Photo: Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0Hastings has an old town of narrow lanes, a fishing beach with tall net huts, cliff railways and country park walks, with Battle and Rye close by.
Image: Smugglers AdventureAn atmospheric tour through more than an acre of St Clement's Caves under Hastings' West Hill, telling the story of the area's smuggling gangs. Life-sized scenes, interactive exhibits and sound effects bring 18th-century life underground to life.
Image: Visit 1066 Country (Hastings Borough Council)A short, steep cliff railway climbing from Hastings Old Town to the clifftop at East Hill. At the top, Hastings Country Park opens out with sweeping coastal views, and at the bottom you are beside the beach-launched fishing fleet.
Image: Hastings Museum and Art GalleryA free museum at John's Place holding fine art, local history and world cultures collections, alongside changing exhibitions. Its best-known room is the richly carved Durbar Hall.
Image: Hastings AquariumAn aquarium on the seafront at Rock-a-Nore with an underwater tunnel, an ocean tank with catsharks and a jungle area. Talks and feeds run through the day, and there is a cafe on site.
Image: Hastings ContemporaryA contemporary art gallery on the seafront at the Stade, next to Rock-a-Nore, showing changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Its coquina restaurant and cafe has panoramic views.
Image: Hastings Borough CouncilA 345-hectare coastal nature reserve east of Hastings, where the High Weald meets the sea along about five kilometres of sandstone cliffs. Ancient wooded glens, heath and grassland are crossed by paths with big views over the Channel.
Image: De La Warr PavilionA Grade I listed 1930s modernist pavilion on Bexhill seafront that works as a free contemporary art gallery, live music and comedy venue, and cafe with sea views. Exhibitions change through the year.
A traditional volunteer-run town museum in Egerton Park, just behind the seafront clock tower. Collections run from dinosaur footprints and local archaeology to fashion, the De La Warr Pavilion and Bexhill's motor racing heritage.
A Victorian park just back from Bexhill seafront, laid out around lakes in the late 1800s and holder of a Green Flag award. Families come for the play zone, the lake and the refreshment kiosk, and Bexhill Museum is right next to it.
Image: Battel Bonfire BoyesBattel Bonfire Boyes run one of the oldest bonfire celebrations in Sussex, starting with a maroon at dawn and ending with a torch-lit procession, bonfire and fireworks. The daytime arrival of the Oldest Guy in the World on Abbey Green is a gentler way to see it.
Image: Smugglers AdventureAn atmospheric tour through more than an acre of St Clement's Caves under Hastings' West Hill, telling the story of the area's smuggling gangs. Life-sized scenes, interactive exhibits and sound effects bring 18th-century life underground to life.
Image: Hastings Museum and Art GalleryA free museum at John's Place holding fine art, local history and world cultures collections, alongside changing exhibitions. Its best-known room is the richly carved Durbar Hall.
Image: Hastings AquariumAn aquarium on the seafront at Rock-a-Nore with an underwater tunnel, an ocean tank with catsharks and a jungle area. Talks and feeds run through the day, and there is a cafe on site.
Image: Hastings Museum and Art GalleryA free museum at John's Place holding fine art, local history and world cultures collections, alongside changing exhibitions. Its best-known room is the richly carved Durbar Hall.
Image: Hastings Borough CouncilA 345-hectare coastal nature reserve east of Hastings, where the High Weald meets the sea along about five kilometres of sandstone cliffs. Ancient wooded glens, heath and grassland are crossed by paths with big views over the Channel.
Image: De La Warr PavilionA Grade I listed 1930s modernist pavilion on Bexhill seafront that works as a free contemporary art gallery, live music and comedy venue, and cafe with sea views. Exhibitions change through the year.