Falling for Canterbury’s Spell

📅 Itinerary - May 2025 Day1：Canterbury cathedral, Westgate river front, the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge, Dane John Memorial, walk on the city wall Day2: St. Augustine’s Abbey, the King’s school (outside), shops in the town centre, leave Canterbury before noontime 🏨 Accommodation: Hampton By Hilton 🍴 Food Recommendations: Cafe des Amis: friendly staff, vibrant atmosphere, good food 📌 Tips Canterbury Cathedral: Give plenty of time to visit the Cathedral. We spent more than three hours, on the note that we like taking photos. It’s quite big and encompasses quite a few sections both indoor and outdoor. Take a map might be helpful. If you like to take photos with less crowd in the cathedral, stay there after 4pm, when it’s the last entry, and much less visitors are around. Cafe des Amis: It’s better make a reservation to avoid any disappointment. We booked for dinner about noon time on the same day, and there was only availability after 8 pm. Queningate access to Canterbury Cathedral: Queninggate is part of the city wall, where a nice overview of the cathedral can be found. We wanted to go in with our yearly cathedral ticket, but the staff at the gate lodge insisted that we have to show the hard copy of our tickets to let us in. We had to give up as we only have digital ones. From where the Dane John memorial is, a nice skyline of the city can be seen, including the spires of the Cathedral. It’s also a nice walk along the city wall there. Parking: If you travel to Canterbury by car, stay overnight or longer, while your hotel doesn’t have free parking, the Canterbury East station car park is better value. It’s less than 10 minutes walk to town but only cost you a fractional of a daily parking charge if you park in town centre. The hourly rate in town centre is £3.70, while the daily rate at Canterbury East station is between £3.90-£6.50 depending on the day and time.