The south-east coast of England allows for great hiking opportunities. Whether it’s along the beach or on top of the chalk cliffs, the hikes are filled with stunning views. Some of the most famous white cliffs can be found near Dover. I have once decided to try to walk from Folkestone – a charming town, worth visiting! – to Dover, expecting to enjoy the breathtaking panorama. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the right path that time and ended up walking most of the way at beach level. Still an interesting adventure for sure, but not quite what I had planned. So, I decided to have a second attempt – and this time, I managed to complete the hike between Dover and Folkestone along the clifftops.

Getting to Folkestone from London

As always, I chose to go on my trip by train. I started my journey at London Stratford International station and took a high speed southeastern train to Folkestone. The journey took under an hour.

From Folkestone station, I walked towards the Zig Zag Path – probably my favourite spot on the south-east coast. It’s a stunning viewpoint on top of a cliff, and a charming, zig zag walkway down to the beach level.

From the Zig Zag Path to the Valiant Sailor pub

From the Zig Zag Path, I walked along the beach towards Folkestone Harbour, walked past Mermaid beach and up towards the Warren. This is where I had to be careful and make sure to find the right path – I didn’t want to end up doing the same beach level walk as I did the previous time.

The key to making sure you walk on top of the cliffs was finding the entrance to the North Downs Way. The path starts right next to the Valiant Sailor pub. Pretty easy to find if you know where to look! The path is marked on Google Maps, so make sure to plan your journey before you set off.

Through the Cliff Top Cafe, down the North Downs Way

Following the North Downs Way, I quickly reached the Battle of Britain memorial, where you can see models (or are they real?) of WWII planes. Then – continuing down the same path – I reached the Cliff Top Cafe. The trail splits here, so make sure you keep the correct side. If you want to remain on top of the cliffs, just walk straight on the North Downs Way – do not turn to the right. This is marked on Google Maps, so make sure you double check where you’re going.

A Visit To Samphire Hoe

After a couple of hours of hiking, I reached Samphire Hoe – a nature reserve created during the construction of the euro tunnel – a tunnel under the English channel, connecting England and France. Well, I kind of reached it – I could look at it from the top of the cliffs. It took me quite a while to find a way to get there. There is a car and pedestrian tunnel leading to Samphire Hoe – you can see it on Google Maps – but because the clifftop trail runs along fenced-off fields, I had to take a bit of a detour to get to the tunnel.

I planned for Samphire Hoe to be the place for a break during my hike. There are toilets there, and a small cafe. The cafe was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Whilst it’s extremely convenient to find a cafe in the middle of nowhere and the prices were low, there was only one person serving a long queue of visitors, and I wasted close to an hour there. If you’re ever in the area and see more than a couple of customers at the cafe, don’t bother!

Hike Back to Folkestone

After queuing for close to an hour to buy the ice cream I was craving, I had a short stroll around the nature reserve. Then, it was time to head back.

At this point, I could have chosen to continue the hike towards Dover – it was just a stone’s throw away – and take my return train from there. However, I still had a lot of steam in the tank left and the day was young, so I decided to hike back to Folkestone. On my way back, I saw some cute bunnies living on the side of the cliffs. They were tiny and skittish, but I managed to capture one in a photo.

A stroll along the beach

After getting back to Folkestone, I enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the beach promenade. The views were particularly stunning during the golden hour – just before sunset – when the beach was bathed in honey-hued sunlight.

Time to go home

Before I hopped on a train back to London, I quickly popped into the Kingsnorth Gardens – a small, green space near Folkestone Central train station. I had walked past this space many times, but never had time to visit. I was missing out! It turned out to be a beautiful little gem, with a Japanese-style garden with colourful flowers and honey-coloured trees – and no, it wasn’t autumn, it was May!

I enjoyed the rainbow colours of the gardens for a few minutes before heading to the station to catch my train.

It was a long day, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hike from Folkestone to Dover. I walked 50,000 steps, or 42 kilometres – a marathon distance, up and down the cliffs. I have a good stamina but even for me, it was rather exhausting! The views were entirely worth it though, and I’m sure I will do that hike again in the future. If you’d prefer to do a shorter hike, simply finish your trip in Dover and catch a return train there instead of walking all the way back.

See you next time!

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