Margate’s unique attraction is a mysterious subterranean grotto, discovered in 1835. It’s a claustrophobic collection of rooms and passageways embedded with 4.6 million shells arranged in symbol-rich mosaics. It has inspired feverish speculation over the years; some think it a 2000-year-old pagan temple, others an elaborate 19th-century hoax. Either way, it’s a one-of-a-kind place worth seeing.
Shell Grotto
Kent
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
15.22 MILES
A rich repository of more than 1400 years of Christian history, Canterbury Cathedral is the Church of England’s mother ship, and a truly extraordinary…
0.4 MILES
Turner Contemporary is a blockbuster art gallery, bolted together on the site of the seafront guesthouse where master painter JMW Turner used to stay…
18.09 MILES
Occupying top spot, literally and figuratively, in Dover’s townscape, this most impressive of castles was built to bolster the country’s weakest point at…
-
18.55 MILES
Despite voting leave, the poor port town of Dover is possibly the Southeast community set to suffer most post-Brexit. It was perhaps for that reason that…
-
18.19 MILES
The biggest draw at Dover Castle is the secret wartime tunnels. The claustrophobic chalk-hewn passageways were excavated during the Napoleonic Wars and…
Beaney House of Art & Knowledge
15.37 MILES
This mock-Tudor edifice is the grandest on the main shopping thoroughfare, if not the most authentic. Formerly called the Royal Museum & Art Gallery, it…
-
3.13 MILES
Around 4 miles northwest of Ramsgate’s town centre at Manston Airport, this purpose-built museum stores two WWII planes: one a Spitfire, the other a…
-
0.59 MILES
Given the kiss of life using lottery and council funds, Margate’s famous amusement park has come back to life after many years of lying derelict and stop…
Nearby Kent attractions
0.4 MILES
Turner Contemporary is a blockbuster art gallery, bolted together on the site of the seafront guesthouse where master painter JMW Turner used to stay…
0.59 MILES
Given the kiss of life using lottery and council funds, Margate’s famous amusement park has come back to life after many years of lying derelict and stop…
3.06 MILES
This quaint museum is Broadstairs’ top indoor attraction and the former home of Mary Pearson Strong – Dickens’ inspiration for the character of Betsey…
3.13 MILES
Around 4 miles northwest of Ramsgate’s town centre at Manston Airport, this purpose-built museum stores two WWII planes: one a Spitfire, the other a…
4.14 MILES
Interesting but erratically opening museum displaying loot from the more than 600 ships that have been wrecked on the notorious Goodwin Sands off this…
6.98 MILES
Roman Britain began here amid the windswept ruins of Richborough’s Roman Fort, just 2 miles north of Sandwich. This is where the successful AD 43 invasion…
7.95 MILES
This former church is now a multipurpose venue hosting some surprisingly big acts. It’s open during the day for perusal and is worth a look for its…
8.02 MILES
Several attractions line the River Stour. The cute little flint-chequered Barbican tollgate was built by Henry VIII and controls traffic flow over the…