Famous for its oysters, Whitstable is a charming coastal town on the North coast of Kent.
With it’s beautiful coastline, delicious seafood and a cute high street with a number of independent shops, Whitstable really does make for a great get away.
Whilst it’s not geared up for kids as such, in as much as there’s no pier or amusements or fun fair rides, we’ve been to Whitstable a few times with our two and they love it. A beach to play on plus ice cream equals happy kids and it remains one of our favourite places in Kent.
Whitstable Harbour
Whitstable Harbour is a busy working harbour, close to the High Street and railway station. It’s not big, but is a great place to watch the colourful fishing boats and spend some time exploring the Harbour Market. Here you will find a number of beach huts selling local and British artwork and crafts as well as huts selling fresh seafood and oysters. There is also the Whitstable fish market selling plenty of fresh fish, much of it locally caught, though it’s not the cheapest.
The Harbour Market tends to only open at weekends a lot of the year, opening during the week only during the summer months. Therefore it tends to get busy at weekends so timing your visit to get there early or later on in the day is always recommended. It’s worth checking their opening times on their website before visiting.
If you’re visiting Whitstable in the Summer be sure to check out the Whitstable Oyster Festival. Running for a few days at the end of August this year, it’s highlights include a food fair, plenty of music and entertainment and the famous Oyster Eating competition.
Whitstable Beach
It’s worth taking a walk along the beach. It’s not a long walk but it is a very picturesque one.
From the Harbour, if you’re facing the sea, turn left and keep walking. It’s a pebbly beach but there’s a path all the way along. With a lovely view out to sea, you pass plenty of food shacks and restaurants specialising in seafood.
After about 10 mins (or longer if you’re stopping to take photos), you reach The Old Neptune, a pub right on the beach. Serving typical British pub food and decent ale, it’s a very popular place to stop and a great place to sit out and watch the sunset. Though bear in mind it closes at 8.30pm every night. They have live music every weekend, and a beach barbecue in the summer if it’s sunny.
Keep going past The Old Neptune and you start to get to a super pretty strip of immaculate colourful cottages on Marine Terrace. Just after that on Wavecrest there’s a pretty strip of Victorian Townhouses. Some of these are available for holiday rental so if you have a decent budget it would be worth checking out.
The section of beach at this end is much quieter and there’s a set of colourful beach huts too. I finished my walk here though the beach carries on so there’s plenty more exploring to do.
Tankerton Slopes
If, like me, you love a good set of colourful beach huts, then a walk to Tankerton Slopes is a must as there are plenty there. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the Harbour but worth it to enjoy the huts and the view. There are grassy slopes behind the huts with a number of benches. It’s a lovely place to sit and enjoy the views, especially at sunset.
Tankerton Slopes is also a popular spot with families in the summer. It’s a great place to have a picnic while the kids alternate between playing on the grassy banks behind the beach huts and swimming in the sea.
If you fancy more of a walk, keep going along the beach in the same direction and you come across 2 more sets of pretty beach huts. I’ve done this walk a few times as I love them.
If you’re up for a much longer walk, keep going and you eventually reach Herne Bay. There’s a path all the way and takes a bit over an hour and a half from the Harbour.
‘The street’
At low tide a unique strip of shingle beach called ‘The Street’ is exposed and stretches out to sea for about half a mile from Tankerton Beach.
You can walk right out on it and enjoy the views back to the beach so it’s worth a visit if you can make it there at this time. Though just be careful of the incoming tide again when you’re far out. I find the best view of ‘The Street’ is enjoyed from the top of the grassy slopes.
Harbour Street
If you love shopping, be sure to have a browse along Harbour Street. It’s a pretty street with a number of small independent shops including craft and gift shops, a lovely cheese shop and the incredibly photogenic Wheeler’s Oyster Bar.
With a rich history of smuggling, there are a number of smuggler’s alleyways in the area to find too. These were normally designed to assist smugglers with easy access to the beach and are amusingly named. Squeeze Gut Alley is one of the better known and more amusing ones to visit. As the name suggests it’s a bit of a squeeze and named after an overweight policeman who kept getting stuck trying to chase local kids through the alley. It’s fun having a go squeezing through.
Street Art
For the art lovers among you, look out for the street art dotted around Whitstable as you’re walking around.
All these works are by Catman, who studied Art in Canterbury, a few miles from Whitstable, and is known as the Banksy of Whitstable. One of his more well known pieces is the Queen on a hoverboard with her corgis, seen outside Boots. More recently he painted a ‘superhuman’ dedicated to the superhuman frontline staff during the COVID pandemic.
Whitstable Castle & Gardens
A lovely little gem not far from the harbour is Whitstable Castle. It’s not very big but with it’s beautifully kept gardens, it’s well worth a visit. The grounds are free to enter but castle tours are available by appointment only.
There’s also a lovely tea room there so after a stroll around the grounds, grab a cup of tea and cake, sit out on the terrace and enjoy the views over the gardens.
Whitstable Museum
Another little gem is the museum on Oxford Street consisting of local stories on oysters, fishing, diving and more.
It has the Invicta on display, which is one of the world’s oldest steam locomotives, built in 1829. There is also a section dedicated to the late actor Peter Cushing OBE who lived in Whitstable for many years.
It’s a family friendly museum and great for the little ones as there’s plenty of activities for them and dressing up clothes too.
Where to Stay
We generally find Airbnb the best option when looking for budget accommodation and found a lovely apartment on Harbour Street last time we stayed.
For a more unique stay check out the Fisherman Huts. Just a few metres from the beach they offer lovely sea views and many of them are big enough for families.
For a hotel stay The Marine Hotel at Tankerton slopes is a great option. There are a number of sea view rooms available and family size room options too.
Where to Eat
For the oyster lover, there are plenty of options. Highly recommended is The Whitstable Oyster Company, a restaurant on the beach with great views, and Wheelers Oyster Bar on the High Street with the pretty front.
For Fish and chips, VC Jones and Ossies Best Fish and Chips are great options.
For ice cream head to Sundae Sundae. As well as ice cream they also sell a variety of gifts and beach goods.
Where to Drink
For a great beach location visit The Old Neptune (as mentioned above).
The Twelve Taps on the High Street is highly recommended as is The Tankerton Arms at Tankerton.