I’m bored!
Brighton’s Palace Pier may be the city’s most iconic landmark but in my experience a trip there with kids rarely ends well. It’s not just that the rides are expensive – though they truly are: £4.50 for the log flume, £2.50 for the carousel or unlimited ride wristbands £70 for a family of four – it’s that the rides are also short. As soon as they finish one, your children are tugging at your arm for another go, or pulling you towards the ice cream kiosk or the churros stand or the sweet shop.
The structure itself oozes faded seaside glamour or, in kids’ eyes, bright noisy flashing stuff, but it’s most excitingly viewed from below, on a boat tour (£8.50 adult, £6.60 under-16s, Watertours.co.uk) which my children, aged four and six, both love. Trips lasts for around 45 minutes and run from mid-March to November except in stormy seas.
With slightly older children you could hire a kayak or standup paddleboard (from £10 an hour, Brighton Watersports) and play about in the sea between the Palace Pier and the eerily beautiful skeleton wreck of the West Pier. The best place to see the West Pier is from i360 observation tower (adult £13.50, 4-16 £6.75).
Weekends and Wednesdays in summer, and Sundays in all school holidays, there’s a free Punch and Judy show at the bottom of the i360, run by Professor Glyn Edwards, who has been performing the act for 50 years. Parents may roll their eyes but my kids guffaw the whole way through.
Another firm seafront favourite for children is the historic Volks Electric Railway train, which starts just east of the Palace Pier at the end of Madeira Drive and runs along the coast for a mile. It has open-air carriages and goes past the nudist beach, which always makes my kids giggle, even though a strategic mound of pebbles protects the modesty of bathers. It’s the world’s oldest electric railway, opened in 1883. It’s temporarily closed for refurbishment but should reopen in the early summer of 2017.
My eldest son likes Brighton Museum’s World Stories treasure trail at the Royal Pavilion (one adult and two children £8.20) and learning about the pharaohs in the Ancient Egypt gallery. Both enjoy the Toy and Model Museum (£14 for two adults and three kids), mostly to watch the giant 1930s train set in action, although they also enjoy the old-fashioned teddy bears, Meccano sets and penny arcade games, especially the one where the puppets can be made to dance.
A more surprising hit with my family is the Booth Museum of Natural History, a short way inland from the seafront on Dyke Road. It was originally a Victorian collector’s private museum and entry is free, though donations are encouraged. I’ll always find it slightly uncomfortable to be surrounded by stuffed dead animals, but my kids on the other hand were in their element. Their eyes widened at the giant brown bear mother and cub at the entrance and then galloped excitedly from one exhibit to another. My younger son liked the lion, zebra and the extinct Tasmanian tiger best, while his elder brother was more in to the rare owls, ospreys and eagles. We also saw the bones of a dodo and a sinister-looking python skeleton.
Where are all the other kids?
While few kids will tire of paddling on Brighton’s long stretch of pebble beach, which is lifeguarded from May to September, and skimming stones into the sea, under-fives will also love the paddling pools at Kings Road playground, just west of the i360, and at Hove Lagoon, an easy 15-minute cycle along the seafront to the west. Hove Lagoon also has a popular skate park, playground, wakeboard cable and watersports centre and Norman Cook’s Big Beach Café.
My kids love it there but their favourite playground in summer is The Level close to the centre of Brighton, mainly because it has fountains people can dance about in on hot days and the city’s most imaginative playground. They stand awestruck watching the local skateboarders and BMXers in the skate park.
We love cycling along the seafront as a family. Bikes can be hired from Amsterdammers’ by Brighton station, from £7 for adult-and-child bikes for three hours. It also has cargo bikes and kids’ seats. And from summer 2017 the city will have its own bike share scheme.
Most visitors to Brighton barely move much beyond the Palace Pier and the Lanes so if you take a short cycle in either direction the crowds will quickly thin out. Our two favourite rides are west to Hove Lagoon (as mentioned above) and east to Ovingdean, passing the boats at Brighton Marina, and along the dramatic chalk undercliff path (shared with pedestrians).
I’m hungry
There are plenty of places offering good value breakfasts in Brighton. Try Little Miss Piggies in Kemptown for fry-ups, Joe’s Café inland towards Preston Park for breakfast hashes and milkshakes. My boys love the pancakes at Moksha Caffe on York Place by St Peter’s Church. I also like the zero -waste ethics of Silo, so we sometimes go there for porridge or honey toast.
In Hove, the banana bread and crumpets at Treacle are delicious, and the Monmouth coffee is great. The Hidden Pantry also has good brunch and lunch options for kids (sausage and fish finger sandwiches).
Our favourite lunch haunts include La Choza, which can get busy, but the quesadillas, and crispy fish burritos are excellent. My boys are also rather taken by the burgers at Lucky Beach on the seafront.
There are lots of amazing veggie restaurants. The focaccia pizza and halloumi burgers at Food for Friends are favourites of ours. Planet India does lovely vegetarian curries and the Infinity Foods Café and Iydea are also good options. The chain restaurants Pho, Leon (both close to the Lanes) and pizza joint Fatto A Mano (in Hove and on London Road) are reasonably priced fall-back options.
I’m tired
Strawberry Fields is a bright and cosy B&B just off the seafront in Kemptown. Its attic rooms are great for families and start at £45 a night. The YHA is centrally located and good for Brighton style on a budget: family rooms start at £29. The Holiday Inn may not be the most exciting brand in the business but the Brighton one is right on the seafront and many rooms have stunning sea views. Family rooms start at £77.
Brighton is very much an Airbnb hotspot. It’s the company’s second most popular English city for rentals after London (it’s fourth overall in the UK, after Edinburgh and Glasgow) and there are plenty of cool spaces for families on a budget. If you can’t find what you want for your money in Brighton, look west towards Hove. From there, buses to Brighton are quick and frequent, or it’s an easy 10-minute cycle or stroll along the seafront.
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