Why should I visit Canterbury?
Canterbury is a small city in the county of Kent, in South East England. It’s very old and beautiful, and you can immerse yourself in history dating back to Roman times. At the same time, it’s home to three universities, so it feels young and vibrant, not like a living museum.
You may have heard of Canterbury Cathedral, a site of pilgrimage since 1172, two years after the murder of Thomas Becket. It’s also the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England. Another famous association is the Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the form of a story-telling competition between a group of pilgrims en route to the city to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket.
Another famous resident was Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan playwright and spy, who was born in the city – the Marlowe Theatre is named after him. The sculpture on the left of the image below is Bulkhead by Rick Kirby, and it was apparently inspired by a line from Kit Marlowe’s Dr Faustus – the face that launched a thousand ships. The statue on the right of the image is in memory of Dave Lee, comedian and Kent panto regular.
Considering that it’s really not that far from home for us, it’s surprising that last weekend was our first visit to Canterbury. Our main reason for going was to see Phil Wang at the Marlowe, but we were both keen to spend some time with our cameras so we decided to make a weekend of it.
Getting to Canterbury
Canterbury has two train stations, making it easily accessible from London. Canterbury East is on the London Victoria to Dover Priory line, and Canterbury West is on the Charing Cross to Ramsgate line and the London St Pancras to Margate lines. If you’re coming from London, it looks like travelling from St Pancras is by far the quickest option.
If you’re driving, I’d suggest parking at one of the stations. We paid £7 for 48 hours at Canterbury East, whereas it would have been £30 if we’d used the car park our hotel recommended. You pay using the APCOA connect app, so it’s very straightforward. Sections of the city centre are pedestrianised, but it is small and walkable, so the Canterbury East car park is only ten minutes from the centre.
Things to see and do in Canterbury
Take a boat trip on the Great Stour
There are several companies running tours, but we chose Canterbury River Tours, located on Kings Bridge, next to Ask. We booked online, although they also take bookings on the day if you don’t want to commit in advance. The tour is by rowing boat, and lasts about 45 minutes. The tour guide does all the hard work, so you can sit back and relax, making sure to duck when going under the extremely low bridges. What the tour doesn’t cover in great distances (it’s perhaps a 400 metre stretch of river), it more than makes up for in interesting historical facts and stories about Canterbury.
Visit the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, High Street
The Beaney is a free museum containing a collection of all kinds of Canterbury related objects and artefacts. This is one of my favourite kinds of museum because it enables me to fall down lots of different rabbitholes.
Alongside regular exhibits (including a menacing suit of armour and creepy dolls house), we also saw a temporary exhibition of Claude Cahun‘s photography. Born Lucy Schwob, Cahun was a French photographer whose work explored topics such as gender and identity. In the exhibition, their work is shown alongside the work of local LGBTQIA+ artists – as we were visiting during Pride weekend, this felt very appropriate.
(Claude Cahun exhibition runs till 23rd July 2023)
Visit Canterbury Roman Museum, Butchery Lane
If I’m being completely honest, I struggle to engage with history prior to the Middle Ages. However, I’d surprised myself by enjoying a unit about Cleopatra’s Roman reputation on my course this year, and I had heard good things about the Canterbury Roman Museum. As we got free entry with our Art Pass, I decided it was time to give the Romans another chance.
I was surprised to head down a flight of stairs when we entered the museum – it turns out Canterbury has been built on top of the original Roman town over the years. The museum itself is built on the site of a Roman townhouse and features an in-situ Roman pavement, which is pretty cool. The staff were friendly and informative, and while sadly the Romans still aren’t my cup of tea, I am now more willing to give them a chance.
Catch a show at the Marlowe, The Friars
You can’t really miss the Marlowe Theatre, it’s located in the centre of town, close to the river, and is unashamedly modern compared to its neighbours. However, there are links to the past in the pointed roof, which echoes the spire of the cathedral which, according to our boat captain, was also a controversial architechtural style choice when it was built.
Wander through Westgate Gardens, off St Peters Place
On the Sunday morning we took a walk through Greyfriars Gardens and Westgate Gardens. Greyfriars was definitely feeling the after effects of the previous night’s Pride celebrations, and wasn’t quite as big as I’d thought (it’s next to the Franciscan Gardens on the map and I thought they were connected). But Westgate Gardens was a lovely little park sitting next to the river. This would be a perfect spot to sit with a picnic and watch the world go by.
Things to see and do in Canterbury (that we didn’t get to)
The city definitely proved itself worth a second visit – here are the things on my list for our next trip to Canterbury.
Westgate Towers, Pound Lane
England’s largest surviving medieval gateway, Westgate Towers offers a museum and viewpoint. It’s currently closed on Saturdays, and doesn’t open till 12pm on Sundays, so we missed out. The views look incredible, so we will definitely visit when we return.
Canterbury Cathedral, off Butter Market
We didn’t manage a trip to the cathedral because there was a private service taking place, and the quire and chapter house were closed to visitors. While I appreciate that it’s a working cathedral, I did resent being asked to pay full price (£16 each, so not cheap) when I wouldn’t be able to see everything. Another annoyance came when we discovered that you can’t walk in the grounds without paying the entrance fee. I took the photo above while lurking near the entrance.
The good news if you want to attend a service is that you can do that for free. For me visiting churches is primarily a tourist activity and opportunity to light candles. However, I spent some time studying the interior of Canterbury Cathedral this year for my degree, so it would be nice to see it in person some time.
Franciscan Gardens, High Street
The Franciscan Gardens weren’t on my radar when I was planning this trip, but we passed by during the boat trip and they look wonderfully peaceful. They’re located on the site of the first Franciscan settlement in Britain, and there are medieval ruins scattered throughout the garden.
Dane John Gardens
While checking how to get to our hotel from the car park, I spotted Dane John Gardens on the map and hoped to take a detour through it to climb the mound (a former roman cemetary) and check out the view from the Simmons Memorial. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take our detour as this was where a large portion of the Pride festival was being held.
Places to eat and drink in Canterbury
We love trying local independent bars and restaurants when we visit new places, and Canterbury certainly didn’t disappoint.
The Pound Bar, Pound Lane
This is located in the old jail (and themed as such), and attached to Westgate Towers. If you’re in a group, you can rent out one of the old cells! Luckily we didn’t get thrown in the clink, and this was a lovely riverside spot for a delicious tapas lunch.
If you have an Art Pass, be aware that while the Art Map states that you receive a discount in the restaurant, this is not the case. I’d specifically chosen this restaurant because I wanted to make use of my Art Pass, so I was a bit disappointed, but fortunately the food was really wonderful, which made up for it.
Notorious BRG, Castle Street
This tiny burger restaurant has a few tables inside, but mostly caters for take away. The burgers were delicious and the staff were really friendly, despite working in a sweltering kitchen on one of the hottest days of the year.
Alberrys, St Margaret’s Street
Alberrys is a wine and cocktail bar known for their excellent range of rums, and conveniently located opposite our hotel. We spent a happy couple of hours people watching outside while working through a few items on the cocktail menu.
Micro Roastery Coffee, St Margaret’s Street
Another place located within five steps of our hotel, Micro Roastery was the perfect spot for a morning caffeine fix, and our coffees were top notch.
Garage Coffee Roasters, Sun Street
Garage Coffee proved the perfect spot to take some time out of the sun and enjoy an iced coffee right in the centre of town.
Where to stay in Canterbury
We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton Canterbury (St Margaret’s Street), and I’m not sure if I would recommend it. The city was busy due to Pride weekend, and the hotel also had a conference taking place, so perhaps it would have been better under normal circumstances. However, it was very expensive for what it was.
The check in process was strangely chaotic. They were struggling to get all of the rooms vacated and cleaned so when we tried to check in around 3.30, there was a scramble to get a room, and then the system crashed, and the person at the other check in desk ended up with our room. We got there in the end!
Our room was on the first floor, overlooking the street, and they’d done a remarkably good job of insulating the window against street noise, however, we could clearly hear music from either the club next door or another room when we went to bed around 11pm, and again we woke up in the morning.
Finally, the reception area smelt quite strongly of drains. It was incredibly hot, so I’m not sure if this is just a recurring Canterbury issue.
On the plus side, the location is very central, breakfast was standard tasty Hampton fare (although the waffle maker wasn’t working), and our room was fresh and clean. There was also a cool/terrifying glass floor in reception where you could see some Roman foundations.
Our budget for a weekend in Canterbury
The amount people are willing to spend on trips is down to personal budget and preference, but I hope this summary is helpful, even if you don’t travel like us. Canterbury is probably roughly comparable with other cities in South East England, which isn’t cheap, and prices for everything in the UK are currently very high.
| Hampton by Hilton – double room for 1 night, slightly discounted | £177.65 |
| Parking – 48 hours | £7.00 |
| Boat trip – 1 adult, 1 student | £28.62 |
| Roman museum – free with Art Pass | £0.00 |
| Phil Wang stand-up show | £50.00 |
| The Pound Bar – 4 tapas plates, 2 cocktails | £50.05 |
| Notorious BRG – 2 burgers, 1 chips | £24.50 |
| Alberrys – 2 glasses of wine, 2 cocktails | £34.00 |
| Marlowe Theatre Bar – 2 soft drinks, 2 glasses of wine | £20.90 |
| Hampton by Hilton – 1 glass of wine, 1 JD and coke | £21.30 |
| Garage coffee – 1 iced oat milk capuccino, 1 iced coconut milk mocha | £6.90 |
| Micro-roastery – 2 oat milk capuccinos | £6.40 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 427.32 |
If I’m being honest, I was a bit hesitant about posting a budget – mostly because I wasn’t keen to see for myself how much the weekend had cost. As a couple, we value a hotel room offering both a good nights sleep and a place to recharge our introvert batteries, so we tend to spend a bit more on those than we necessarily need to, however, hotel prices in Canterbury generally seem very high. This trip also featured a few more drinks than usual – it had been a while since we’d stayed the night somewhere and both been able to drink, so we took advantage.
Final Thoughts…
I’m really glad we finally made the trip to Canterbury – it’s a lovely city, and we definitely came home feeling refreshed. Considering its size, we didn’t manage to see everything on offer, so we will definitely be making a return visit. Next time, I think we would just visit for one day, which would be a much more budget friendly trip.
What about you? Tell me your Canterbury Tales in the comments!
