Arundel

Arundel's accommodation is concentrated on and around the steep High Street beneath the castle, where former coaching inns built for the Georgian mail routes now double as restaurants and pubs as well as places to sleep. Staying in the town centre means the castle gates, the cathedral and the antique shops are all within a few minutes on foot, though the hill itself is worth bearing in mind for anyone travelling with heavy luggage or limited mobility, since several of the best-known inns sit some way up from the river and railway station.

Beyond the town itself, the surrounding countryside adds a different register of stay entirely: a genuine medieval castle turned country house hotel a few miles up the Arun valley at Amberley, and a historic coastal manor with its own spa at Climping, both offering a quieter, more indulgent alternative to a room above a High Street pub. A large country house hotel with golf and leisure facilities sits just outside the town on the road towards Chichester, useful for anyone wanting more space and on-site activity than the town centre can offer.

Standards across Arundel run from straightforward, well-kept guest houses with a handful of rooms to boutique bed and breakfasts on the High Street itself and full-service coaching inns with restaurants attached. Rooms in the centre are limited by the age and scale of the buildings, so the smaller boutique properties in particular are worth booking well ahead, especially through summer and around the Arundel Festival in late August, when the town's accommodation fills quickly.

Arundel rewards a full day of exploring rather than a quick stop, and these are the essentials.

• Arundel Castle has been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk for nearly a thousand years, and its Norman motte, keep and state rooms sit alongside the Collector Earl's Garden and a formal rose garden, all set within extensive grounds open through the season.
• Arundel Cathedral, a Gothic Revival building completed around 1873 for the Duke of Norfolk and modelled on the great French cathedrals, is free to enter and holds a regular timetable of masses alongside its architectural interest.
• Arundel Wetland Centre, a WWT reserve set beside the River Arun on the edge of town, is home to more than fifty species of waterfowl from around the world, including pelicans, cranes and otters, with boat safaris and walking trails through the reedbeds.
• Arundel Museum traces the town's history from its earliest settlement through the castle's many rebuildings, with a strong collection of objects relating to the Fitzalan-Howard family and the town's river trade.
• The High Street's antique and gallery quarter runs steeply down from the castle gates, with long-established dealers in furniture, silver and prints alongside independent art galleries and bric-a-brac shops that reward an unhurried browse.
• Arundel Park and the South Downs begin at the edge of the castle grounds, with waymarked walks climbing onto open downland and views back across the town and the Arun valley from Arundel Park's higher paths.
• The River Arun towpath follows the water south towards the coast at Littlehampton, a level and well-used walking and cycling route that takes in the wetland centre and open farmland.
• Fauna Brewing's tap room and Digby English Wine's tastings give visitors a way to sample West Sussex's growing brewing and viticulture scene without leaving the town centre.

Arundel's food and drink scene leans on its river and downland setting: local trout and seasonal game appear on menus across the town, and the High Street's cafes do a steady trade in cream teas for visitors resting between the castle and the antique shops. The Town House, a small restaurant with rooms on the High Street, has built a strong local reputation for its set-lunch and evening menus, while several of the old coaching inns, including the Norfolk Arms and the Swan, serve pub food built around Sussex produce alongside their overnight rooms.

Fauna Brewing runs a tap room in the town where visitors can try beers brewed a short distance away, and Digby English Wine offers tastings of wine grown on the chalk slopes of the South Downs, part of a wider English wine industry that has taken hold across this stretch of Sussex. A farmers' market and the town's independent delicatessens make it easy to put together a picnic for the river towpath or the wetland centre, and the weekly rhythm of small, family-run shops gives Arundel a more personal food scene than its size might suggest.

Camping around Arundel means riverside and downland settings rather than anything within the town's own narrow streets, with the closest genuine sites a few miles out along the River Arun or tucked into the South Downs above the coastal plain. The nearest option sits beside the river itself at Ford, close enough for an easy cycle or drive into Arundel, while others trade a little distance for a quieter position within the South Downs National Park or the rolling farmland further towards Horsham.

Facilities are geared mainly towards tents, touring caravans and motorhomes rather than large static parks, and the sites below range from a working riverside marina with its own pub and slipway to a simple, adults-focused Camping and Caravanning Club site set in an old orchard, through to a long-established family touring park with hardstanding pitches and a shop. Electric hook-up is available at all three, though shower and washing facilities vary considerably in scale, so it is worth checking what suits your set-up before booking.

Given the proximity to the South Downs Way and the River Arun towpath, all three sites work well as a base for walking or cycling as well as for visiting the castle and cathedral by car, and dogs are welcome at each on a lead. Expect some sloping ground and narrow approach lanes at the more rural sites, particularly around Slindon, so a call ahead is worthwhile for larger outfits.