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Town in East Kent, England · United Kingdom

Margate

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

Margate
Margate · Acroterion
The place

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.

What is there

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.

  1. 01
    Kingsgate 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
  2. 02
    Shell 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
  3. 03
    Turner 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
  4. 04
    Dreamland 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
  5. 05
    Montefiore 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
  6. 06
    North 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
  7. 07
    Arlington 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
  8. 08
    Church 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
  9. 09
    Margate Lighthouse

    Margate Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the end of Margate harbour arm in Kent.

    800 m · lighthouse in Margate, Kent, England · Wikipedia
  10. 10
    St 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.

See

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.

  1. 01
    Turner 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.

  2. 02
    Margate Caves

    1 Northdown Rd, Margate CT9 1HQ, info@margatecaves.co.uk.

  3. 03
    Shell 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.

  4. 04
    Draper's Mill

    This is a "smock mill" built in 1865, the only survivor of three here.

  5. 05
    Hornby Visitor Centre

    Westwood Industrial Estate, Margate CT9 4JX.

From Wikivoyage: Margate, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Do

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.

  1. 01
    Dreamland

    49-51 Marine Terrace, Margate CT9 1XJ (200 m east of railway station),.

  2. 02
    Tom 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.

Eat

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.

  1. 01
    Sargasso

    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),.

  2. 02
    The Ambrette

    Enjoyable restaurant serving Anglo-Mumbai "haute cuisine".

  3. 03
    Mullins Brasserie

    Upscale but relaxed place in a former butchers, serves European cuisine with a Barbados twist.

  4. 04
    Forts

    Good coffee and breakfast spot by Winter Gardens.

  5. 05
    The 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.

Go there

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 → Margate
    106 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £11–15
  • London, Essex → Margate
    106 km · quickest by road, 2h 37m · £11–15
  • Luton, Luton → Margate
    136 km · quickest by road, 2h 46m · £17–22
  • From anywhere
    The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
    Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

Not yet researched

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.

What Wikivoyage says about moving around
  • 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.

The nearest places where the work is done
  1. 01
    Isle of WightGB

    11 ways of moving, 22 sources

    203 km
  2. 02
    VlielandNL

    10 ways of moving, 47 sources

    322 km
  3. 03
    LundyGB

    7 ways of moving, 11 sources

    422 km
  4. 04
    Isle of ArranGB

    10 ways of moving, 31 sources

    635 km
  5. 05
    Tarbert, Loch Fyne and KintyreGB

    9 ways of moving, 15 sources

    669 km

If you know how people move in Margate – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.

Around it

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