Seeing the English Channel

Bristol isn't on the English Channel, it's on the Severn Estuary (which drains into the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea anyway).

Brighton and Portsmouth are on the English Channel, perhaps explore those options.

Well, Bristol isn't on the English Channel, and there are places much closer to London that are. Half a day to Bristol and back wouldn't give you much time there anyway.

Dover is interesting because of the castle (including a Roman lighthouse) and the view across to France on a clear day. The famous white cliffs are east of the town, and best seen from out on the water rather than from land.

You might consider a fast trip to Brighton and back. This website shows train schedules, it looks like frequent trains leave Victoria or St. Pancras taking an hour to and hour and a half. This website has lots of info on Brighton. Local buses run along the coast in both directions, but to reach the tops of the cliffs you'll probably have to do some walking. There are lots of nice towns along the south coast that can be reached from London without much difficulty.

If it were my trip I wouldn't take half a day from London just to see the Channel. It's just a body of water, after all, and Dover is one of the few places where you can see the opposite shore. Most of the coastline is very scenic, in different ways, with pretty and historic towns and cities justifying more than a half-day trip.

Dover has some things to see, including the castle, and from the castle (and many other places) you can see France on a clear day.
Equally from Cap Gris-Nez you can see the White Cliffs (photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/France_manche_vue_dover.JPG )

Look up the Seven Sisters (photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Seven_Sisters_cliffs_and_the_coastguard_cottages%2C_from_Seaford_Head_showing_Cuckmere_Haven_%28looking_east_-_2003-05-26%29.jpg ), which are a second set of white cliffs west of Dover. These are a famous beauty spot with hiking.
Just don't get too near the edge.

I do not think you can do this in a ½ day. Dover, or the Seven Sisters, are some distance from London and need a full day.

The big question: when you say the English Channel, what is it you want to see - cliffs? A seaside town with a beach? The countryside?

The cliffs you might have seen on films are usually Seven Sisters rather than Dover - same chalk but along the coast a bit and rather more spectacular. http://www.sevensisters.org.uk

However Dover has a stunning castle, one of the best in Britain, sitting near the cliffs.

Brighton is probably the most fun, bustling coastal town near London. Traditional pier, lots of independent shops, a mix of hippy/liberal/gay plus good old fashioned seaside fun. And yes, you see the English Channel, if what you mean by the English Channel is the actual brownish grey bit of sea washing on a stony beach...

And as the previous poster said, Bristol is nowhere near the English Channel.

Thank you all for your speedy replies. Doh! I must have had a brain freeze when I typed Bristol. I meant Brighton.

I'm not sure if my sister is looking for a beachy community, countryside or just to see the Channel. We are leaving at the end of the week, had already planned the itinerary and she said she wanted to see the Channel. We basically have half a day to accomplish that and I was weighing our options. I had thought about going to Canterbury for that half day and getting Dover in there but it seems that getting there from London will take roughly 2 hours and it's a lot of work to just go and look at the water. If the Castle is worth it, as well as having options for dinner, it may pay just to go to Dover and scratch Canterbury.

Brighton looks like your typical beach community with a pier, although I did read about the Royal Pavilion. I'm sure there are more dining options there than in Dover.

I've heard of the Seven Sisters - - looks beautiful. I saw Rick's program on Beachy Head as well.

Thanks again!

Brighton is definitely much more entertaining than Dover. It's a bit trendier than the typical beach community - very much London-on-Sea.

However I suspect that reading between the lines, when someone says they want to see the English Channel they mean white cliffs rather than a bit of sea that could be anywhere.

You need gently to probe what your sister means, otherwise you face a very rushed half day to look at sea only to disappoint her!

Either way, half a day is really tight. It's an hour on the train to Brighton, a swift 15 minute walk or short taxi ride to the sea, a bite to eat then back again, but - you know - the sea looks like any other bit of sea.

OR you do a full day and go & look at some white cliffs and maybe a castle or some countryside or explore all that Brighton has to offer.

Or you take your sister down to the Thames and tell her it's the English Channel and, no, honestly that really is France over there and not south London...

How is Brighton around the 3rd week of March? I may be returning to London at that time and thought about a 2 day/2 night seaside visit when I arrive in England as the hotel prices in London are very expensive arriving on a Wednesday but plummet starting that Friday.

I'm not afraid of the cold; I actually embrace it. We go to the beach in the winter all of time; technically, this potential visit to Brighton is in the beginning of the spring. Thoughts?

How is Brighton around the 3rd week of March?

If you're asking about the weather, the best time to ask that is in the 4th week of March. Might be cold, might be chilly, might be wet, might be windy, might be sunny. Most probably some combination of all of those, as March is one of the most changeable months in a very changeable climate.

The English Channel? Oh, that English Channel. I thought you were looking for CNN. (:->)))

I get to see the English Channel every time I look out of my bedroom window and whilst I accept that I'm used to it I would never consider it something worth a trip just to see, it's simply a grey bit of sea that looks like every other grey bit of sea.

The City of Portsmouth itself is very interesting however and if it's a seaside experience on the English Channel that your sister is looking for then it would probably fit the bill. Beachwise it's very similar to Brighton (a pebble beach) however in March she wouldn't be looking to be on the beach or in the sea.

Portsmouth has a lot more to offer historically than Brighton and is within easy reach of The New Forest, Southampton, Winchester and Chichester. Brighton is good for nearby Lewes and Arundel.

I wouldn’t scratch Canterbury off from your plans. Take the early train 8:00am to Canterbury East, from there it’s a 10 minute walk on the Roman wall to the town city, walk around, go to the Cathedral.
Then around 1:00pm (13:00) go back to train station take the train to Dover (20 minutes) from there take taxi to the castle. You can see the castle and the English Channel from the castle. When ready take train back to London.

That's the downside of having a travel companion express a desire to see a location -- you could be spending an entire day travelling to get there and back for something the other person just wants to snap a photo to "show I was there." Clarify before you leave!!

It may be that the Seven Sisters would suit her.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters,_Sussex

You can catch a bus there from here in Brighton or, approaching from the east, from Eastbourne.

On your query about Brighton weather in March I can only agree with the previous poster who says the fourth week in March is the best time to tell: in the last few years we’ve had both snow and weather where it was warm enough to sun bathe in swim gear!

Alan

Take the train to Eastbourne to walk part of the South Downs Way along the cliffs between Eastbourne and Birling Gap. Or go to Seaford and walk the part between Seaford and Cuckmere Haven (there is a better view of Seven Sisters cliffs from there). https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/seaford-to-eastbourne/

We did the walk from Eastborne rail station to the Beachy Head Inn at Beachy Head. It was one of the favorite parts of our trip.

Don't know which airport you are flying into for your trip. If you are flying into Gatwick Airport, it is south of London, on the rail line to Brighton. If you are flying into Gatwick, you could do your trip to Brighton or the coast first thing, complete the mission to see the English Channel, then move on to London.

Since this is your only post, we don't know how many days you will be in England, or where else you plan to go. If you are staying in London for the whole time, you could do the trip in the middle of your London time. It would be refreshing to take a break from the city for a day.

You have received many excellent suggestions. If you don't care to go by train to the coast, there are several good bus/coach companies in London that do day trips. One of these is Evan Evans Tours. In this trip, you see Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and the White Cliffs. You do not go to Dover Castle. You go near it for the view.
The third bullet under "Highlights" says: "See the White Cliffs of Dover"
https://evanevanstours.com/sightseeing-tours/day-tours-from-london/leeds-castle-canterbury-cathedral-dover/
Here is the pick up point in London for this tour:
https://evanevanstours.com/plan-your-day/tour-departure-point/

I wonder if you might want to divert her interest to something closer and more interesting. Does she have any interest in Greenwich Observatory and Naval installation? The Thames Barrier? Stratford Upon Avon and the Shakespeare connection? I mentioned places with water, anyway.

What is her interest in the trip, in general? Surely she has other things that might use the time better. As noted, we don't know how much time is involved. Where does she live?

I'd guess she'd rather spend a half day getting to Downton Abbey or the Call the Midwife film locations that to look at a body of seawater. (I didn't make those choices because of her gender - rather, I chose some really hot locations for tourists in England for the first time. And they're "out of town.")