Hello! We are planning a day trip to Eastbourne and looking forward to hiking to the Seven Sisters etc. My question is: has anyone taken the train there recently, and if so, should we book in advance or would it be fine to get day-of return tickets? We will book our outbound ticket from London because we know what time we want to leave, but wondering if we can just get a return ticket day-of so we can be more flexible with timing. Thanks in advance!
Posted by
Lake District, England
7396 posts
You can just pay on the day, and buy a day return.
Even an Advance Ticket does not get you an assigned seat- just sit anywhere.
The best value way to do this is to buy a Southern Railway Day Save Ticket for £25 each, or £50 for a group of up to 4. That gives unlimited travel on any Southern Train after 10am on weekdays, any time at weekends.
It needs to be purchased on line or at any Southern station at least 3 days before travel. If bought on line you collect from the machine at the station using a code you will have been emailed, and the same credit/debit card used to purchase it.
https://www.southernrailway.com/discounts-and-offers/daysave
Posted by
2540 posts
Do you really want to hike across the TOP of the Seven Sisters or do you want to see the classic view looking AT the Seven Sisters?
If you want the classic view looking at the Seven Sisters - head to Coastguard Cottages - which you should be able to see on this Google Map if you zoom down to Cuckmere Haven. If that is the case, Seaford would be the best station for you to use - not Eastbourne.
Posted by
Lake District, England
7396 posts
There is a sightseeing open top bus which takes you from Eastbourne Station over Beachy Head to Birling Gap- https://www.buses.co.uk/ess
and also a normal scheduled year round bus from Eastbourne Station over Beachy Head to Birling Gap- the 13X- which extends to Brighton- https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/brightonhove/BH/13X-timetable-20240703-4cf39cee.pdf
On a Saturday and a Sunday there is also a local bus 47 from Berwick (Sussex) station to the Seven Sisters Country Park Centre- https://cuckmerebuses.org.uk/47.htm