Travelling to Sussex

Your Guide to Getting To and Around Sussex

Booking your Sussex Holiday Cottage is the easiest part of the holiday, it’s the getting there that proves tricky! All of our holiday homes come with details on how to best reach the property, as well as additional information on the nearest transport links and parking, but it’s always good to get a rough idea of how to reach where you’re going before you set off. Here you’ll find information on the best ways to reach Sussex via car, train and bus, as well as the best ways to get around once you arrive here safely.

By Car

Getting to Sussex by car can seem complicated at first, as there are so many different A roads to choose from, so we do recommend that you follow a SatNav to accurately deliver you to your destination. However, if technology fails you, jot these main routes down to stop you from getting lost:

From the North East and East Anglia:
follow the A1 towards London and join the M25. From here, follow the M23 towards Crawley, which then splits off with routes to East and West Sussex.
From Kent:
Follow the M20/M2 to get to the North of the region, or follow the A259 down the Kent coast where it joins up with the East Sussex coast in Hastings
From the Southwest:
Travel towards the M27 at Southampton and then follow the A27 at Chichester to travel along the coast.
From the North West/Midlands and Wales:
Wherever you begin your journey, travel toward the M40 at Birmingham and travel southbound until you reach the M25, or peel off sooner and follow the M40 through Oxford towards Southampton.

Once you arrive in Sussex, where you travel will depend on whether you are staying in the East or West of the region. Here’s a quick overview of how to get to both:

East Sussex:
Join the M23 towards Crawley and from here use the A264 towards East Grinstead and Royal Tunbridge Wells. From Tunbridge Wells, you can follow the A21 towards Hastings, from where you can follow the A259 for Rye and Camber Sands, or the A27 for Bexhill, Pevensey, Eastbourne, Lewes and Brighton.
West Sussex:
From the M25, you can drive towards Leatherhead, where you can change to the A24 through Surrey to get to the West Sussex countryside. For the West coast, follow the A27 Westbound from Brighton which will take you along to Shoreham-on-Sea, Worthing, Bognor Regis and Chichester.

By Train

The main train routes connecting East and West Sussex are Thameslink and Southern Railways. It is generally good advice to travel to London if you are coming from Scotland, the North or the East and then changing to travel through Sussex. If you are coming from the South West, Wales, or the midlands, it may be easier to travel towards Reading or Southampton and catch a Great Western service to Brighton. That said, here’s a brief summary of the train routes across Sussex:

Thameslink:

Starting at London Bridge, the Thameslink travels to Brighton via Croydon, Redhill, Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges, Crawley and Haywards Heath. You can also change at Three Bridges to get to Horsham.

Southern:

If travelling from Kent, travel to Ashford towards Chichester, calling at Rye, Hastings, Eastbourne, Lewes (change here for Newhaven and Seaford), Brighton, Worthing, Barnham (change for Bognor Regis) and Chichester.

The train from St Pancras to Uckfield calls at Paddington, Clapham Junction, Streatham, Oxted and Uckfield.

You can use the Trainline journey planner to more accurately detail your train journey and buy tickets.

By Bus/Coach

With the London to Brighton National Express costing as little as £5, coach travel to Sussex is a very viable and affordable option. There are also National Express services to Hove, Worthing, Shoreham-on-Sea, more of which you can see here.

Bus services across Sussex are divided between West Sussex and East Sussex councils. The Traveline journey planner tool can accurately tell you which services to get between Sussex locations, as well as detailed bus timetables, which you can save or print off for later.