Lewes is easy to reach and easy to do without a car once you are here. The apartment is on the High Street, ten minutes’ walk from the station, with buses to Brighton stopping outside the door and two parking spaces opposite for anyone who drives.
By train
Lewes station is about ten minutes on foot from the apartment: down the High Street, left down Station Street, and it is in front of you. Southern runs direct trains from London Victoria roughly twice an hour, taking about an hour and five minutes. Direct trains from Gatwick Airport take about forty minutes. Brighton is fifteen minutes and runs every fifteen to twenty minutes through the day. Eastwards, Seaford (for the Seven Sisters) is eighteen minutes and Eastbourne about twenty.
Buy tickets in advance on the Southern or National Rail sites; off-peak returns from London are usually far cheaper than walk-up fares. If you are travelling on 5 November, read the Bonfire Night page first: trains do not stop at Lewes that evening.
By car
Lewes sits on the A27 between Brighton and Eastbourne. From London and the M25, come down the M23 and A23 to Brighton and turn east on the A27, or leave the M25 at junction 6 and take the A22 and A26 through Uckfield, which is slower but prettier. Allow about two hours from central London either way. From the west, the A27 runs straight in from Chichester and Brighton; from the east, from Eastbourne and Hastings.
Your two parking spaces are in Wellhouse Place, directly opposite the house: the first two bays by the High Street, before the Pelham Arms car park. There is a map on the guest information page. The High Street is narrow and busy with people, so take it slowly. For a third car, the County Hall car park a minute’s walk away is open to the public from Friday evening and cheap at weekends.
By air
Gatwick is the airport for Lewes: forty minutes by direct train, or fifty by car via the A23 and A27. Heathrow is about two hours by road or by train via London. Southampton is an hour and a half by road. There are no flights nearer than that, which is one of the reasons Lewes is quiet.
By ferry
DFDS sails between Dieppe and Newhaven two or three times a day, a four-hour crossing. Newhaven is eight miles from Lewes, about twenty minutes by car or nine minutes by train, so the apartment is a sensible first or last night for anyone driving to or from France. Details at dfds.com.
Once you are here
You will not need the car for Lewes itself. Brighton & Hove Buses stop outside the door (the stop is The Pelham Arms): the 28 and 29 run to Brighton every ten to twenty minutes, and eastwards to Ringmer, Uckfield, Hailsham and Eastbourne. Pay contactless on board. The 79 goes up to Ditchling Beacon at weekends for the walk back along the Downs. Taxis: Lewes Taxis on 01273 474444 and A Cab on 01273 484484; book ahead late at night, and do not count on Uber. Glyndebourne, Charleston and the wine estates are easiest by car, though all are short taxi rides too.
The stairs
Whichever way you arrive, the last stretch is on foot: the apartment is on the top floor up a private staircase that is steep and narrow in places, and there is no lift. Pack in bags you can carry, and if anyone in the party finds stairs difficult, ask us before booking.
Last checked September 2026. Opening times and prices change; the links go to the official sources.
Header photo: Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.