A weekend itinerary for Whitstable from one of our team

Friday

Coming from Bristol meant a long car journey, and a late arrival on Friday night, but it would be less than two hours coming from London. That’s hugely dependent on traffic of course, but the route is mostly on the A2 and M2, which aren’t as bad as some roads in and out of the city. We’d planned our Friday night meal in advance thanks to a tip-off from the owners of The Cook’s Cottage, themselves keen chefs.  

It was a place called Harbour Street Tapas, a small restaurant on a street corner that steers away from the dark wood look that a lot of tapas bars go for, opting instead for big windows and a pale interior. Everything we tasted was fresh and delicious, but the clear highlight was a superb Basque cheesecake. We were staying in town, as our plans for the next day were more urban and urbane idling than coastal exploration. We’d come for the antique shops, cafés and galleries and we were not about to be disappointed. 

Stay at The Cook’s Cottage >

Saturday

On Saturday morning we did make sure to get a little fresh air, but only after coffee, which was from Garage, a locally renowned roastery which has a few locations in the area. It was far from the only good café option though. During our whole time in Whitstable, we were delighted to find that you could bypass all the big chains in favour of a local place to eat, drink or shop with minimal effort. Coffee in hand, we set out through town to the beach.

The walk along the seafront was a blustery experience, but certainly cleared out the fog of the previous day’s long drive. We saw the iconic row of coloured beach huts, some of which you can stay in, and crunched on the shingle for a while. We didn’t have the time to take it on, but a good walk does lead out of Whitstable to Herne Bay. It’s about five miles and while it might not be a spectacular clifftop route like the south coast, we were told that it’s a lovely stroll along flattish ground. It’s also part of the Saxon Shore Way, so you could keep trekking right round to Hastings if so inclined. 

After the walk, we shifted back to our idling brief and went for breakfast. Again, spoiled for choice, we ended up at Farm & Harper, another local institution which specialised in seasonal, well-sourced food. It set us up for a day of wandering through town and down to the Harbour Market. Harbour Books was a definite favourite, but you can’t fail to stumble across plenty of irresistible little shops to dive into.  

Around midafternoon, we experienced that mainstay of the English seaside, rain. To keep dry, in one sense at least, we nipped into The Twelve Taps for cocktails, waited for the rain to pass, then resumed our gentle browsing, finishing the day with another trip down to see the beach huts and watch the water. For dinner, we headed to The Whitstable Oyster Company and tried our first ever oysters, finding ourselves very grateful to the staff for some tips on enjoying them. As we waited for our food, the sun set over the sea and added a beautiful pause to a day of simple pleasures. We ate, wandered to a nearby wine bar and then headed to a local pub for a live music night. 

Sunday

We could happily have repeated our Saturday morning with slight variations. A new café, a different bookshop, perhaps some browsing of the many antique shops we’d passed, on the hunt for a proper souvenir. There were also local spots like Reculver Towers and the Oare Marshes Nature Reserve that we’d have been keen to check out if we had more time. We concluded that Whitstable was the sort of place that you could stay in for a week and do a great deal of not very much in the most pleasant way possible. It’s definitely on our list for a longer, even lazier trip in the future.  

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Christopher Wilson-Elmes

Sawday's Expert

Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.

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