Margate gets the hipster headlines and Ramsgate has its marina, but the quieter gem on England's Kent coast sits right between them. Broadstairs — home to around 25,000 people — packs seven beaches, a Dickens obsession and a calendar of quirky festivals into a genuinely walkable little town, and it's barely two hours from London.
The beaches are the headline act. Viking Bay, the horseshoe-shaped town beach right below the clifftop promenade, has the full nostalgic seaside package: beach huts, deck chairs, vintage boat swings for kids and safe golden sand. It holds a Seaside Award from Visit South East England, and Dickens liked it so much he wrote an essay about the town called "Our English Watering Place". For wilder stuff, Botany Bay and Joss Bay both carry Blue Flag status. Joss Bay is a popular surf spot with a school hiring out wetsuits and boards; Botany Bay has parking, accessible facilities, cafes and BBQ spots (evening use only, after 6pm). One local tip: check the tides. High and medium water is best for swimming, while low tide reveals good rock pools.
History runs deep here. The town dates to around 1080, and the 15th-century York Gate — once a defence against smugglers — still marks one of the old entrances to the seafront. Dickens visited regularly between 1837 and 1851, and the Dickens House Museum occupies the very cottage that inspired Betsey Trotwood's home in "David Copperfield". Inside you'll find handwritten letters, his writing equipment and original prints by illustrator H. K. Browne. Up the hill, Bleak House — the author's favourite holiday home overlooking Viking Bay — now works as a bed and breakfast and event venue, so you can literally sleep where he wrote.
The town's calendar gives you reasons to come outside summer too. Broadstairs hosts the world's largest Dickens Festival, complete with costumed characters, theatrical performances and a rather gloriously odd Dickensian bathing party. There are also antique fairs, classic car rallies, a farmers market on the second Sunday of each month, and the indoor Holy Trinity Saturday Market, where independent stalls sell china, books and plants with refreshments on hand.
Practically speaking, this is an easy trip even without a car. Broadstairs sits under 10 minutes by train or car from both Margate and Ramsgate, and the town itself is compact enough to explore on foot. Direct trains from London take around two hours, and if you're flying in, Gatwick is the most convenient gateway at roughly 90 minutes to two and a half hours depending on traffic. Once you're done with Broadstairs, Herne Bay is a 20-minute train ride away with its own beaches, shops and historic pier — an easy add-on. Margate's galleries and its mysterious Shell Grotto are right next door too, if you want to mix art and atmosphere into a coastal weekend.
If Margate feels a bit crowded and Instagram-filtered these days, Broadstairs is the Kent coast as it used to be — but with sand good enough to win awards and enough going on to fill a long weekend.
Credit: Islands
