just under twenty miles to the East of Brighton.

The seafront

Eastbourne is justifiably proud of its seafront, with its decorative flowerbeds, trees and foliage. Eastbourne Pier might not be quite as impressive as Brighton's but the gleaming Bandstand, with its semicircular shelter and seating is pretty impressive ("The busiest Bandstand in the United Kingdom"). Moving further West, past the RNLI Lifeboat Museum, there is a park hill topped by the Wish Tower, a small circular fortress whose hill provides great views of the seafront and Hotels, including the five-star The Grand. At the other end of the beachfront is the Napoleonic Redoubt Fortress.

The town centre

Inland, the town has The Towner art gallery and the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, which hosts a number of tennis tournaments.

For toy and model enthusiasts, the Town has the Train Times model shop, and Eastbourne Miniature Steam Railway.

Brighton to Eastbourne by bus

Eastbourne and Brighton are linked by a good regular bus service, the 12, 12A, 12X, and 13x.

Of these, the fastest is the "straight 12", which takes about 65 minutes to journey between the two town centres. The journey takes in the east side of Brighton's seaside, the Brighton Marina, Saltdean, Newhaven, the winding river of the Cuckmere Valley National Trust site, and the South Downs. Variant routes detour from the straight route, and can include the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head.

The "12/13" buses leave Brighton from either Stop D on Queens Road, in sight of Brighton Station, or from outside the Churchill Square Shopping Centre, depending on the time of day. However, both variations then immediately head down North Street, making the North Street bus stop a safer place to catch the service. As of June 2017, a return ticket costs £6.50, making Brighton a nice day-trip destination for Eastbournians, and Eastbourne a nice day-trip destination for Brightonians.