Southend-on-Sea is about an hour from London and has the longest pleasure pier in the world: 1.33 miles of deck out into the Thames Estuary, with a narrow-gauge railway running along it. Entry to the pier costs £3.10 for an adult on foot, or £7.70 including a return train ride, and it opens daily from 10.15am to 6pm (September 2026).
The town is a classic English seaside resort of the kind that grew up to serve London: amusements, a free-entry theme park, fish and chips, and a long promenade. It is not Brighton and does not pretend to be. What it has that nowhere else does is the pier, and what the wider coast has is the oyster town of Leigh-on-Sea next door, which is the better half of the day for many visitors.
Our guide to London Southend Airport covers the terminal, the flights and the rail connection for passengers. This page is about the town and the coast as a day out.
Southend Pier: prices and times
- Pier entry, walking both ways
- Adult £3.10, child aged 3 to 16 £2.10, concession £2.10
- Pier entry plus a return train ride
- Adult £7.70, child £4.10, concession £4.10, family £19.50
- Pier entry plus a fishing pass
- Adult £10.80, child £5.65, concession £5.65
- Opening
- Daily 10.15am to 6pm, last entry one hour before closing
- Address
- Western Esplanade, Southend-on-Sea SS1 1EE
- Pier Museum
- Weekends and bank holidays only, 11am to 4.30pm
- Weather
- Times change at short notice; the pier closes in bad weather. Telephone 01702 212534
- Concessions
- Over-60s, disabled visitors and students with identification
The pier, and whether to walk or ride
The walk is a mile and a third each way and takes about half an hour at an even pace, with nothing to shelter behind. On a still day it is the best thing in Essex: the town shrinks behind you, the estuary opens out, and container ships pass on their way to and from the docks. In a January easterly it is an ordeal.
The train is the reason most people pay the higher price. It runs along the deck and costs £4.60 more than walking for an adult, £2.00 more for a child. The most efficient use of the money is to ride out and walk back, which gives you the view in both directions and lets you stop where you like. Trains leave the shore end on the hour and half hour, and more frequently in the busy season.
At the far end are a café, a restaurant, a shop and an RNLI station open from 11am to 3.30pm daily. The Pier Museum, at the shore end, opens only at weekends and on bank holidays, 11am to 4.30pm, which catches out weekday visitors. Food and drink on the pier runs from 10.30am to 5pm.
Last entry is an hour before closing, and closing moves. The pier's published hours are 10.15am to 6pm, but the council states plainly that times are subject to change and weather dependent. In practice a strong wind closes it. Telephone 01702 212534 on the morning of your visit rather than relying on the website, and never plan to start the walk after 5pm.
Photo: Chris Wood · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
Getting there, and the contactless surprise
Two separate railways serve Southend from two different London termini, and they arrive at two different stations a few minutes apart in the town centre.
| Route | Fastest time | Off-Peak Day Return | Off-peak contactless, each way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fenchurch Street to Southend Central | 55 to 59 minutes, direct | £21.60 | £10.80 |
| Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria | 1 hour to 1 hour 2 minutes, direct | £21.60 | £10.80 |
| Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea | 48 to 52 minutes, direct | £18.80 | £9.40 |
| Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness | 1 hour 4 minutes, direct | £22.60 | £11.30 |
Contactless pay as you go now works to all of these, at exactly half the Off-Peak Day Return for each leg, so tapping in and out costs the same as buying the paper return and saves you the queue. Oyster is not valid. Advance singles on the Greater Anglia route from Liverpool Street started at £6.00 when we checked, which undercuts everything else if you can commit to a train.
Our explainer on Oyster against contactless covers the difference, which matters here because there are no child, railcard or concession discounts on contactless: a family is better off with paper tickets. How British rail tickets work explains Advance fares, and our station guide covers Fenchurch Street, which is the least known of the London terminals and the closest to Tower Hill.
A family of four saves money with paper tickets, not contactless. Contactless has no child rate, so four taps each way cost £86.40 return. Two adult Off-Peak Day Returns plus two children at the reduced child fare come to well under that from Fenchurch Street. Buy at the machine, and see our page on children's fares for the rules.
What else is along the seafront
Adventure Island sits right beside the pier entrance and describes itself as the United Kingdom's largest free-entry theme park. You walk in without paying and then buy either individual ride tickets or a wristband, which is the sensible option for anyone planning to stay more than an hour. Prices vary by season and by height, so check the current wristband rates before you go.
Beyond it the seafront runs east past Sea Life Adventure and Never Never Land towards Thorpe Bay, and west towards Leigh. The Cliff Gardens rise behind the Western Esplanade, with a cliff lift connecting the two levels. The beaches are estuary beaches: sand and shingle at high water, wide mud at low water, and the tide goes out a long way. Check the tide times if swimming matters.
Southend is the obvious answer if you are travelling with children, and our wider advice on London with children applies to the journey as much as the destination. For adults, the interest is more in Old Leigh than in the amusements.
Leigh-on-Sea, which is the better half of the coast
Three stops before Southend Central, Leigh-on-Sea has an old fishing quarter along the water: cockle sheds, sheds selling shellfish to eat standing up, a handful of pubs with tables on the sea wall, and boats on the mud at low tide. It is a twenty-minute train ride from Southend or a long walk along the front.
An Off-Peak Day Return from Fenchurch Street is £18.80, or £9.40 each way on contactless, which is the cheapest of the four fares in the table. If you want one stop rather than two, this is the one we would choose: it is smaller, quieter and better for lunch. Our pages on seafood and oysters and fish and chips explain what to expect from the same food in London, which is generally more expensive and less fresh.
From Leigh you can walk out to Two Tree Island, a nature reserve on the saltmarsh, or up to Hadleigh Country Park.
Hadleigh Castle: free, ruined and on a hill
Above Hadleigh, a couple of miles west of Leigh, stand the remains of a 13th-century castle built for Hubert de Burgh and rebuilt by Edward III. English Heritage looks after it, entry is free, and it is open at any reasonable time during daylight hours.
There are no facilities at all: no car park, no toilets, no shop. The closest on-street parking is in Castle Lane, about 200 metres north of the entrance, and English Heritage points visitors to Hadleigh Country Park and Hadleigh town centre for anything else. What you get is a ruin on a bluff with a wide view over the estuary, which is what John Constable painted here in 1829.
The country park below was the venue for the mountain bike events at the 2012 Olympics, and the course is still there as a public trail. Our page on London 2012 and the Olympic Park covers the main sites in the capital.
When to go
Southend is a summer town and behaves like one. July and August bring crowds, full trains on Saturdays and every ride open. May, June and September give you the pier without the queues and better odds of a clear view across the estuary. Between November and March a good deal is shut, the pier closes early and the wind off the water is serious.
Our guide to what each month brings is worth reading before choosing a date, because more of this day is outdoors than on almost any other trip from London. A wet day here is a poor day; there is very little indoor space that is not an amusement arcade.
How it compares with the Kent coast
Southend suits you if
- You are travelling with children who want rides and a beach
- You want the cheapest seaside fare out of London
- You like piers, arcades and the unreconstructed English resort
- You want lunch in Old Leigh rather than a gallery
Go to Kent instead if
- You want open sea rather than an estuary
- Art galleries and independent shops are the point
- You want a town with a medieval centre
- You are going out of season, when Southend shuts down
Whitstable is the closest comparison, an oyster town with a working harbour and a similar journey time from St Pancras or Victoria. Margate has the Turner Contemporary and a proper sandy bay. Going north instead, Colchester is the other big Essex day out and works better in bad weather. The full list is on our days out from London page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to go on Southend Pier?
Walking costs £3.10 for an adult, £2.10 for a child aged 3 to 16 and £2.10 for a concession. Entry including a return trip on the pier train costs £7.70 for an adult, £4.10 for a child or concession, and £19.50 for a family. A fishing pass with entry is £10.80 for an adult.
How long does it take to walk Southend Pier?
About half an hour each way. The pier is 1.33 miles long, which makes it the longest pleasure pier in the world. There is no shelter along the deck, so check the wind before setting out, and remember that last entry is one hour before the pier closes at 6pm.
How do you get to Southend from London?
c2c runs from Fenchurch Street to Southend Central in 55 to 59 minutes, and Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria in about an hour. Both cost £21.60 for an Off-Peak Day Return, or £10.80 each way on contactless. Oyster is not valid on either route.
Can you use contactless to Southend?
Yes, on both routes and to Leigh-on-Sea and Shoeburyness as well, at exactly half the Off-Peak Day Return for each leg. Oyster cards are not accepted. There are no child or railcard discounts on contactless, so families should buy paper tickets at the machine instead.
Is Leigh-on-Sea worth visiting instead of Southend?
For many visitors, yes. Leigh has an old fishing quarter with cockle sheds, shellfish stalls, pubs on the sea wall and boats on the mud at low tide, and the fare from Fenchurch Street is £18.80 return, the cheapest on this stretch of coast. It is three stops before Southend Central.
Sources
- Southend Pier - Ticket prices (checked September 2026)
- Southend Pier - Opening times (checked September 2026)
- National Rail Enquiries - London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central, times and fares (checked September 2026)
- National Rail Enquiries - London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria, times and fares (checked September 2026)
- English Heritage - Hadleigh Castle (checked September 2026)
- Adventure Island - Free entry and wristbands (checked September 2026)