Hotels in Dover

Where you base yourself in Dover depends largely on whether you are here for the castle, the cliffs, or simply passing through on the way to or from the ferry. Staying in the town centre or along the seafront puts you within walking distance of Dover Priory station, the harbour and the main shops and restaurants, which suits anyone without a car or catching an early crossing. Properties closer to Castle Hill and Maison Dieu Road offer a quieter setting with the castle itself just up the road, a good compromise for visitors splitting their time between sightseeing and simply resting after a day of walking the ramparts and tunnels.

For a slower pace, St Margaret's at Cliffe and St Margaret's Bay sit a short drive east of town, right among the White Cliffs scenery that draws most visitors to this stretch of coast in the first place, with a village pub and shingle beach on the doorstep. Inland, villages in the Elham Valley and around Alkham give access to open Kent countryside, working farms and orchards, and tend to house some of the area's better restaurants, at the cost of needing a car to reach Dover itself. Budget matters too: Dover has a healthy spread of straightforward B&Bs and guest houses in and around the town, several upmarket country properties with restaurants attached a short drive out, and a couple of mid-range hotels directly on the seafront that make sense for ferry travellers wanting a night either side of a crossing. None of the options here are more than fifteen or twenty minutes from the castle or the cliffs, so the choice really comes down to whether you want harbour views, castle proximity, or rural quiet.