Brighton Palace Pier: Costs and Free Entry
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Walking onto Brighton Palace Pier costs £2 per person from March through September 2026. Outside that window it’s free, and it’s free year-round if you live in a BN1, BN2, BN3 or BN41 postcode. Under-2s never pay. That £2 covers walking on and looking around only, every ride and arcade machine is billed separately on top.
Key facts
| Admission (Mar-Sep 2026) | £2 per person, ages 2+ |
| Admission (Oct-Feb) | Free |
| BN-postcode residents | Free year-round with a Local Resident’s Card |
| Under-2s | Free always |
| Rides | Extra, roughly £5 pay-as-you-go, or a wristband from about £25 adult (cheaper booked online) |
| Time needed | 1-2 hours to walk it and eat; longer if you ride things |
| Booking | Walk-up for entry; wristbands can be pre-booked online for a discount |
The £2 charge is genuinely new, the pier was free to enter for the whole of 1985 to 2024. It’s not part of the National Rail 2-for-1 scheme either, that only covers the Royal Pavilion, SEA LIFE Brighton and the i360, so don’t expect a rail-ticket discount here.
What you actually get for £2
The pier runs 524 metres out over the Channel and the walk itself, arcades included, is the best-value hour in the city. The seating at the far end gives you a free view back at the seafront and the Royal Pavilion’s domes above the rooflines, no extra charge for that. If you’re travelling on a tight daily budget, treat the £2 as the whole spend here and skip the rides.
If you do want one ride, check individual prices at the kiosk before buying a wristband, a family that only wants two or three goes on the dodgems will spend less pay-as-you-go than on the roughly £25-32 adult unlimited wristband. Kids under 1.2m get a cheaper wristband tier, around £13-27. Hours shift with the season, so check the day’s times on brightonpier.co.uk before you set off.
If you’re basing a whole trip around a cheap seafront stay near the pier, check rates on Booking.com early, budget rooms on Kings Road get booked up on summer weekends.
Eat smart on and off the pier
Skip the pier’s own food stalls with one exception: the doughnuts, made fresh to order by a stall that’s been there 30-plus years, are the one bit of pier food worth the queue and they’re a couple of pounds. For anything more than a snack, walk 10 minutes to Bardsley’s of Baker Street instead, a family chippy trading since 1926 where you’ll pay less than pier prices for better fish and chips. Full cheap-eats rundown in our budget eating guide .
Is Brighton Pier really free most of the year?
Yes. The £2 fee only applies March through September. From October to February, and any time if you’re a BN-postcode resident, you walk on for nothing. The rides and arcade machines cost the same either way, the admission charge only covers the walk-on.
What else nearby costs nothing
Once you’re off the pier, the free options stack up fast: the beach itself, the West Pier ruin a short walk west (and its starling murmuration from November to late February), the Brighton Bandstand and its free Sunday concerts April to September, and window-shopping through The Lanes and North Laine. See our cheap and free things to do guide for the full list.
Where to stay if you want to walk to the pier
The seafront hotel stretch along Kings Road and Marine Parade puts you five minutes from the gate, and budget guesthouse rooms here run from around £60-90 a night off-peak. See our where to stay on a budget breakdown for cheaper areas a short bus ride out.
One number worth remembering: £2 is the whole admission cost outside of rides. Budget travellers can genuinely spend an hour on the pier and leave having paid less than the price of a coffee.