Brighton is a beautiful seaside town on the English south coast known for its pebble beach, interesting architecture and artsy, bohemian vibe. Home to the UKs only Green party MP, it is a thriving home for environmentalists, plant based restaurants and sustainability living. 

Brighton is only an hour train ride away from London and makes an excellent day out if you are looking to escape London. Here is how I spent 24 hours in Brighton.

Getting there

There are frequent trains to Brighton from London. You can get the train from Victoria or you can get the Thameslink service from any of its central London stations. The trains take between one hour and one hour thirty depending which service you pick. 

I bought my ticket the day before and, with a railcard, it cost £13.00 for a day return or £23.75 for an off-peak return. 

We got a morning train at around 10am from London St Pancras and arrived in Brighton just after 11am.

11am Coffee – Pelicano 

Our first stop was to go get some coffee. We went to Pelicano coffee. There are a few of these in Brighton and we went to the shop on Sydney Street. 

We both got a long black coffee (£5.00 for two) and sat outside in their coffee garden. We didn’t get anything to eat but there was an incredible array of freshly baked cakes available if you want a snack.

Overall, a nice relaxed coffee shop to stop off at and a great cup of coffee!

12pm Lunch – Fika

We had to go on a bit of a hike for our lunch as Fika is located in Hove – a thirty minute walk away from the centre of brighton. However it was definitely worth the walk there! 

Fika is a small coffee and brunch cafe specialising in Cracked fried egg sandwiches. But you can also get breakfast rolls, burgers and sweet baked goods as well.

We went for two of the classic toasted sandwiches: TON BACON and HIDE AND SQUEAK.  

TON BACON is, well, a ton of bacon! It’s a classic combination of egg, bacon and cheese in a toasted sandwich.

HIDE AND SQUEAK is a vegetarian sandwich with egg, halloumi and avocado. 

While both were incredible, I preferred the HIDE AND SQUEAK since I’m not a huge bacon fan. (However if you do like bacon like my boyfriend you will absolutely love this one as well). 

This was one of the highlights of our trip and would highly recommend giving it a go!

2pm Brighton Beach

We walked back into the center of Brighton down the pebble beach, stopping to have a look at the various stalls and cafes. 

We also walked past the British airways viewing tower. This 162m tower dominates Brighton beach and offers visitors the chance to see the town from above. It opened in 2016 and costs £16.50 or £11.10 for under 25s to ride. 

We didn’t take a ride this time, however it would be a lovely thing to do to break up the afternoon.

3pm Brighton Pavillion

We walked back through Brighton, stopping at the impressive Brighton Pavilion. This grade I listed building was build in 1823 by King George VI and is a must see if you are brighton.

We also took a walk through the Lanes, a row of independent cafes and artsy shops in the centre of Brighton.

4pm Drinks – Pond

Back near the main train station is Pond. An independent pub specialising in Taiwanese street food. 

We stopped off here to try the bao buns and have a few afternoon cocktails (for me) / craft beers (for my boyfriend). 

I went for the soft shell crab, squid ink bao bun. This is a black steamed bun with a deep fried soft shell crab, tangy slaw and asian sauce. Unlike anything I’ve had before but I can highly recommend it. My boyfriend went for a pork belly bun which was alright, but we both preferred mine.

7pm Cin Cin

For dinner, we booked Cin Cin in Hove, an upmarket Italian Bar and Kitchen. 

Even though I booked weeks in advance the only space available was at the counter. However, Cin Cin has an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant and, where we were sat at the counter, gave us a perfect view of the very hard working chefs. We enjoyed watching them make our food as we waited for each course. 

For food, we went for the 5 course chef’s menu. This set menu cost £45 per person and seemed to be the best value since one dish alone on the regular menu cost around £23. Wine was also quite pricey so we went for a glass of house red each which was enjoyable although nothing special. 

To start we got a small focaccia bread with an olive oil and balsamic dip, a plate for marinated baby plum tomatoes and a plate of green olives.

Next we had two small plates to share: an arancini ball and a creamy barata on a bed of sweet fried peppers and onions. 

For the first main course, we had a rich asparagus pasta dish and for the second main course, we had a duck gnocchi dish.

Finally for dessert, we both had a raspberry sorbet with a light sweet sponge and strawberries.

Everything we ate was amazing – 100% the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to. In particular I loved the pasta dish that we got and also the creamy burrata dish. 

Our whole meal came to over £100 so it was not a cheap dinner, (!)  however if you are looking for some incredible food and a classy but still relatively informal vibe, I would highly recommend it!

9pm The Potting Parlour 

If you are only in Brighton for the day, you might want to catch a train home at this point. However we had booked a hotel for the night so proceeded on to a cocktail bar.

We chose the Plotting Parlour which was actually on the other end of Brighton so I decided we’d better get a taxi from Cin Cin so I wouldn’t have to trek twenty minutes in my heeled sandals. 

The bar has an intimate vibe and is a great place to come on a date. The cocktails on the menu were all quite unique. The two we got were not really to our taste which was a shame, however the bar staff were great and did offer to make us any cocktail we wanted even if it’s not on the menu.

Final Thoughts

After this we went back to our hotel for the night and headed back to London the following morning. 

The highlights for me were our sandwiches from Fika and dinner at Cin Cin. Would highly recommend both of these places. 

If you are spending the day in Brighton make sure you also spend some time on the seafront (especially if you pick a sunny day!) Plus make sure you take a wander down the Lanes and check out the artsy shops and cafes.