Sussex day trips # 2 - Brighton

After exploring Crawley and its neighbour town Horsham, I wanted to go somewhere with different atmosphere. My previous visit to Brighton was a brief stop from seven sisters to London and I loved every minute of it. Also, my base location Crawley is well known pit stop between London and Brighton, so it’s no surprise that I picked the place for my next day trip. 

Though it’s only a quick train ride from three bridges, bus fare is only a fraction of the amount and I don’t mind the long ride - those bus rides are quite scenic and when I went with friends in later trips, we enjoyed the commute more than destination 😌. The weekend I went to Brighton is sunniest one during my stay and needless to say the seaside city is packed with visitors. 

Pier and my favourite ride at the end 😍

The very first thing that caught my eye (after the pier of course) is the new attraction by the beach - I360 by British Airways. 

I didn’t book online which would have been more flexible and cheaper, instead I bought 3 attractions pass and got the mid afternoon slot for i360 - not the best one but it was still okay. The views from tower are amazing and they serve drinks as well. We could clearly see seven sisters from here 😃. Only challenge being taking pictures without a reflection.

Next I went to Sea life, I wasn’t super excited about this stop as I have already been in London. However, this one is not entirely the same. Brighton have a touch of east in its architecture. 

Also, on an uncomfortably warm afternoon (and I dressed for a colder climate), closed aquarium is a welcome relief.

Almost close to the evening, I went to third and final attraction - Brighton Palace. 

Resented by royalty, this palace was ordered to be demolished, but saved by locals and became only palace being owned and maintained by public. The palace is heavily influenced by Eastern architecture and the reason that it is not liked by Queen Victoria is because of lack of sea view despite being so close to the sea. I could totally understand the frustration 🤷🏻‍♀️.

I returned to Crawley that day but went back 2 more times which weren’t solo trips. 

Second trip was spent in leisure mostly exploring the streets of Brighton and shopping. The entire place is bright with graffiti filled walls and hippie stores. We went to the pier for lunch, took a train ride by the beach and ended the day with a visit to Preston Park - it is most beautiful garden I have been to and seemed like a mini forest with thick shrubs and streams. 

Third time, we went during pride parade 🏳️‍🌈 which was a quite a  surprise as I was totally unaware of the event. The city was closed completely and, in process of finding a place to eat and a functional bus stop, I could only catch few glimpses of the procession (but I attended another parade in London later with better preparation and it was lot of fun 🤩 ). Overall, it’s good to have completely different experience each time I visited this place. No wonder my friends think Brighton is my favourite city in England ☺️.