Last Updated on October 2, 2026

Margate has properly reinvented itself over the last decade or so, and it’s now one of the best coastal day trips (or short stays) you can do from London with kids. There’s a genuinely good mix here: a real sandy beach, a free vintage amusement park, an actual mysterious underground grotto nobody can fully explain, and enough hands-on museums and soft play to cover a rainy day too. It’s about 1.5 hours from London on the high-speed train, which makes it a genuinely realistic day trip, not just a long-weekend destination.

We found Margate a lot more chill than other coastal towns we’ve visited as a family, like Southend-on-Sea, and a lot more hipster, with countless lovely specialty coffee shops, quaint restaurants and delicious gelato.

We took our son and he loved the beach so much, that’s the thing I’d plan the day around. Dreamland was lovely too, but more as part of the day than the whole plan, more on that below.

MARGATE WITH KIDS ESSENTIALS

🚆 Getting There / High-speed Southeastern trains run from London St Pancras International to Margate in around 1 hour 26 minutes to 1 hour 37 minutes, with up to 55 services a day. Book on Trainline in advance for the cheapest fares.

🚗 Getting Around / Margate itself is small and walkable, the beach, Old Town and Harbour Arm are all within 10 to 15 minutes of each other on foot. For Quex Park or the other nearby Thanet towns, compare rental cars on DiscoverCars, though the local train also covers Broadstairs and Ramsgate easily.

🏨 Stay / Space, a short walk to the beach and somewhere the kids can run around matter most here. Skip the endless scrolling, these are the ones I’d point a friend toward (full picks in Where to Stay below):
Budget: The Burlington Hotel
Mid-range: Seaside 2 Bed En-suite Flat by Adliv, where we stayed!
Splurge: No.42 by GuestHouse

📱 Connect / Visiting the UK from abroad? Stay connected from the moment you land with an eSIM. I use Holafly, which gives you unlimited data, plus 1GB of free global backup data with its Always On feature, handy if your plans change. Get yours with my link and use code TRAVELWITHPAU for 5% off.

🛡️ Get Insured / Even for a UK trip, it’s worth having cover, especially with a beach and soft play activities on the itinerary. World Nomads offers coverage for over 150 activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more.

Things to Do in Margate with Kids

1. Marvel at the Shell Grotto

£5 adults, £2.50 children under 16, under 3s free, £12 family ticket. Nobody actually knows who built the Shell Grotto, an underground passage and chambers entirely covered in over 4.6 million shells arranged in mosaic patterns, discovered by accident in 1835. Theories range from an 18th-century folly to something far older, and the genuine mystery is a big part of what makes it fascinating for kids, this isn’t a staged attraction, nobody has ever definitively explained it. Worth knowing before you go down: it’s genuinely a bit eerie underground, low ceilings, dim lighting, and a definite atmosphere, so it can spook very young or nervy kids more than you’d expect from a “shell museum.” Check current opening hours and book here.

2. Ride the Rides at Dreamland Margate

Free entry, pay per ride. Dreamland is a genuinely charming vintage amusement park right on the seafront. We visited with our son and it was lovely, but I wouldn’t treat it as a standalone day out, it works best as one part of a day alongside the beach and something else, rather than the one thing you plan everything around. The historic Scenic Railway (one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world, now under refurbishment) is the headline ride, alongside dodgems, waltzers and a proper old-school arcade. Rides run on a token system (1 token is £3) or wristbands: the Mega Wristband is £24.99 for unlimited rides on anything over 1.2m tall, and the Tiny Tots Wristband is £12.99 for children between 0.8m and 1.2m. Buy wristbands online in advance, it’s cheaper than on the day. The huge public area in the middle of the park, deck chairs and a big screen showing kids’ films in summer, is free to sit in even if you don’t buy a wristband. For toddlers specifically, Octopus’s Garden, Dreamland’s separate soft-play café with a climbing structure, slides and seaside-themed play buildings, is a good option if the main rides feel a bit much, it’s paid entry on top of general admission, check current pricing on-site.

3. Explore Margate Caves

£5 adults, £2.50 children, £12 family ticket. Margate Caves are a genuine 18th-century chalk mine turned smuggling and storage caves, beautifully restored with a new visitor centre, café and exhibition space when they reopened in 2019. The self-guided tour is atmospheric without being scary for younger kids, and there’s enough history woven in to hold older kids’ attention too. It’s a good rainy day option, but the caves are quite small, so a visit can take as little as 15 minutes. Pair it with something else indoors nearby rather than making it the whole plan.

4. Get Hands-On at The WonderWorks

£5 adults, £2.50 children aged 5 to 15, under 5s free, £12.50 family ticket. An immersive attraction built around some of Britain’s best-known hobby brands, The WonderWorks lets kids get hands-on with Hornby model railways, Scalextric slot car racing, Airfix model-building and Corgi die-cast cars. It’s a nice change of pace from the beach and works particularly well for kids who like building and making things. Book WonderWorks tickets here.

5. Burn Off Energy at Widget’s World

From £4.50 entry, or £6.50 with a child’s meal, and you can stay as long as you like (prices at time of writing, check before you go). Widget’s World is a seafront indoor adventure play centre at 36-42 Marine Terrace, with separate play zones for all ages including babies, plus slides, a ball pit, a sensory room and a café on site. It’s one of the best rainy day options in Margate, and handy any day the kids need to burn off some energy. Check their Facebook page for current opening hours.

6. Beat the Clock at The Escapement Escape Rooms

Around £90 per team (a fixed price at time of writing, check before you book). The Escapement is an award-winning escape room attraction in the town centre, a short distance from the train station, and it’s open to all ages. It was named the UK’s #1 rated escape room on Tripadvisor in 2019 and won a TERPECA award in 2022. There are three 90-minute adventures to choose from (Pirates of Polaris, Egyptian Exodus and The Pit), built with live theatre, cinematic sets and real puzzles, and they’re designed to be exciting without being scary. Another great one for a rainy day, and a good one to do as a family.

7. Take In the Art at Turner Contemporary

Free. Right on the seafront, Turner Contemporary is a proper art gallery that still works well with kids: there’s a dedicated family room to explore, child-friendly exhibitions, and weekend family tours, plus sensory workshops for toddlers. Entry is free, though a donation is suggested, and the café does excellent cake if you need a rainy-day plan that doesn’t feel like a chore for the adults either.

8. Learn Something Weird at the Crab Museum

Free. Billing itself as the only museum in Europe dedicated to decapods, the Crab Museum is small, genuinely witty, and far more interactive for kids than the novelty premise suggests, plus a proper souvenir shop worth a browse. Usually open Friday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm, worth checking current days before you go.

9. Spend the Day at Margate Main Sands & the Harbour Arm

Free. The main event: Margate Main Sands is a genuine, proper sandy beach right in the town centre, and our son absolutely loved it, Blue Flag status, gentle tides and lifeguards in season, and it gets busy on a warm weekend for good reason. Walk out along the Harbour Arm, the old stone breakwater lined with independent shops, a lighthouse at the end, and some of the best food in town, for views back over the whole bay.

10. Swim in Walpole Bay Tidal Pool

Free. One of the largest tidal pools in the UK, Walpole Bay Tidal Pool fills naturally with seawater at high tide and stays calm and swimmable as the tide goes out, much safer and more relaxed than open sea swimming with younger kids. It’s a proper local institution, and a short walk from the town centre. Palm Bay next door is another good rock-pooling spot if the kids want to keep exploring.

11. Feed the Machines at Margate Arcades

Free to enter, pay per machine. No trip to a traditional British seaside town is complete without the arcades, guaranteed to drain a pocket of 2ps fast, and kids love every second of it. Margate Amusements on Marine Terrace, opposite the beach, is the largest, or there’s a smaller undercover arcade inside Dreamland if you want it paired with food, drink and a roller disco on a rainy day.

12. Have Breakfast on a Double Decker Bus

Café prices, no entry fee. The Bus Café, on the Sun Deck along the promenade, serves an award-winning breakfast on the top deck of an actual double decker bus overlooking the sea, think crumpet sliders and a full cooked breakfast without the grease. Open Thursday to Monday, 9am to 2:30pm, and genuinely one of the more memorable breakfasts you’ll have with kids.

13. Play a Round at Stokes Adventure Golf

£7.50 adults, £7 seniors, £6 under 12s, second round half price, no booking needed. An 18-hole mini golf course overlooking Westbrook Bay, Stokes Adventure Golf is an easy, reliable hour with kids of pretty much any age, and the sea views make it a nicer round than your average crazy golf course.

14. Cycle the Viking Coastal Trail

Free. A roughly 32-mile circular cycling and walking route around the whole Isle of Thanet, mostly flat and family-friendly, and it passes straight through Margate. You don’t need to do the whole thing, even a short stretch out towards Broadstairs works well for older kids on bikes, and there are e-bike tours available if you’d rather not pedal the whole way yourselves.

15. Wander Margate Old Town

Free. Margate Old Town is a tangle of narrow streets packed with independent shops, vintage stores and galleries, it’s grown into a genuinely creative little quarter since Turner Contemporary opened. Not a single fixed activity, more something to just wander through between the bigger attractions, kids tend to enjoy the quirky shop windows as much as the adults do.

16. Climb Drapers Windmill

£2 adults, 50p children, £4.50 family ticket. Margate’s only working smock mill, Drapers Windmill is run entirely by volunteers who explain how the machinery works and let kids climb the steep stairs right up to the top for a proper view over the town, there’s also a ground-floor CCTV display and history film for anyone who can’t manage the stairs. Open Sunday afternoons, 2pm to 4pm, from early May to late September, genuinely hands-on in a way most windmills aren’t. Visit the Drapers Windmill website for current dates.

Day Trips

Quex Park, Birchington

A short drive or train ride to Birchington, Quex Park is a proper family estate day out: soft play at The Jungle (£5 for ages 1 and up including 1 adult, £3.50 under 1, extra adults £1.50, term-time pricing, check the site for holiday rates), giant bounce pillows, a toddler village, goat walking, and Quex Adventure Golf, plus the Powell-Cotton Museum next door, where kids can get hands-on with over 400 real objects in “The Cube,” from costumes to small taxidermy animals. Check the Quex Park website directly for current museum and adventure golf prices, they’re each ticketed separately. Easily a half or full day on its own.

Broadstairs & Botany Bay

Free to visit. Broadstairs, a short hop down the coast (under 10 minutes by car or train), has Viking Bay, a calmer, more sheltered sandy beach than Margate’s, good for younger kids and easier swimming, plus Morelli’s Gelato for the best ice cream in the area. We loved our visit to Broadstairs, it’s such a quaint little town. Grab a lovely coffee at Salt, and have fish and chips at one of the restaurants down on the shore. The Old Curiosity Shop Café on Harbour Street does takeaway food and has a small play corner for little ones. One warning: watch out for the seagulls, they love stealing ice cream! Botany Bay, just north of Broadstairs, is known for its chalk stacks and rock pools, a proper fossil and rock-pooling spot at low tide. For a rainy-day backup, Elev8 at nearby Westwood Cross is a trampoline park, soft play and arcade all in one, with weekday specials from around £6 per person in term time.

Ramsgate

Free to visit. Ramsgate‘s Royal Harbour is the only Royal Harbour in the UK, and it’s a genuinely pretty spot to wander with a working marina, Georgian architecture, and a decent beach of its own if Margate’s is too busy.

Where to Stay in Margate with Kids

Budget Accommodation

• The Burlington Hotel: A family-run seafront B&B less than 5 minutes’ walk from the beach, the train station and Dreamland. Guests regularly mention the complimentary sticks of rock and biscuits for kids, a small touch that goes a long way. Best for: families who want to be right in the middle of everything without paying for extras.

Mid-range

• Seaside 2 Bed En-suite Flat by Adliv: This is the one we stayed in and we had the best time. A spacious two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat (one bedroom has bunk beds) with free parking, a full kitchen and a washing machine, rated 9.1 (Superb) from 34 reviews. It’s full of children’s toys and books, there’s enough carpet space for the kids to play for hours, there were bucket and spades galore and some lovely snacks left for us. It’s right in front of an Aldi, there’s a playground nearby, and it’s close to the centre, with the Shell Grotto about 400 metres away and Walpole Bay beach a 6-minute walk. Best for: families who want space and a self-catering base rather than a hotel room.
• Walpole Bay Hotel: A genuinely characterful historic hotel with generous family suites, a 6-minute walk from Walpole Bay Tidal Pool. It’s part-museum as much as hotel, plenty for curious kids to look at around the building itself. Best for: families who want somewhere with real character, close to the tidal pool.

Splurge

• No.42 by GuestHouse: An upscale beachfront guesthouse in the Old Town, 6 minutes on foot from Dreamland, with a rooftop bar, restaurant and connecting rooms available for families. Best for: a proper treat-yourself trip where the stay is part of the occasion.

None of these float your boat? Search all Margate hotels.

Where to Eat in Margate with Kids

GB Pizza Co: A genuine Margate institution on the Harbour Arm since 2012, wood-fired pizza with British ingredients and views over the harbour and Turner Contemporary. Easy, reliable, and kids love pizza, so this rarely goes wrong.

Peter’s Fish Factory: Right opposite the sea, proper fish and chips with good batter and generous portions, and genuinely good value.

Angela’s: On the main parade, a reliable, well-loved seafood spot if you want a proper sit-down meal rather than something to eat on the beach wall.

Melt Margate: The local favourite for gelato, a proper post-beach treat and an easy win with kids of any age.

Morelli’s Gelato: Another one for gelato, a sixth-generation Italian family business that has been making it since 1907, with a parlour on Marine Drive on the seafront serving fresh gelato made every morning. A very easy post-beach stop with kids.

Rise & Bun: Our pick for breakfast. Some unbelievable buns and delicious coffee, in a bakery on King Street in the Old Town that regularly has a queue out the door. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am until the buns sell out, so go early.

How Long to Spend in Margate with Kids

A day trip is genuinely doable from London: the beach, Dreamland and one more attraction (the Shell Grotto or Margate Caves) comfortably fits into a day, especially with the fast train.

A weekend (2 nights) lets you add Turner Contemporary, the Harbour Arm, and either Quex Park or Broadstairs without rushing.

3 to 4 days covers the whole list properly, including all the day trips, with time to just relax on the beach in between.

5 days is how long I stayed, and I loved it. That’s plenty of time to cover the whole list at an easy pace, with proper beach time too.

Best Time to Visit

Late spring to early autumn (May to September) is when Margate is at its best, the beach is genuinely usable, Dreamland’s outdoor rides are all running, and the tidal pool is at its most inviting. School holiday weeks get busy, especially on the beach and at Dreamland, so weekday visits are noticeably calmer if you have the flexibility.

Getting To & Around Margate

High-speed Southeastern trains run from London St Pancras International to Margate in around 1 hour 26 to 1 hour 37 minutes on the HS1 line, with up to 55 services a day, genuinely one of the easiest UK seaside day trips from London. By car, it’s around 1 hour 45 minutes via the M2 and A299, compare rental cars on DiscoverCars if you want the flexibility to add Quex Park or the other Thanet towns.

Once you’re there, Margate itself is small enough to walk everywhere, and local trains connect easily to Broadstairs and Ramsgate if you want to explore further along the coast without a car.

FAQ

Is Margate good for a family day trip from London?

Yes, it’s one of the easiest UK coastal day trips from London, around 1.5 hours by high-speed train, with a real sandy beach, a free amusement park, and enough indoor attractions to cover a rainy day too.

Is Dreamland free to enter?

Yes, entry to Dreamland itself is free, you only pay for rides, either individually with tokens or with an all-day wristband, which works out cheaper if your kids want to go on more than a handful of rides.

What is the Shell Grotto and is it real?

It’s a genuine underground passage covered in over 4.6 million shells arranged in mosaic patterns, discovered in 1835. Nobody has ever definitively explained who built it or why, which is exactly what makes it such a good one for curious kids.

Is Margate beach good for young children?

Margate Main Sands is a proper sandy beach and generally safe, though Walpole Bay Tidal Pool and Broadstairs’ Viking Bay are calmer, more sheltered options if you want gentler water for younger kids.

How many days do you need in Margate with kids?

A single day trip from London covers the essentials comfortably, but 2 to 3 days lets you add Quex Park, the Harbour Arm and one of the nearby Thanet towns without rushing.

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