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United Kingdom · England

Brighton: how to get there and around

Airports, stations, ports, where the hotels are and what the numbers say, from public data rather than a brochure.

Brighton is a city of 283,870 people in United Kingdom (England), 29 m (95 ft) above sea level. The nearest large airport is London Gatwick Airport (LGW), 36 km (22 mi) from the centre.

Key facts

Population283,870
Elevation29 m (95 ft)
Area83 km²
Time zoneEurope/London (UTC+1 now)
CurrencyPound (GBP)
Dialling code+44
Driving sideLeft
Plug typesBS 1363
Postal codes2 codes, BN2 to TR2
UN/LOCODEGBBSH
Coordinates50.828, -0.139
Brighton

Open Brighton in Google Maps

Daylight in Brighton runs from about 8 h 1 min a day in late December to 16 h 35 min in late June (computed for 50.83° latitude), which matters more than the forecast when a day is built around one flight or one crossing.

Getting there

Brighton is served by 4 airports with scheduled flights within 100 km. The closest large one is London Gatwick Airport (LGW), 36 km (22 mi) from the centre, whose 10,883-ft runway is long enough for long-haul wide-body aircraft. The alternatives are London Heathrow Airport (LHR, 75 km), London City Airport (LCY, 76 km), Southampton Airport (SOU, 86 km).

Flights to Brighton: every airport, routes and times

Buses to Brighton · Driving and car hire

Nearby cities, and how to get between them

Twin towns and sister cities: Cali, Dieppe, Reykjanesbær.

Common questions

Which airport serves Brighton?

London Gatwick Airport (LGW), 36 km (22 mi) from the centre, plus 3 other airports with scheduled flights within 100 km.

How big is Brighton?

About 283,870 people live in Brighton, across 83 km² (GeoNames and Wikidata).

What time zone is Brighton in?

Europe/London, currently UTC+1.

What currency is used in Brighton?

The Pound (GBP). Traffic drives on the left.

Which cities are near Brighton?

London (76 km), Paris (283 km), Birmingham (220 km), Brussels (315 km), Rotterdam (343 km).

Where these facts come from

  • GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, elevation, time zone, postal codes
  • Wikidata (CC0): area, sister cities, visitor numbers, heritage listings, stations and ports
  • OurAirports (public domain): airports, runways
  • Natural Earth (public domain): map outlines

Data compiled 14 September 2026. Hotel and hostel figures are from our booking partner’s catalogue on that date. Journey times on this page are estimates from distance, not timetables; check the operator before you rely on one.