Going to Rye

Hi Janis, Wow, Rye, very very small, very pretty city. Not much happening in Rye. You might reconsider. Not certain where you have visited in England in the past but for a day trip you might consider any of the following: Bath, Salisbury, Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Lewis, Eastbourne, Hastings, Arundel. Heck you could even go to York. I personally think that any of these are a better one day trip. Still, you can enjoy Rye in about two hours eat lunch then scram. Susan

We have spent time in Rye near Kent - its really just a small town, used to be on the coast but due to silting is now a few miles inland. Used to be a Cinque Port. We drove there (and all around the area). Enjoyed it some interesting streets, one of the pubs (Mermaid?) has smuggling connections with a tunnel escape. Nice pub, nice area. nice town. We were only there for a few hours. Would stay overnight no hesitation. Fun walking around the town. Nearby towns of Hastings and Sandwich are also worth seeing.

Its more of a quite small town than a city. Its quite nice, nice hills and stairs. Nice outlook. Cute. We went there once, haven't been back, certainly would stop in again if we were in the area, plenty of other things in the area to do, too. EDIT: I hadn't seen either of the prior answers - strange that we all said about the same thing, isn't it?

Rye is a pretty town. Queen Elizabeth I..... bestowed upon the town the distinction Royal Rye. The novelist Henry James lived there. Rye has narrow cobblestone streets that twist and turn like a labyrinth. You can see the medieval origins in the buildings with the sagging roofs and crooked chimneys. St. Mary's Parish Church is really pretty.

I fell in love with Rye from watching Mapp and Lucia. I think that coupled with Hastings it would made a good day trip. Thinking back on what Terry said (Stonehenge or Not) . Go to Rye..you might never get a chance again.

I think Rye sounds charming and when I get back to England I will go. Don't know how I missed it!

We just visited Rye in August. I was staying in the country and drove about 40 minutes. If it's under an hour from London, then I'd say it's worth it. It is a pretty little town, but won't take a whole day. I think we spent about 3 hours including time for lunch. Mermaid Street is the most picturesque, and there is a lovely and serene graveyard (if you graveyards). We also visited Hastings. We didn't love Hastings; but the old part of the town is nicest. Make sure you take the funicar(s) up to the top of town. The views are pretty. We really loved the seaside town of Eastbourne much more than Hastings. Now that was a great town to visit! Lovely grand old victorian hotels line the miles long boardwalk. Lots of restaurants and shopping and a beautiful pier.

Several years ago we stayed in a B&B outside of Rye while we were visiting Rye and several other towns in the area. We really love going through antique shops and at that time there were many in Rye. It's a very picturesque town, and we really enjoyed it.

Rye is jewel of a town (not a city, but then most of London's not a city either!). It's well worth a visit. Do take sensible shows as many of the streets are paved with rather rough cobbles. If you can afford it, stay in the Mermaid Inn which is a lovely old timbered inn with uneven floors and more beams than you can shake a stick at. The Church is nice, and the town museum has a nice diorama with audio talking about the history of Rye. Rye has a railway station, and you can get the train to Hastings. Battle too is not far away or various other history places such as Camber, Sandwich, and Winchelsea.

We thought Rye was lovely. We had a car, stopped for several hours and walked around. Lots of nice little antique/collectible shops as I recall, with prices that were actually accessible. It was in Rye where I could not help but approach a couple dilligentlty scanning the pavement and photographing the street at every turn, to learn that they had this "thing" for manhole cover photos. They were having a field day. We chuckled at the time, but I remembered them a year later as we walked the streets of Hakkodate, Japan, snapping shots of every cutesy squid-emblazoned manhole cover we spied. Live and learn, and I owe it Rye.

If you enjoy taking photos of manhole covers, you might like looking down as you walk the streets of London. Most older streets have coal chute covers in front of most houses. All round, about the same size, 18 inches to two feet diameter I guess, and in an amazing variety of embellishments and textures. It truly is amazing what the Victorians and Edwardians could do with a bit of cast iron.