Brighton Palace Pier: How to Visit
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Brighton Palace Pier is the essential first-day stop in Brighton, and it earns that spot honestly. Victorian ironwork running 524 metres out over the Channel, working since 1899, packed with arcades, rides, and food. It’s not free anymore, but £2 is a genuinely small price for one of the best hours in the city.
Key facts
| Price | £2/person, March-September 2026. Free the rest of the year, and free year-round for BN-postcode residents |
| Hours | Roughly 10am-late, seasonal, check brightonpier.co.uk day-of |
| Time needed | 1-2 hours to walk it, browse, and eat; longer if you’re riding attractions |
| Rides | Extra, pay-as-you-go around £5 each, or an unlimited wristband roughly £25-32 adult (cheaper booked online) |
| Booking | Walk-up for entry; wristbands can be booked online in advance |
The £2 charge is the pier’s first admission fee since 1985, introduced in 2024 and now standard for the March-September season. It funds the upkeep on a structure that’s been standing since before anyone reading this was alive, and it’s small enough that it shouldn’t factor into your decision to go.
What’s actually worth doing here
Walk the full length first, before the crowds build. The view from the seating area at the far end, looking back at the seafront with the Royal Pavilion’s domes visible above the rooflines, is one of the better free views in Brighton, and it’s included in your £2. The arcade machines near the entrance have genuinely been there for decades, worth a nostalgic 10 minutes even if you don’t play.
For rides, the newer additions (Jungle Jeeps and Dizzy Jets for younger kids, alongside sideshow games like Hook-a-Duck) are fine but not the point of coming. If your budget is tight, skip the wristband and spend the money on the doughnuts instead, they’re the one pier food genuinely worth queuing for, made fresh to order by a stall that’s been on the pier for 30-plus years. Skip the rest of the pier’s own food stalls. For proper fish and chips, walk to Bardsley’s of Baker Street instead, a family-run chippy that’s been trading since 1926 and is where locals actually send visitors, our best places to eat guide has the full rundown.
Is the pier worth it if you’re only in Brighton for a day?
Yes. Even with the £2 charge, it’s one of the cheapest, highest-value stops in the city, and it anchors the classic first-timer’s route: Pier, seafront, The Lanes, Royal Pavilion. Budget an hour minimum, longer at sunset when the lights come on, since Brighton’s seafront faces roughly south-west and the pier is the best spot in the city to watch the sky change over the water.
Palace Pier or West Pier?
Both, but for different reasons. The Palace Pier is the one you walk on, the working pier with rides, food, and arcades. The West Pier, visible offshore to the west, is a burned-out iron skeleton, closed since 1975 and gutted by arson in 2003, left standing rather than demolished. You can’t walk onto it, but it’s genuinely one of Brighton’s most-photographed sights, and most evenings from November through late February it’s the backdrop for a starling murmuration, thousands of birds wheeling over the water at dusk.
Getting there and staying nearby
The pier sits mid-seafront, an easy 15-20 minute walk downhill from Brighton station, and it anchors both the Kings Road and Marine Parade hotel stretches. If you want to be able to walk out of your hotel and onto the pier in five minutes, check rates on Booking.com for the seafront area specifically. For the full rundown of Brighton’s neighbourhoods, see our where to stay guide .
One practical note: the £2 charge only applies March through September. Visit outside that window and the pier is free to walk onto, same rides, same doughnuts, just no admission fee at the gate.