What would you do if you had 24 hours to spend in Brighton? I was asked by Watch Shop to give an overview of a day I spent in my home city of Brighton, and this is what I chose to do…
24 Hours in Brighton and Hove
A big warning to start – I LOVE my food, so my day has a bit of a vegan foodie spin to it!
Brunch at Larder 
Larder is a quaint little cafe found in the North Laine, which recently changed to a fully vegan cafe after a Veganuary trial. It’s also the perfect place to people watch as it has some nice big windows, so you can enjoy some delicious food and soak up the atmosphere of Brighton’s North Laine.
We grabbed a Wriggle deal of topped toast and a drink – I had avocado and poppy seeds on toast and a delicious green smoothie, whereas my partner had toast topped with hummus, tomatoes and seeds, and a San Pellegrino!
Brighton Museum and Royal Pavilion
After enjoying our brunch and a spot of people watching, we headed over to Brighton Museum, as there were a couple of exhibitions which had caught our eyes! The Punk Photography exhibition and Experimental Motion: The Art of Film Innovation. I’d not actually visited Brighton Museum before, so we made sure to have a good look around at everything that it had to offer. There’s some great artifacts from Brighton’s history, and we also managed to play with a traditional Punch and Judy set. After we’d explored the museum we had a wander around the Royal Pavilion gardens – we couldn’t go into the Royal Pavilion at the time as they’d been filming a movie there that week!
Top tip: if you live in Brighton, you get free entry to Brighton Museum, and admission to Brighton Pavilion is discounted (50% off).
Brighton Pier
Of course, to continue our touristy wander around the city, we then went to the Palace Pier! We were armed with a bag of 2 pence pieces, ready for the coin pusher machines! After trying our luck, we continued to walk around the pier before it started to spit – yep, typical Brighton weather!!
Brighton Beach
Not put off with the drizzle – hey, we’re used to it – we had a lovely walk along the seafront, visiting some of our favourite shops along the way. One of my favourites is Castor & Pollux, which is a gallery shop, selling fabulous art gifts – think of somewhere that’s basically all of the good museum and gallery shops put together, and that’s Castor & Pollux! They sell some really fun Mike Levy Brighton themed items, which would make the perfect souvenir from the city!
Vegan Sushi Burritos at Happy Maki
We’d worked up a bit of an appetite so it was time to get some more food! We’d not yet visited Happy Maki, but had both tried them before at Vegfest and at Brighton’s very own Street Diner, so we were looking forward to rekindling our love for them! They have a wonderful selection of delicious vegan sushi burritos – there are 7 different types, plus sides and drinks. We chose two of these to split – the Hoisin “Duck” and the Sweet Chilli Chick – and also grabbed a side of popcorn cauliflower to share. I’ve since been back a number of times, so trust me, it’s really delicious and the staff there are really lovely. Happy Maki also donate money to charity for each sushi wrap sold; to Mary’s Meals and The Eden Projects.
Delicious Ice Cream at Boho Gelato
No day date together where our path passes Boho Gelato is spent avoiding that place. We ALWAYS end up going in. So as we were at Pool Valley, where Happy Maki is located, we had to pop in for a visit too! Boho Gelato serves a fabulous selection of 24 ever-changing gelato flavours, including a great selection of vegan friendly options.
After Dark in Brighton
Now we’re complete and utter homebodies, so after all of this, we started the slow stroll home. However, Brighton is packed full of nightlife – restaurants, pubs, clubs, gig venues, theatres and more – so you’ll be spoilt for choice for things to do in the evening.
If you’re looking for a decent vegan friendly pub, I highly recommend The Hope and Ruin. They have a great range of vegan (and non vegan) alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, and the awesome Beelzebab is their resident food offering! YUM. Oh, and they serve delicious vegan friendly cake from my lovely pal Becky, who runs Honeycomb Cakes. The Hope and Ruin also has a gig venue upstairs, so make sure that you check out to see whether there’s a band you’ll enjoy playing!
Want to see more of how I spent my day in Brighton? Visit Watch Shop’s Unbox the City to view a video of my 24 hours in Brighton!
If you had 24 hours in Brighton, what would you do?! Let me know in the comments below!
Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Watch Shop, but all words and thoughts are my own.
OK so we need to grab some lunch before I leave Brighton. I’ve never been to Happy Maki, it sounds all kinds of good, as do a lot of these places! Also, I just think of your dog when I see Happy Maki – I imagine his overly excited face. Loved this, I may have to do something similar as my Ode to Brighton.
Honestly Aine