While Margate gets the headlines and Dungeness the photographers, the Kent coast has a third card to play. Folkestone, a Victorian seaside resort wedged between the two, has spent the past decade quietly turning itself into one of southeast England's most interesting day-trip destinations.
The revival has an origin story: priced-out London creatives moved in, restoring a tired town centre and giving it a genuine artistic pulse. The Folkestone Triennial, held every three years, brings big-name contemporary artists to install site-specific works around the streets, so even a casual wander doubles as an open-air gallery crawl.
Shopping is a proper draw rather than an afterthought. The Old High Street, Tontine Street and the Creative Quarter pack a surprising number of independents into walkable space: Bounce Vintage for retro clothing, Rennies Seaside Modern for ceramics and textiles, The Folkestone Bookshop for paperbacks, Vintage and Vinyl for records, and Miss Ginger's for fabric lovers.
When you need air, the Lower Leas Coastal Park sits between the cliffs and the beach and has held the Green Flag award for several years running. It scores 4.7 stars from more than 2,500 Google reviews, and a refurbished adventure playground opened in September 2026, making it an easy win for families. If you'd rather walk the coast itself, the path from the Harbour Arm to Sandgate Castle runs about two miles and takes roughly 45 minutes.
Then there's the food, which punches well above the town's size. Rocksalt, by the harbour, does seasonal seafood with views over the Channel. Shesells Seashells serves fish from a repurposed train carriage parked on the Harbour Arm and sits in the town's top five restaurants on Tripadvisor. Pub options are strong too: The Ship Inn on the quay for fish and chips, The Radnor Arms for Sri Lankan fish curry and hake with Cornish mussels, and The British Lion for a Sunday roast that reviewers rave about — book ahead for that one.
Getting there is half the appeal. Trains from London St Pancras run roughly hourly and take just 55 minutes, which makes Folkestone feasible even on a whim. If you're continuing to the continent, the Euroterminal just north of town is where Eurostar services enter the 31.5-mile Channel Tunnel towards Calais.
For travellers who liked Margate's beaches and art scene but want something a notch less discovered, Folkestone is the obvious next stop — and it pairs neatly with Dungeness's strange shingle landscape for a proper Kent coast weekend.
