Best towns along the southern shore of England

Portsmouth, not a town but a city:
http://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk

Another vote for Rye here. And also Winchelsea which is quite close to Rye: it used to be a port before the sea receded. The historically-minded might wish to include Battle.

Yes, in agreement with Emma. Brighton is fun.

Hello Shirley. If you will be at the south coast of England, two days, I think you will have time for going to one place. I liked Portsmouth harbor : the Old Navy Harbor. There you can walk through the British navy sailing ship the Victory (it is on land), and the British navy sailing ship the Mary Rose (it is in a building). The Mary Rose is unique, as it was made in the 1500s. If travelers will travel in a railroad train from Portsmouth Harbor to London, it is possible to go off of the train at Brighton, for four hours there.

Travelling from London to Portsmouth via Brighton is a very indirect route, so only go that way if you really do want to see Brighton as well.

Train tickets in the UK are route specific, tending to be valid on a route or routes in a direct shortest route.

If you want to make two sides of a triangle in one trip instead of the hypotenuse be sure to check the validity of the ticket for the journey you contemplate.

When the ticket says Any Valid Route that does not mean any route. It has a specific meaning and if you travel a circuitous route you will likely find your ticket invalid.

Thank you for your guidance! At this point, our plan is to take rail from London to Brighton where we'll spend a day and night. From there we will take rail to Eastbourne and Hastings to see the coast as we go and just touch on those towns a bit, ending at Rye to spend a night. Then rail back into London the next day. If you had to choose between Brighton and Canterbury, which would you choose?

Hello Shirley

I don't think you can compare Canterbury and Brighton directly; they are each entirely different experiences. For instance - Brighton's on the coast, and offers a typically British 'seaside' experience. It's also 'younger' than Canterbury (Brighton only really became popular in the 18th Century, and it's architecture demonstrates that) and it has a population which feels different to Canterbury - Brighton has many students, is cosmopolitan and has a well-established gay and alternate lifestyle community. Canterbury is smaller; is inland; is bounded by medieval city walls and of course has Canterbury Cathedral plus ruins of other ecclesiastical foundations. It too has a University, but in my experience it doesn't feel so 'young'.

You will enjoy either town.

"If you had to choose between Brighton and Canterbury, which would you choose?"

Tough choice because they are so different. With Brighton, you have the beach and fun boardwalk type stuff, restaurants serving seafood and fish and chips.

Canterbury is more of an important historic site, with Canterbury Cathedral and its history as the main focus. There is also an ancient Roman townhouse and museum there which I highly recommend. I prefer Canterbury; but it's hard to pass up Brighton.

Portsmouth is a "don't miss" sight for me, as described by Ron and harleydonski.

Here's another vote for Portsmouth. The navy sites are very interesting, but there's a literary site as well. Charles Dickens was born there and you can visit his birthplace museum.

Pam