Because Brighton is the coolest, hippest, trendiest, quirkiest little town in the UK, a place where

Sometime between the age of Jane Austen and now, Brighton has become the gay capital of the UK. Don t ask me how. Don t ask me when. But let me just say, around 75% of the young men I ve met over the year in Brighton bat for the other team. Not that I mind. In fact, I love it.
Because Brighton apple vacation packages is the coolest, hippest, trendiest, quirkiest little town in the UK, a place where you can just let lose and go wild. In fact, nowadays, I skip London altogether, and head straight down to the south coast to Brighton whenever I find myself in the area, and incidentally where my favorite Brit lives. At the risk of offending apple vacation packages everyone, I will step out on a limb and say that Brighton is awesome because it s so different from the rest of the UK.
Austen aside, with the beach within spitting apple vacation packages distance of the town, a university nearby, an hour south of London and more funky shops, restaurants and bars than you can shake a stick at, it s no wonder Brighton has always been a popular holiday destination for Brits. Sparkly, vibrant and just plain fabulous, what s not to love?
It s not easy for me to put a finger on why exactly I love Brighton so much, rather all the weird and quirky parts of the city tug at my heart over and over again, until I never want to leave, and end up spending longer and longer on each visit, overstaying my welcome and sleeping on my friend s blow-up mattress.
One of my favorite things about Brighton is, well, just how BRIGHT a town it is! It s so colorful compared with many other cities in Europe, with vibrantly apple vacation packages painted buildings, pastel houses and rainbows splashed just about everywhere. With my own personal belief that the more color the better, Brighton is the perfect place for me.
I never get tired walking apple vacation packages along the different neighborhoods and exploring the old-fashioned lanes with Charles Dickens chimneys. Brighton has all the charm of historic Britain revamped with a twist and lots of neon colors. What more could you want?
Brighton is located on the beach, and nearby you can find beautiful rolling green hills and the chalk cliffs so emblematic apple vacation packages of the UK s south coast. This time around, we had perfectly sunny weather, so we decided apple vacation packages to escape to the beach outside the town for the afternoon. Hopping off a double decker bus in the middle of nowhere, I followed my friend through open fields apple vacation packages towards the sea and a famous little spot called the Seven Sisters.
Excited to visit a place I ve seen in a movie, we spent the afternoon wading around in the icy water eating ice cream and reminiscing. It s a perfect day trip from Brighton.We finished up at the local pub watching the sun set and drinking a chilled Pimm s and lemonade, a popular summer drink over on that side of the pond. Delicious.
I feel obligated to add a little note that I went to university at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, the first of the Seven Sisters consortium of women s colleges in America. Almost feels like fate visiting a place with the same name on the other side of the world.
Normally when I visit Brighton, I crash on my friend s floor. Not exactly glamourous. This time around since I was fresh off the plane from a transatlantic flight, my grown-up side took over and convinced me to stay in a place with my own room and bed. Cue Kipps Backpackers .
When I first started traveling around Europe years ago, I was always on a tight shoe-string budget which meant massive dorm room hostels were my bread and butter. Nowadays with tons of deals to be found online, I am happy to shell out a bit more for my own space. However, I travel alone almost exclusively and sometimes, well, it gets lonely and I want to meet people, which is when I usually check myself into a private room in a hostel. The best of both worlds.
Kipps is great for many reasons, but probably my two favorite aspects were the location and the cozy room. Located right smack in the middle of everything in Brighton, it couldn t be more convenient and easy to find and to get places. My attic private room was exactly the cozy English den I could have wished for. Everywhere around the hostel you can find little quirky and unique touches, making it a memorable place to stay.
Downstairs in the lobby there are plenty of tables, chairs, and sofas to lounge around on and get to know people, along with a bar, kitchen and group activities every night, pretty much guaranteeing that you can meet new people. Verdict? Loved it.
There are tons of little neighborhoods and vibrant districts around Brighton to explore. My two favorite areas are mildly confusing, but equally fun areas to get lost in. The North Laine and the Lanes, not connected. The North Laine is an area of Brighton around the Royal Pavilion that is the bohemian, cultural side of the city. All my favorite cafes and shops are here, and I can easily spend hours walking apple vacation packages up and down these streets, along with spending all my money.
Just down the road you can find the Lanes, which is a different shopping area of the city, and feels much more like a neighborhood apple vacation packages out of a Charles Dickens novel. Here the streets apple vacation packages are super narrow and winding, not wide and straight like the North Laine.
Along these narrow alleyways you ll find lots of cute shops and boutiques, with plenty of other posh restaurants and fun cafes. My favorite cafe in Brighton is called Naked, and it s tucked away off of one of these little streets. apple vacation packages It s a hodgepodge cafe of random apple vacation packages stairs, small rooms, low ceilings and exposed beams, something I love about the UK. The coffee ain t bad either. This is a great place to work or spend a lazy afternoon with friends.
To be perfectly honest, I m not generally a fan of piers, boardwalks or other common beach town spots; I think they are cheesy at best and trashy at worst. That being said, Brighton Pier is a fun spot to visit, and I am a fan of walking up and down the beach in Brighton, apple vacation packages especially when the sun is shining. With the colorful chairs nestled in the sand, people cycling up and down the road and the twinkling blue FRIGID water in the distance, my heart warms every time I catch a glimpse of the pier.
Because it s over one hundred years old, I also am a fan of this pier because it looks like something from a different age. I could imagine women walking around with parasols apple vacation packages back in the day and little boys with knee highs on eating cotton candy. But maybe that s just my overactive imagination. apple vacation packages Just down the way on the beach you can find the creepy skeletal apple vacation packages remains of another old pier that someone set fire to in 2003.
Get this Brighton has a burgeoning, awesome foodie scene.  I m as astonished as you are. Literally I have not had a bad meal in all the different trips I ve been there, and that s saying something. apple vacation packages From cool fusion apple vacation packages restaurants and plenty of ethnic dining spots to chose from, to awesome cafes, bakeries and theme bars, it s hard to pick a favorite.
Personally, my favorite apple vacation packages meal of all time is brunch. Serve me up a sexy, hearty in-between-breakfast-and-lunch, and I m a happy camper. apple vacation packages This time around my friend apple vacation packages took me to the colorful  Bill s , a great place to dine in Brighton, for any meal.
Bill s is the place to be in Brighton and it s usually packed. A bit of a hidden gem, it s almost restaurant meets grocer, with the walls lined with homemade goodies and juice for sale. They even have their own beer.
However, there are tons of great places to dine around Brighton, and I make it my mission to try all new spots every time I visit. Just have a peep on Yelp or ask around and I bet you ll find somewhere fabulous too.
I mentioned before that Brighton is the LGBT capital of the UK, and it s none more evident than during their annual Pride festival apple vacation packages and parade. I first experienced this phenomenal pride even back in 2009, and let me just say, it did not disappoint.
Someone once told me that Brighton is kinda of like the San Francisco of England, which is something I can definitely see, especially since I finally visited San Fran two weeks ago. In fact, while I was walking around the Castro in SF, I spotted not one but TWO complete naked me trotting down the street with only a sock on their, um, business. Gold sparkly socks. of course.
The best part of Brighton Pride is the parade, where everyone comes downtown and watches the floats, cars and drag queens strut their stuff down the main road, all dolled up with rainbows everywhere.
It s great fun, and everyone apple vacation packages and their children show up for the parade, most covered in rainbows. The bars are overflowing, kids are in costume, adults are in costume, and there is just a general jubilation around town. It s really the best time to see Brighton and if you have to pick a weekend, come during pride.
If you happen to live under a rock and don t know who he is, Banksy is probably apple vacation packages the most famous graffiti artist in the world. except nobody knows who he is. He ll show up and mysteriously tag political messages and sometimes apple vacation packages even put on pop up shows and has produced movies. His controversial art now sells for millions or is destroyed, depending where you are. Super cool, right?
The Royal Pavilion was built in Regency England as an extravagant apple vacation packages place for the prince to escape with his mistress. Oh intrigue. Nowadays, it s decadent, flamboyant, and to be perfectly honest, a little bit ridiculous, apple vacation packages but it s one more crazy addition to the Brighton personality that I love so much.
Brighton is quirky. It s charming. It s colorful. It s filled with happy, weird people and it s a really fun, exciting city to visit. Next time you are in the UK, I heartily suggest skipping out on Londontown and heading south to where the real party is at: Brighton.
Wow! Such an amazing post. I am a big Austen fan too and as soon as I read Brighton on the title of the post I had to read it. The town looks so classic, full of history apple vacation packages and picturesque. I hope to visit Brighton someday.
I too went on an Austen trek to Brighton! apple vacation packages and alas, no husbands. Not that I d trust Lydia s opinion on where to get them, anyway. But I act