Beach or White Cliffs

The White cliffs is down to Kent on HS1, and then a walk. Plenty of beaches in Northern Kent, again on HS1- Ramsgate, Margate- that kind of area.
But dare to be different to what RS and this forum says- and do what many Londoners do (and have for over a century) if they want a quick beach trip, and take a C2C train from Fenchurch Street (just by Tower Hill) to Southend on Sea.
Wonderful beaches out there- starting from Leigh on Sea along through Chalkwell and Westcliff to Southend itself then on through Thorpe Bay and nearly to Shoeburyness. Miles of them. The Chalkwell/Westcliff end is that bit more genteel.
Southend has the longest pleasure pier in the world (at a mile long)- so long it has it's own railway, and a cliff funicular railway down from the main street to the pier- more fun than need.
Leigh on Sea has a very attractive harbour with lots of stalls for sea food. It is anything but haute cuisine but again be an East Londoner for the day and try one of the pie and mash shops- of which Southend has plenty. Very simple, honest food. In London many pie and mash shops have become tourist attractions in their own right with prices to match- Southend is still the real deal.
Sure I'm biased- I lived in Westcliff for 10 years- but that doesn't affect the fact it's very easy to reach and is a great beach place.

Interesting plug for Southend...

I like the pier there and the little choo choo. At one time Jamie Oliver and Jimmy were doing a cooking show from the end of the pier. I never was impressed by the town.

For white cliffs it would be, for the best view, Southern fast train from Victoria to Eastbourne and then a bus which goes to Birling Gap and a few minutes walk. Be careful walking under the cliffs, they fall from time to time and expose more Jurassic fossils.

But the question is, do you have enough time to make a day trip in just an afternoon. About an hour to the south coast plus changes plus walk plus all again in reverse to go back.

Southend is about the same but from a different station and no change to a bus.

And do you really want sandy beach, pebbles, shingle or a view of the cliffs???

Could you perhaps do this outing as a day trip either before your tour or after the tour? Birling Gap as described above is a lovely spot, but I wouldn’t try to add this while on tour.

I am going to suggest a non beach activity that would make a great 1/2day out. Go to Bletchley Park. So interesting in terms of history, code breaking, computers. Very easy to access. Train from London, walk 5 minutes.

The Best of South England Tour could be a follow up to Best of London at a future date and provides many beach, white cliff moments.

I agree with the suggestion that if you want to go to the sea you should add at least a day on either the front or back end of your tour. I'm a big advocate of arriving at least the day before a tour starts anyway to give yourselves some flex time in case of travel hiccups.

In looking at the itinerary there are 2 "free" afternoons listed. One is Day 5 where you go to Windsor Castle in the morning and then have the afternoon free. That involves getting back to London which is fairly quick but still would not leave you enough time to take a train to the shore. The other day is Day 6 but your time constraint is that you'd want to be back for the farewell dinner. I'd guess that you'd meet at the hotel at 6 or 630 to leave for that event.

Having done a number of RS tours but not this particular one, I'd say no time on either of those days to do a 1/2 day trip anywhere. You could always skip the proposed itinerary for a day and do your own thing if you can't add time on.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I really appreciate you taking the time. This is so helpful!