welcome to Brighton

You'll often hear Brighton described as 'London by the sea', but it's far from a mere coastal copy of the nation's capital.

Its seaside location, café culture, quirky shopping, renowned nightlife, thriving gay scene, conferences and festivals - and the welcoming, cosmopolitan feel to the city - unsurprisingly bring millions of tourists to Brighton and Hove every year.

Brighton’s popularity began in Georgian times when it was thought that its seawater had medicinal properties resulting in huge numbers of people descending on the town to cure their ills. Subsequently the Prince Regent, later to become King George IV, built himself an outrageous Indian palace down here... The Pavilion is still a major tourist attraction. Although the seawater is now amongst the cleanest in Europe, people tend not to drink it anymore.

Slightly more recently, the city was immortalised in Grahame Greene’s novel, Brighton Rock, and in the mods and rockers film epic, Quadrophenia.

Brighton is well respected as a vibrant, supercool city with exceptional nightlife, art galleries, theatre and live music and continental style cafés spilling out into the streets and beach.

This Brighton city guide contains information to help you make the most of Brighton by day, Brighton by night, the highlights of the Brighton gay scene and gives you some ideas for things to do in the surrounding area.

You'll also find our pick of attractions and things to do, dates and information on all the major festivals and events in the city and a section devoted to useful visitor information.