Hastings Castle — Attraction in Hastings

Iconic land mark but alot has fallen into the sea, due to natural occurrences. Unfortunately it needs some TLC or someone like English heritage to maintain it. We made special journey to bring our kids here. Disappointed with the entrance booth (shed) and lack of enthusiasm from the council workman, who seemed more interested in getting home, closed early (before 5) even though it was half term.. It's not enticing visitors, think a bit steep at £15 for a family. We did watch the film which was informative. You can go up the neglected steps to the castle if you can find them or go up the enclosed cliff railway which closed at 4.30, again very early for half term, (council timetable I think) so we couldn't make use of our ticket to come back down- you can only buy a return ticket £7. Hastings-be proud of your history and love it. So much more could be done with the castle, cliff railway and steps. I did notice some new castle signs on the way out, but if you walk up the hill from the cliff railway then you dont see these as you come into the castle from the back of it. We didn't go on the other cliff railway which we could see in the distance. Also I must say we were disappointed with the rubbish and broken glass on the beach, not a good place to eat our picnic. Overall Hastings seemed unkempt and unloved. We did go in the old town which had some nice shops and a nice play park on the sea front, but parts of the sea front seemed run down, with beer cans and broken glass not helping. Interesting to see the fishing boats on the shore. Had problem parking on sea front , so went in a multi storey behind a...

Delightful and pleasant situated on top of the cliffs above the lovely town of Hastings. Although there is not much of the ruin left due to some parts of it being lost to the sea centuries it is still lovely ruin to walk around and see the great architecture of it and how it was constructed in its coastal location. The Castle boasts being the first Norman Castle that was built by William the Conqueror back in 1067 and as you walk up to the Castle there are some informative information boards detailing this and also an information board was you go into the Castle. There are some other interesting informative boards detailing the different features you see giving you a clear idea of the size of the Castle and what was like there and how the features talked about fitted in with and related to the Castle. As you wander around the Castle you admire spectacular picturesque views out to sea of the English Channel and also the town of Hastings and these views give you an idea of how commanding and imposing the Castle's location is on the hill. Other areas of interest are The Dungeons which you can wander and see the tight cramped conditions of how prisoners were kept in. The price of admission is £7 which is very reasonable and you can purchase a ticket for £24 combining the visit of this attraction with the Smugglers Adventure and Hastings Aquarium which is more than reasonable. Overall this is a fantastic and interesting place to visit making for a pleasant and tranquil day out. Well worth a visit whilst...

Overpriced and underwhelming to be honest.

The view is lovely, but you can enjoy a very similar one for free from the hill just next to it.

In terms of castle you get to see, it’s a handful of walls, most of which are the remains of a church because the bulk of the castle fell into the sea hundreds of years ago. Reculver in Kent is similar and completely free. There aren’t any windows that you can imagine firing arrows out of but the kids can enjoy running around the hills a bit.

There’s a semi-interesting but cheesy video in a run down building with a failing projector with some hilariously pointless ‘audio visual effects’. I genuinely found this entertaining but not in the way it was intended. It was hard to see what was happening in the video due to how badly the projector’s bulb needs replacing but thankfully you can watch it for free on YouTube anyway, although you’d miss out on the special effects.

You can also see a stone from a castle at the birthplace of William the conqueror kindly donated in 1961 if that floats your boat.

There’s a ‘dungeon’ which is basically a short tunnel cut into the rock. This was kind of interesting, but nothing much to write home about.

Apparently the site was used as a popular rose garden back in the day. I left feeling they’d be better off making it free entry, putting a decent sized kiosk where the cinema is and setting up some picnic tables. It would be a lovely spot for a panini after a ride up the funicular railway and I’d imagine they’d make a...