England's Seaside Capital — the Royal Pavilion's Indian domes on the Sussex coast, the Lanes' independent boutiques, the world's oldest running electric railway, and the UK's LGBTQ+ beach capital since the 1960s
Brighton is England's most bohemian seaside city — 50 minutes from London by train, it has served as the British capital of escape, creativity, and counterculture since the Prince Regent built his fantastical Indian-influenced Royal Pavilion here in 1822. The Brighton Pavilion, with its onion domes and Mughal interior plasterwork, is the most exotic building in Britain — designed by John Nash as the Prince of Wales's seaside pleasure palace. The Lanes, a warren of narrow medieval alleyways in the old fishing quarter, now house antique dealers, independent jewellers, and the best independent c…
Brighton (originally Brighthelmstone) was a small Sussex fishing village until the 18th-century fashion for sea bathing — promoted by Dr Richard Russell's 1750 tract arguing that drinking and bathing in seawater cured all disease — brought wealthy visitors from London. The arrival of the Prince of Wales (the future George IV) in 1783 transformed it into a fashionable resort. His Royal Pavilion, built from 1787 to 1823 in a series of increasingly exotic architectural phases, established Brighton as the playground of aristocracy and bohemians. The railway from London arrived in 1841, reducing j…