Margate
Margate is a seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England.

Margate is a seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of 2 miles long, 16 miles north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. In 2011 it had a population of 61,223.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Margate
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Kingsgate Castle
Kingsgate Castle is a mock castle on the cliffs above Kingsgate Bay, Broadstairs, Kent, England.
4.1 km · mock castle in Kingsgate, Kent, England, UK · Wikipedia - 02Shell Grotto
The Shell Grotto, sometimes called the Shell Temple, is an ornate underground shell grotto in the seaside town of Margate, Kent, England. The grotto, which has a passageway and main room, was dug out from chalk, a soft limestone common in the region.
500 m · an ornate subterranean passageway in Margate, Kent, UK. Grade I listed building · Wikipedia - 03Turner Contemporary
Turner Contemporary is an art gallery in Margate, Kent, England, intended as a contemporary arts space and catalyst for the regeneration of the town. The title commemorates the association of the town with noted landscape painter J. M. W. Turner, who went to school there, and visited throughout his life.
700 m · art gallery in Kent, England · Wikipedia - 04Dreamland Margate
Dreamland Margate is an amusement park and entertainment centre based on a traditional English seaside funfair located in Margate, Kent, England. The site of the park was first used for amusement rides in 1880, although the Dreamland name was not used until 1920 when the park's Grade II* listed Scenic Railway wooden rollercoaster was opened.
600 m · Seaside amusement park in Margate, England · Wikipedia - 05Montefiore Synagogue
The Montefiore Synagogue is the private Orthodox Jewish synagogue and adjacent mausoleum of the late Sir Moses Montefiore, located on Honeysuckle Road, Hereson, in Ramsgate, Kent, England, in the United Kingdom. The private synagogue was completed in 1833 and, together with the mausoleum, was listed as a Grade II* building in 1968.
5.8 km · Synagogue in Kent, England · Wikipedia - 06North Foreland Lighthouse
North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, specifically in Broadstairs. With the rest of Broadstairs and part of Ramsgate it is the eastern side of Kent's largest peninsula, the Isle of Thanet.
4.4 km · lighthouse at North Foreland, England · Wikipedia - 07Arlington House, Margate
Arlington House is an 18-storey residential apartment and commercial block in the Brutalist style on the seafront of Margate, Kent, England, next to Margate railway station and Dreamland Margate. It was developed by Bernard Sunley and designed by Russel Diplock, and is known for every apartment having a sea view.
600 m · building in Kent, England · Wikipedia - 08Church of St Laurence, Ramsgate
St Laurence's Church, also known as St Laurence-in-Thanet, is a Church of England parish church in Ramsgate, Thanet, Kent.
5.4 km · church in Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK · Wikipedia - 09Margate Lighthouse
Margate Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the end of Margate harbour arm in Kent.
800 m · lighthouse in Margate, Kent, England · Wikipedia - 10St Ethelbert's Church
Dedicated to Saints Ethelbert and Gertrude, St Ethelbert's Church is a Roman Catholic church on Hereson Road in Ramsgate, Kent, England. Designed by Peter Paul Pugin, the church was built by W. W. Martin and Sons of Ramsgate and is the Catholic parish church.
5.8 km · catholic church in Ramsgate, Thanet, Kent, England · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Margate seafront faces the main beach, a trad promenade with a clock tower, pubs, bingo halls, and amusement arcades. Harbour Arm casts an embrace around the harbour north of the beach, with eating places, and nowadays the Turner at its foot.
- 01Turner Contemporary Art Gallery
Modern art gallery opened in 2011, with a small selection of paintings by JMW Turner (1775-1851), who stayed at a boarding house on this spot.
- 02Margate Caves
1 Northdown Rd, Margate CT9 1HQ, info@margatecaves.co.uk.
- 03Shell Grotto
This is a remarkable place down a dingy back street: a winding underground passageway leading into a chamber, all decorated from floor to ceiling in sea shells.
- 04Draper's Mill
This is a "smock mill" built in 1865, the only survivor of three here.
- 05Hornby Visitor Centre
Westwood Industrial Estate, Margate CT9 4JX.
From Wikivoyage: Margate, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Margate Beach is a large crescent of sand right in town centre, by Dreamland and the railway station. It's accessible even at high tide, and the tidal pool is a sheltered area for kiddy-bathing. Half a mile west is a smaller beach, Westbrook Bay. Beaches east of the harbour through Cliftonville are narrow, and covered at high tide. Naylor Rock Shelter by the west end of Margate Beach is a grand Edwardian structure.
- 01Dreamland
49-51 Marine Terrace, Margate CT9 1XJ (200 m east of railway station),.
- 02Tom Thumb Theatre
Theatre squeezed into an old coach house with offbeat decor, and a bar with an outdoor balcony upstairs Cinema: Dreamland Cinema is only occasionally open.
From Wikivoyage: Margate, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
There's a whole slew of places to eat near the seafront and on the harbour arm, and more in town centre.
- 01Sargasso
Wine bar with great food, small portions, offering a great view of the harbour Buoy and Oyster, 44 High St, Margate CT9 1DS (north end of beach),.
- 02The Ambrette
Enjoyable restaurant serving Anglo-Mumbai "haute cuisine".
- 03Mullins Brasserie
Upscale but relaxed place in a former butchers, serves European cuisine with a Barbados twist.
- 04Forts
Good coffee and breakfast spot by Winter Gardens.
- 05The Riz
Ayubowan to this consistently impressive Sri Lanka and Kerala-style restaurant.
From Wikivoyage: Margate, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Margate
- Airports
- London Stansted (STN), 97 km · Ostend-Bruges (OST), 106 km · London Gatwick (LGW), 112 km
- Stations
- Manston Airport, 5.4 km · Westgate-on-Sea railway station, 3.2 km · Margate railway station, 800 m · Ramsgate railway station, 5.1 km · Broadstairs railway station, 4.4 km
- London → Margate106 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £11–15
- London, Essex → Margate106 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £11–15
- Luton, Luton → Margate136 km · quickest by road, 2h 46m · £17–22
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Margate
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Margate. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inBroadstairs is 2 miles from the channel port of Ramsgate with ferries from Ostend in Belgium (for car passengers/coaches only though - no foot passengers).
From Wikivoyage: Broadstairs, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01203 km
- 02322 km
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If you know how people move in Margate – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Margate
- Ramsgatetown in Kent, England, UK4.8 km
- Broadstairscoastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England4.8 km
- Westgate-on-Seatown in Thanet, Kent, England3.2 km
- Thanetnon-metropolitan district in Kent, England3 km
- Birchingtonvillage in Thanet, north-east Kent, England5.5 km
- Manstonvillage and civil parish in Kent, UK4.4 km