Lewes and Arundel are two small Sussex towns with castles, steep streets and second-hand bookshops, both reachable directly from London Victoria. Lewes takes about an hour and two minutes and an off-peak return cost £38.00; Arundel takes about an hour and a half and cost £40.10. Each is a comfortable half-day, and neither needs a car.
They are often mentioned together because they are similar in shape: a castle on a hill, a river at the bottom, a High Street of independent shops between them, and a station you can walk from. But they are not interchangeable, and which one you choose depends on what you want from the day.
Lewes is a working county town with a brewery, a Tuesday-to-Sunday museum pair and an unusually dense run of antique and book shops. Arundel is smaller, prettier and more obviously a place to look at, with a huge castle and a Victorian cathedral facing each other across the rooftops.
Lewes and Arundel compared
- Lewes from Victoria
- 1 hour 2 minutes direct. Off-peak return £38.00, Advance singles from £10.00
- Arundel from Victoria
- 1 hour 27 minutes direct. Off-peak return £40.10, Advance singles from £10.00
- Lewes Castle and Museum
- Adult £12.00, child 5 to 17 £6.50, family £34.00 for two adults and up to four children
- Anne of Cleves House, Lewes
- Adult £7.50, child £4.50, family £22.00
- Combined Lewes ticket
- Adult £18.50, child £10.00, family £54.00
- Closed on Mondays
- Both Lewes museums, all year
- Arundel Castle
- Prices and opening dates on the castle's own site, which we could not read
- WWT Arundel Wetland Centre
- Adult £14.63 online without Gift Aid, family of four £40.77
Lewes: two museums, one ticket, and no Mondays
The Sussex Archaeological Society runs both of the town's paying attractions, and they are a ten-minute walk apart. Lewes Castle and Museum sits on the High Street, in a Norman castle built after 1066 by supporters of William the Conqueror; you climb the keep for a view over the Downs and the Ouse valley, and the attached Museum of Sussex Archaeology fills in the rest.
Anne of Cleves House, down in Southover, is a timber-framed medieval house given to Anne of Cleves when her short marriage to Henry VIII ended, although she never lived there. Inside are a Tudor kitchen, a bedroom with a four-poster and a garden planted in period style. Most visitors spend between 45 minutes and an hour and a half.
| Lewes ticket | Castle only | Anne of Cleves only | Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | £12.00 | £7.50 | £18.50 |
| Child 5 to 17, or student | £6.50 | £4.50 | £10.00 |
| Senior, 65 and over | £11.00 | £7.00 | £17.00 |
| Family, two adults and up to four children | £34.00 | £22.00 | £54.00 |
The combined ticket saves £1 for an adult and £2 for a family, which is not much, but the real saving is elsewhere: if you Gift Aid your admission, the Society gives you free entry to its sites for the following twelve months. Under-5s go free and so do essential carers accompanying a paying visitor.
Both Lewes museums close every Monday, all year. From 2 September to 1 November 2026 they open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, dropping to 4pm from 25 October. From 2 November they close at 4pm, and from 4 January to 12 February 2027 they open at weekends only. Last admission is 30 minutes before closing. A Monday in Lewes means a walk and a pub, not a castle.
Photo: HJ Mitchell · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
Walking Lewes: twittens, bookshops and a brewery
Lewes is built on a slope and its most characteristic feature is the twitten, the local word for the narrow alley that cuts between two streets. The High Street runs along the ridge with the castle above it, and steep lanes drop away on both sides towards the river.
The town has an unusual concentration of antiquarian and second-hand bookshops and antique dealers for a place of its size, which is the real reason many Londoners come. If that is your kind of day, our guides to London's bookshops and antiques markets cover the capital's equivalents.
At the bottom of the hill the River Ouse runs past Harvey's brewery, whose brick tower is the landmark you see from the station approach. The riverside path is a pleasant twenty minutes in either direction and costs nothing.
Do not plan a normal day trip to Lewes on 5 November. The town's bonfire processions draw very large crowds and Lewes is exceptionally busy that night. The museums cut their hours that day: in 2026 they opened 10am to 1pm only. If you want to see it, research the local arrangements and travel restrictions carefully first; our guide to Bonfire Night in London covers the safer, closer options.
Arundel: the castle, the cathedral and the wetlands
Arundel is half an hour further from London and feels a good deal further than that. The castle, seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, stands above the town on a scale that is genuinely startling when you come round the corner and see it. Opposite, on the next rise, is a Victorian Catholic cathedral in French Gothic style.
We could not read Arundel Castle's own website from our research tools in September 2026, so we have not published its admission prices or opening dates here. Check them on arundelcastle.org before you travel, and confirm that it is open on your date before you book a train. The town itself, the cathedral and the wetland centre do not depend on the castle's calendar.
The other major attraction is the WWT Arundel Wetland Centre, a wetland reserve beside the river with boat safaris, reedbed walks, hides and adventure play areas. Tickets booked online before midnight the day before are 10 per cent cheaper: £14.63 for an adult, £9.36 for a junior aged 3 to 17 and £40.77 for a family of two adults and two children, or slightly more if you add the Gift Aid donation. On the day you pay full price.
Arundel also has a good run of antique shops, a cluster of tea rooms, and a wide grassy park behind the castle. With children, the wetland centre is the stronger of the two attractions; our family travel guide has more on pacing a day out.
Which one, if you only have a day?
Choose Lewes if
- You want shops, books and a working town
- You are travelling on a tight budget and want a shorter fare
- You like walking hills and alleys rather than queueing
- You want to add Brighton or the South Downs the same day
Choose Arundel if
- You want one big, memorable building
- You are bringing children, for the wetland centre
- You prefer somewhere small enough to see completely
- You do not mind the extra half hour each way
Doing both on the same day is possible on paper, because they are on the same side of London, but it is not sensible. There is no fast direct link between them and you would spend most of the afternoon changing trains.
Fares, and the Advance trick that works on both
An off-peak day return from Victoria was £38.00 to Lewes and £40.10 to Arundel in October 2026. Advance singles on both routes started at £10.00, which means a pair of Advance tickets can cost half the walk-up price if you are willing to name your trains.
That gap is unusually wide on the Sussex lines, so it is worth looking. Our guide to how UK train tickets work explains the restrictions, railcards visitors can buy take a third off off-peak fares, and our guide to the terminals covers Victoria.
Both towns are small enough that you will not need any local transport once you arrive. Lewes station is about five minutes' walk from the castle, with a taxi rank outside the main entrance, and buses stop on the High Street. Neither museum in Lewes has its own parking, so drivers use the town car parks.
Eating, and the days things are shut
The café at Anne of Cleves House, run by a local patisserie, opens on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday only, so check before you rely on it. You are welcome to bring a picnic to eat in the garden there, or to eat in the castle grounds in Lewes, which have lawns and a cannon.
More broadly, small Sussex towns keep small-town hours. Kitchens stop serving in the middle of the afternoon, some pubs close between lunch and evening, and almost everything shuts by six. Plan lunch for half past twelve rather than half past two.
Adding the coast or the Downs
Lewes is 17 minutes from Brighton on a direct train, and an off-peak return between the two cost £6.40 in October 2026, which makes a morning in one and an afternoon in the other a genuinely good day. It is also the gateway to the eastern South Downs, and the Seven Sisters cliffs are reachable from the same line.
For comparison in the other direction, Rye and Camber Sands offer a medieval town and a sand beach in East Sussex, and Box Hill gives you a hill walk closer to London. Check the forecast first in our guide to the British weather by month, because both of these towns are best on foot. The full range is in our overview of day trips from London.
One practical note for anyone buying a London ticket with Brighton in mind: a return to Lewes and a separate cheap return on to Brighton usually works out better than a single ticket to Brighton with a break of journey, and it leaves you free to change your mind about how long to spend where. Check both before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get to Lewes and Arundel from London?
Lewes is about 1 hour 2 minutes direct from London Victoria and Arundel about 1 hour 27 minutes, also direct. Off-peak day returns cost £38.00 and £40.10 in October 2026, with Advance singles from £10.00 on both routes.
How much does Lewes Castle cost?
£12.00 for an adult, £6.50 for a child aged 5 to 17 or a student, £11.00 for a senior and £34.00 for a family of two adults and up to four children. A combined ticket with Anne of Cleves House costs £18.50 for an adult and £54.00 for the same family.
Are the Lewes museums open on Mondays?
No. Lewes Castle and Anne of Cleves House both close on Mondays throughout the year, apart from two Mondays before Christmas. From early January to mid-February they open at weekends only, and last admission is always 30 minutes before closing.
Can you visit Lewes and Arundel in the same day?
Technically yes, but we would not. There is no quick direct link between the two towns and the connections eat the afternoon. Pick one, and add Brighton or the South Downs to Lewes if you want a fuller day.
What does Arundel Castle cost and when is it open?
We could not read the castle's own website when researching this guide in September 2026, so we have not published prices or dates here. Check arundelcastle.org for both before you book a train. The town, the cathedral and the WWT wetland centre can all be visited independently of the castle.
Sources
- Sussex Past - Lewes Castle and Museum: prices and opening times (checked September 2026)
- Sussex Past - Anne of Cleves House: prices, opening times and café (checked September 2026)
- WWT Arundel Wetland Centre - Tickets and online prices (checked September 2026)
- National Rail Enquiries - London Victoria to Lewes, times and fares (checked September 2026)
- National Rail Enquiries - London Victoria to Arundel, times and fares (checked September 2026)