Rochester

Rochester's hotels are concentrated along or just off the High Street, in buildings that predate the city's modern tourism trade by several centuries; several were coaching inns before the railway arrived, and the sense of history has stayed even where the plumbing has been thoroughly modernised. Staying in the old city puts the castle, cathedral and every independent shop and pub within a few minutes' walk, which suits anyone visiting for a short, castle-and-cathedral break.

A short distance away, Chatham's dockside and marina add a handful of more contemporary options, including a working boutique inn overlooking the water and a larger spa hotel geared towards longer stays, conferences and leisure breaks with parking, pools and gyms on site. These properties suit visitors combining Rochester with the Historic Dockyard, or who simply want more modern facilities alongside easy access to the old city by taxi, bus or a riverside walk.

Further out, in the villages of the Medway Valley and the marshland fringe towards the Thames, a small number of family-run bed and breakfasts offer a quieter, more rural alternative, typically with free parking, home-cooked breakfasts and a warmer welcome than can always be found in the city centre. Whichever base you choose, Rochester rewards a stay of two or three nights rather than a flying day visit, giving time for the castle, cathedral, dockyard and High Street without having to rush any of them.

Most of Rochester's landmarks sit within easy walking distance of the High Street, making a car largely unnecessary once you have arrived.

• Rochester Castle is one of the best-preserved Norman keeps in England and, at 113 feet, one of the tallest; its stone staircases climb to battlements with sweeping views over the cathedral and the Medway.
• Rochester Cathedral is England's second-oldest cathedral, with worship on the site dating back to AD 604, a Romanesque and Gothic west front, an atmospheric crypt and a working library open to visitors.
• Eastgate House is a grand Elizabethan townhouse on the High Street that Dickens used as a model in two of his novels, now restored and open to the public with a Dickens-themed Swiss chalet in its garden.
• Rochester High Street is a gaslit run of independent shops, antique dealers and one of the country's largest secondhand bookshops, lined with Tudor and Georgian frontages.
• The Guildhall Museum occupies a handsome 17th-century civic building and covers the city's naval, civic and Dickensian history free of charge.
• Six Poor Travellers House is a 16th-century almshouse and small museum, immortalised by Dickens in one of his Christmas stories.
• The Medway Esplanade offers riverside walks with views across the tidal river to Upnor Castle and the wooded slopes of the opposite bank.
• Chatham Historic Dockyard, a short bus or taxi ride away, preserves 400 years of Royal Navy history across dozens of historic buildings, ropewalks and warships.

Rochester's food scene leans on its history as a coaching and garrison town, with several centuries-old pubs still serving as the backbone of a night out. Kentish ale is a strong local theme, with Shepherd Neame, Britain's oldest brewer based nearby in Faversham, supplying many of the taps around the High Street, and independent cafes doing a steady trade in cream teas and cakes between the castle and cathedral.

The High Street and its side lanes hold a cluster of independent restaurants, delicatessens and coffee shops alongside the historic pubs, while the Medway's proximity to the Thames Estuary keeps fresh fish and seafood, including local oysters and cod landed along the Kent coast, a regular feature on menus. A weekly general market and seasonal food and craft markets take over parts of the city centre through the year, alongside larger set-piece food stalls during the Sweeps and Dickensian Christmas festivals.

For a classic Rochester evening, a pint in one of the High Street's historic coaching inns followed by dinner in one of the independent restaurants nearby is difficult to better, particularly with the cathedral floodlit and the castle silhouetted against the evening sky.

Rochester itself has no campsites within the city, which sits too tightly built around its castle and cathedral to leave room for one, but the surrounding Kent countryside more than makes up for it. Within a short drive, the North Downs, the Medway Valley and the orchards and hop gardens further into Kent offer a genuine mix of woodland camping, family-friendly touring parks and small, quiet certificated sites.

Campers who want to stay close to the city tend to head for the villages along the Medway towards Sittingbourne and Maidstone, where small touring parks and certificated sites offer electric hookups and straightforward facilities within a twenty-minute drive of Rochester Castle. Those happy to travel a little further towards the Kent Downs can find more characterful woodland pitches, with private fire pits and a genuine sense of getting away from it all, still well within range of a day trip back into the city.

None of the three sites below sit inside Rochester itself, but all are within around fifteen miles, an easy drive for an evening at the castle, a wander round the cathedral or dinner on the High Street before heading back to the tent, caravan or bell tent for the night.