The Best Brighton Attractions for your Family Weekend Away

Brighton is a great place to enjoy the seaside, but it’s such a vibrant place with a great history so there’s always something to see and do.  Unsurprisingly, Brighton is one of the UK’s most popular tourist attractions for both local UK residents and those who are visiting from abroad. In this post we will cover the best attractions Brighton has to offer for a fun family weekend away.

Travelling to Brighton is straightforward too as you can easily get the train from Gatwick airport to Brighton, if you are arriving from abroad or further afield.  If you are closer to Brighton it’s easy to reach it via the train network.

The Beach

For me a trip to the seaside isn’t complete without a visit to the beach. The shoreline here is very pebbly, so it’s great for skimming stones into the sea if it’s fairly calm.  Alongside the beach front there are plenty of places to grab a bite to eat, get a drink or pick up an ice cream.

The Pier

Brighton Pier is a well kept traditional looking pier, but it’s moved with the times too, so you can do anything from ride on a funfair roundabout to participate in the latest VR gaming.  There are rides and attractions to suit a wide span of ages with rides for tinny tots as well as strapping teenagers.  Besides a range of places to have fun, you can eat and drink in a wide variety of establishments within the pier itself.

For Train Fans

Brighton Toy and Model Museum is a great place for train fans to explore.  The museum’s collections are densely packed into a set of four Victorian cellars under Brighton main terminus station covering four thousand square feet, the museum’s displays draw on guest collections and a core collection of over ten thousand items.

Visiting the museum is an immersive visual experience that plunges the visitor into a different world, as seen through the eyes of artists and designers responsible for the Golden Age of British and European toy making. But for many the heart of the museum is its central 1930s gauge 0 model railway layout, transplanted from the Hove Engineerium in 1991.  It’s like stepping back in time to the railway world of the 1930s and there are so many details to catch your eye.

Another star attraction is the collection of seven “end-of-the-pier” slot machines dotted around the museum and have all been updated to take modern ten pence pieces.

The Pavilion

You can’t go to Brighton and not visit the Royal Pavilion.  It’s is an exotic palace in the centre of Brighton with a colourful history. Built as a seaside pleasure palace for King George IV, the Royal Pavilion mixes Regency grandeur with the visual style of India and China.  There are multimedia guides available (included in admission price), which are a great interactive way for kids to learn the background and facts as you tour the pavilion. Plus they regularly host family activities such as art workshops, storytelling, dressing up and handling sessions.