Areas to explore along the Norfolk and Suffolk coastlines
10-time British Travel Awards winner, Travel deals expert Travelzoo, bring you their favourite areas to explore along the Norfolk and Suffolk coastlines.
Their deal experts curate amazing hotel offers giving you the opportunity to explore the British Isles one county at a time!
What to See on the Norfolk Coast
Much of the North Norfolk coast is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and features sandy beaches, marshland, and plenty of wildlife reserves. It’s also a walkers’ paradise thanks to the Norfolk Coast Path, an 83-mile hiking route that runs from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea.
The market town of King’s Lynn is well worth a stroll. Sights include the 18th-century Custom House, the impressive St Margaret’s Church, and the vast market square.
Just outside of King’s Lynn is the 12th-century Castle Rising, home to one of England’s best-preserved castle surrounded by impressive earthworks.
A few miles further on is Sandringham, home to one of the royal residences — you can visit the house and gardens between spring and autumn. The surrounding parkland is open year-round.
The pretty harbour town on Wells-next-the-Sea is a good place to stop off for some fish and chips before making the 20-minute drive to Blakeney Point, an important nature reserve that’s home to England’s largest seal colony plus a multitude of bird species, including lapwings, terns, plovers, and wigeons.
Norfolk has one of the country’s most famous holiday destinations, Great Yarmouth. The town has all the trappings of an English seaside resort: you can hit the Golden Mile with its amusements, rides, and entertainment venues, or just stroll along the beach with an ice cream.
Places to visit on the Suffolk coast
At the northern end of the Suffolk coast is Lowestoft, the UK’s easternmost town and the first place in the country to see the sunrise. It was the birthplace of composer Benjamin Britten, and today the town’s Marina Theatre hosts regular Royal Philharmonic Orchestra residencies.
Charming Southwold has a restored Victorian pier that houses a water clock. Nearby, you can stroll past colourful beach huts and a Grade II-listed lighthouse. The town, where George Orwell lived, has a brewery, arts centre, museums, plus many pubs, cafés, and restaurants.
Like Norfolk, there are many places along the Suffolk coast to look for wildlife. RSPB Minsmere nature reserve offers wetlands, woodlands, and beaches to explore on foot, and there is an ever-changing array of fauna, including otters, red deer, bitterns, and marsh harriers.
Further south is another well-loved seaside town, Aldeburgh, which is home to pretty pastel-coloured seafront homes, as well as the annual Aldeburgh Festival, founded by Benjamin Britten (look out for the Scallop, a giant sculpture of a seashell dedicated to the composer, on the town’s shingle beach).
The Suffolk Coast & Heaths extends along much of the county’s coast. It includes the remote Orford Ness, a shingle spit that’s home to diverse wildlife, as well as the remains of buildings that were used in the development of the UK’s atomic bomb. Near Woodbridge, you can visit the National Trust’s Sutton Hoo, where archaeologists unearthed an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in 1939.
Follow the Orwell Estuary from Felixstowe to Suffolk’s county town, Ipswich. There you’ll find plenty of places to eat, drink, and shop. You can even take a trip on a traditional sailing barge.
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