Autumn in Brighton is in full swing. The mornings are growing crisper, the days are getting shorter but are still just about long enough to get a lot in, and there’s a sense of excitement for seasonal change in the air.
Autumn is also a great time to visit – and be living in – Brighton. In fact, it’s one of my favourite seasons in the city. The summer crowds have thinned, the weather is usually pleasant and mild and the changing leaves are giving the city a different character.
Autumn in Brighton
From ghost hunting and psychic readings to city leaf peeping and drinks in cosy pubs, here’s some classic inspiration and alternative ideas for enjoying autumn in Brighton.
Fun fact: We think of ‘fall’ – short for ‘fall of the leaf’ – as the North American version of the word ‘autumn’. But, according to the Met Office, it was also once widely used in England until the 18th century, when the word autumn entered English from the French automne.
This post was originally written in October 2021 but has been since revamped to keep it fresh and will be continuously updated as we discover new things to add.
Autumn festivals in Brighton
Every autumn, Brighton comes alive with several festivals, kicking off in September with the two-day Brighton Chocolate Festival, which gathers together independent producers to celebrate the art of chocolate making.
This is followed by the new Brighton Cocktail Festival: for the cost of a £20 ticket, you get to spend 10 days hopping around 40 of Brighton’s best bars sipping bespoke off-menu cocktail creations that cost just £6 each, and £4 for non-alcoholic options.
October then ushers in October Best which sees Brighton’s top restaurants serving special menus to showcase the diversity of the city’s independent restaurant scene. Prices range from £15 to £35 to suit all budgets and tastes.
November is time for CINECITY when the best in world cinema comes to Brighton and the surrounding area with a festival programme of premieres and previews, films from the archives, installations, talks and special events.
Then of course there’s Bonfire Night celebrated annually on the 5 November with fireworks throughout the city; a day that commemorates the failed Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605.
Lewes, a 10-minute drive from Brighton in the South Downs National Park, known as the ‘bonfire capital of the world’ hosts the UK’s most extravagant bonfire night which sees thousands of visitors coming to town to see effigies of Guy Fawkes and the year’s political villains burned.
Hunting for Brighton ghosts in autumn
Take a tour of Preston Manor, Britian’s most haunted house
It always surprises me how few locals have been in Preston Manor, on the fringes of the city near Preston Park. With secluded setting surrounded by trees, it’s easy to walk past without realising it.
Make the effort to visit and you’ll discover a magnificent historic home that paints an evocative picture of Edwardian and post-Edwardian life both upstairs and downstairs. Not only this, but it’s also said to be the most haunted house in Britain.
For many years, it was said to be haunted by a blonde woman dressed in white, with several guests complaining of unexplained happenings. It’s thought that when Living TV filmed their Most Haunted programme here in 1996, they experienced one of their most active nights of paranormal activity.
During my visit, staff also told me stories of their spooky experiences in certain rooms, which sent shivvers up my spine.
Find Preston Manor at Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD. Book tour tickets here.
Find Brighton’s hidden city pet cemetery
After your spooky visit to Preston Manor, there are two more curiosities in the grounds to discover, one inside the other. The first, is a stunning walled Edwardian garden, that’s free to enter, open all year round, and worth visiting alone to see it in all its russet and gold autumn glory.
To find the second, head into the south-west corner of the garden and you’ll find a row of miniature headstones lining the back walls. This hidden gem is known as the Preston Manor pet cemetery that reminds us of the time in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, when pets were buried in private cemeteries complete with headstones.
The gravestone people find most intriguing is inscribed ‘George the Pavilion Cat’, a shorthaired black and white cat who lived at the Royal Pavilion from 1965 to 1980.
Take a virtual tour of Preston Manor’s walled garden, here.
Follow a ghost walk of the Lanes
Actor Rob Marks as the eccentric Silas the Ghost Walker, or his fellow ghost walkers Jasper and Ebenezer, takes you on a 70-minute walk around Brighton’s famous Lanes to visit eight of the area’s most haunted sites. For further spooking, book in for the walk followed by an atmospheric three-course dinner in the eerie underground cellars of 400-year-old hotel, The Old Ship.
Book your Ghost Walk of the Lanes here or here.
Walk the Tomb Trail around Brighton’s ‘city of the dead’ in woodvale cemetery
On the fringes of Hanover, Brighton’s most colourful and hilliest neighbourhood, is Woodvale Cemetery, a mind-blowing 70-acre complex most people overlook. It’s home to an intriguing Victorian burial ground with a romantic, but eerie 19th-century atmosphere all its own.
The mossy overgrown paths are lined with wonky, ivy-covered gravestones. It’s somewhat of a mini city of unique mausoleums and intricate graves, some built with extraordinary detail and pomp back in the day. It’s an incredible secret Brighton place to celebrate autumn.
What’s most surprising is that despite its gargantuan size, it’s likely you’ll only ever encounter a handful of other people while you’re here. Weather permitting, you can also picnic in the little picnic garden near the entrance.
Take a virtual walk around the Tomb Trail, here. Find Woodvale Cemetery at Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 3QB
Drag brunch and CABARET nights IN A FORMER TOMB 
Haus of Cabaret (formerly Proud Cabaret) is a supper club and cabaret show spot with an unusual setting in a Grade II-listed former grave. It’s better known as the Sassoon Mausoleum, and you can’t miss it with its fancy oriental style structure with a pagoda roof.
It was once the resting place of Sir Albert Sassoon, a member of a prominent Victorian Anglo-Indian-Jewish family of entrepreneurs who founded the Sassoon & Co banking firm. But don’t worry – you won’t be dining next to his remains. His body was moved to a Jewish cemetery in London when his grandson, Sir Philip Sassoon, sold the house and garden.
Find Haus of Cabaret at 83 St George’s Road, Brighton BN2 1EF . Check out their listings and reserve your table here.
Hocus Pocus! Brighton MAGIC SHOPS and psychic readings
Whether you’re a seasoned occultist, or a newbie intrigued by the craft, there are several places in Brighton that will feed your aspiring inner Pagan. Start off with a trip to Gaia’s Magick on Sydney Street, loved for its collection of crystals, jewellery and spiritual books.
Meanwhile, Two Feathers over on Kensington Gardens stocks beautiful native American tribal jewellery, crystals, and other products like music instruments including singing bowls and flutes. They also have a big holistic section of incense, candles and oils.
Fancy a psychic reading? There are two places in the city with good reputations. Fiona Coffey of Tea and Tarot is a business psychologist and fringe theatre performer who loves reading tarot. She offers individual readings or hosts tarot parties. Find out more, here and here. She also hosts tarot classes for budding readers, here.
Claire Petulengro, another famous Brighton tarot reader from a long line of clairvoyants also offers phone readings which you can book via her website. Two Feathers mentioned above also hosts readings. Find out more here.
Want to take your interest in modern witchcraft further? Then pay a visit to the former home of the pioneer of modern witchcraft, Doreen Valiente. She lived at 6 Tyson Place, Grosvenor Street, Brighton and is the first person to have spoken openly about the craft after it was made legal in 1951. A blue plaque marks her home and life.
Autumn date nights in Brighton
There are so many ways to snuggle up on a date night in Brighton. My favourite is to book a slouchy balcony sofa seat at the Duke of York’s Picturehouse. They come with cosy blankets and a little table for your drinks and box of popcorn.
As the weather gets colder, what’s better than snuggling up in a timeworn pub with a pint of Guinness or glass of wine, or some dinner? Here are my picks for places in Brighton to escape the cold:
Lion and Lobster is a cosy, quaint pub in Hove which has been around for 500 years with warm wood interiors and fairy-lit corners. Expect a warming wine selection and hearty comfort pub food.
Wild Flor is one of my go-to city spots for a romantic dinner under candlelight in Hove, especially if you book a table fireside in the upstairs dining room.
For something sultry, The Plotting Parlour, tucked along a side street not far from the pier is one of my favourite cocktail bars in Brighton
Autumn sauna sessions in Brighton
Brighton’s sauna scene is on fire with so many great options scattered around the city from the seafront to the Lanes. Having a sauna session is great at any time of year, but particularly magical in autumn as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop but aren’t freezing.
One of my favourites is the OG Beach Box Sauna Spa, a rustic spot on the beach at Kemptown. approved by the Swedish Sauna Academy. It replicates the traditional Scandinavian-style sauna experience with wood-fired saunas, a plunge pool, cold showers and a fire pit.
Try their homemade treatments like rose facial scrubs and leaf whisking – a treatment which involves hitting yourself lightly with birch and oak twigs – ‘whisks’ – to promote better circulation or take a dip in the sea.
Other great places for a sauna in Brighton include the sleek and stylish Luna Hut, a little further along the beach which replicates the Finnish sauna experience. Their second Brighton outpost, the Luna Hut Sauna Cafe, hides under the Victorian viaduct in the eclectic London Road neighbourhood, and is unique for its little street-facing cafe.
I feel invigorated just typing this! Seriously, getting to have a sauna session on your doorstep is one of the best things about living in Brighton.
GO CITY LEAF PEEPING – finding autumn colour in Brighton
Beyond the festivals, sauna sessions, date nights and ghost hunting, the main thing I love about autumn in Brighton is the colours. The foliage is beautiful at this time, and there’s a lot of it around.
My favourite places for autumn colour in Brighton are Preston Park, the biggest park in the city with two cafes and an Victorian velodrome, and the Preston Park Rock Garden opposite it, home to Brighton’s only waterfall. The latter has one of the most incredible displays of Virginia creeper on a little outbuilding (pictured above).
I’ve put together five self-guided Brighton walks for autumn colour that take you to some under-the-radar places in the city.
Get into the Autumn spirit – head into the countryside!
Autumn is apple season! In Stanmer Park, a short bus ride north out of Brighton centre towards the South Downs, is a building called The Fruit Factory which is home to the Brighton Permaculture Trust Scrumping project.
Each year, they process up to 40 tons of fruit from local gardens and Sussex orchards into delicious apple juice, cider and other products. It’s open every weekend (11am-4pm) and they invite you to bring your own apples and pears for juicing. See their website.
Less than an hour from Brighton in Sussex, is the huge Middle Farm where you’ll find the Cider Barn, home to the ‘world’s largest permanent collection of cider and perry’. There are over 100 types of each which you can taste before you buy.
Other trips from Brighton in Autumn
Lucky for me, Brighton is on the doorstep of some of England’s most dramatic countryside for observing the turn of the season. One of my favourites places to soak up autumn colour is Stanmer Park I mention above, a peaceful green space, home to a manor house, walled garden and arboretum.
I also love Wakehurst Place, home of the fascinating Millennium Seed Bank and 500-acres of wild botanic gardens I fell in love with last autumn.
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