Brighton in 4 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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Four days is the 3-day plan plus Devil’s Dyke, a free South Downs walk that costs only a citySAVER bus ticket to reach. Days 1 and 2 stay in Brighton’s free core, Day 3 is Lewes by train. Want a bigger push into Sussex? The 5-day through 7-day plans add Seven Sisters and beyond.
Book these before you go
- A budget room for all four nights in one booking, since Brighton’s a huge London weekend-break market. Check rates on Booking.com .
- Royal Pavilion tickets online if you’re going inside, for the 5% discount.
- Your Lewes train ticket ahead of Day 3, cheaper booked the night before than at the platform machine.
- Check the bus 77 timetable before Day 4: Devil’s Dyke only runs weekdays in summer, otherwise it’s weekends and bank holidays only.
| Day | Focus | Rough daily cost (GBP, £) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Pier, seafront, The Lanes, North Laine, Pavilion Garden | 77-139 |
| Day 2 | West Pier ruins, Undercliff Walk, Kemptown, beach | 75-121 |
| Day 3 | Lewes: castle grounds, high street, day trip | 85-130 |
| Day 4 | Devil’s Dyke and the South Downs Way | 81-121 |
Day 1: the free spine, Pier to Pavilion Garden
Brighton Palace Pier is £2 per person, March through September 2026, free the rest of the year and free year-round on a BN1, BN2, BN3 or BN41 postcode. Walk it, then cut inland through The Lanes’ narrow twittens into North Laine, 400-plus independent shops, free to browse both. The Royal Pavilion Garden is free to enter without the £21.50 building ticket. Dinner at Terre à Terre, vegetarian since 1993, or a doughnut made fresh to order on the pier.
| Item | Cost (GBP, £) |
|---|---|
| Bed | 60-90 (budget guesthouse; a hostel dorm bed runs lower) |
| Food | 15-25 (Pompoko, Roti King, Brighton Open Market) |
| Transport | 0 (fully walkable from the station) |
| Sights | 2-23.50 (Pier admission; +£21.50 only if you go inside the Pavilion) |
| Total | 77-138.50 |
Day 2: West Pier ruins and the Undercliff Walk
The West Pier ruin costs nothing to look at, still Brighton’s most photographed sight regardless. Kemptown’s St James’s Street is free to browse, then the Undercliff Walk toward Rottingdean and Saltdean, three flat paved miles under the chalk cliffs and quiet compared to the central seafront. Skip the Brighton i360 , £20.50 for a 25-minute flight, and put that toward Bardsley’s fish and chips on Baker Street, family-run since 1926, instead.
| Item | Cost (GBP, £) |
|---|---|
| Bed | 60-90 |
| Food | 15-25 |
| Transport | 0-6 (citySAVER day bus ticket if you skip walking the Undercliff back) |
| Sights | 0 (everything on this route is free) |
| Total | 75-121 |
Day 3: Lewes, the cheapest day trip going
Direct trains to Lewes run frequently, roughly 17-20 minutes. A day return typically runs well under a London fare, book on nationalrail.co.uk the night before. Climb Lewes Castle for the view, or skip the entry fee for the free high street, antique shops and Anne of Cleves House grounds. One gotcha even outside November: Lewes hosts the world’s biggest Bonfire Night celebration on 5 November, and trains stop calling there from around 5pm that evening.
| Item | Cost (GBP, £) |
|---|---|
| Bed | 60-90 |
| Food | 15-25 |
| Transport | ~10-15 return train to Lewes |
| Sights | 0 (castle grounds, high street and Anne of Cleves House grounds are free) |
| Total | 85-130 |
Day 4: Devil’s Dyke and the South Downs Way
The Breeze 77 bus climbs from central Brighton through Prestonville and Westdene to open downland in about 30 minutes, views over the Weald and the Channel on a clear day, and it’s the cheapest day trip on this whole plan since there’s nothing to pay for once you’re up there beyond the citySAVER ticket. Here’s the trap: bus 77 runs weekends and bank holidays year-round, plus weekdays in summer only, so check the timetable before you build a weekday around it. The Devil’s Dyke pub sits at the terminus for a budget pint, and the walk over toward Ditchling Beacon extends the day if your legs are up for it. Book a South Downs walking tour on GetYourGuide if you’d rather have a route planned for you.
| Item | Cost (GBP, £) |
|---|---|
| Bed | 60-90 |
| Food | 15-25 |
| Transport | 5.90 (citySAVER day bus ticket) |
| Sights | 0 (the walk and the views cost nothing; a pub lunch is extra) |
| Total | 80.90-120.90 |
How many days do you actually need in Brighton?
Brighton’s walkable core fills about 1.5 to 2 days for free: the Pier, Lanes, North Laine, Undercliff Walk. Four days is enough to add both Lewes and Devil’s Dyke without feeling rushed, and neither costs much beyond a train or bus ticket. Past four days, Seven Sisters is the next add, covered in our 5-day plan.
Is Devil’s Dyke worth it on a tight budget?
Yes, it’s arguably the best-value day on this whole plan: a citySAVER bus ticket gets you to open downland, South Downs Way views and a free walk, no admission fee anywhere. The only cost risk is timing it wrong, since the 77 bus doesn’t run daily outside summer. See our Brighton day trips guide for how it compares to Seven Sisters.
Check the bus 77 timetable the night before, not the morning of. Turning up on a weekday in October to find no bus for hours is the single most common budget-itinerary mistake on this route.