Whitstable, Kent - daytime parking and overnight suggestions?

[Barti Ddu]

Planning to meet up with friends who are Airbnb'ing at the end of January in Whitstable. We are therefore hoping to have a couple of days there in the van as part of a longer tour of South East England.

Anyone any suggestions / personal knowledge of places to park / overnight in Whitstable? There's nothing suitable in Britstops. Park4night suggests the carpark at the train station, or the council car park at Tankerton.

Any better suggestions?
Many thanks.

 

[cliffanger]

We were in Whitstable a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t think there is anywhere to park, definitely not to overnight there.

Is there parking at the air bnb? Just a thought!

 

[Pekepal]

Camping and Caravan site at Canterbury. Really easy bus into Canterbury from site, change onto Whitstable bus. Really nice journey and superb site.

 

[cliffanger]

We stayed there and bussed it into Canterbury station.

 

[Pekepal]

Isn’t the station quite a long walk from bus station?

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[highwayman]

Neptunes car park Herne bay seafront is your best option, then it's a quick cycle ride along the prom.
There is one car park where you can park overnight for £2 but I'm waiting to hear from parking enforcement of motorhomes are allowed.
I've seen them in there but dunno if they got a fine of not. I'll post their reply when it happens.

 

[Barti Ddu]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I hadn't considered Canterbury. Might use the P&R at some point, but perhaps not convenient enough for Whitstable. We'll be staying with friends until late evening, plus a pub or two!
Herne Bay might be an option. Appears to be trains between Whitstable and there until the early hours, less than 5 minutes journey.

 

[highwayman]

Have just spoken to enforcement, very nice people. They suggest Tankerton Road car park, there's nothing saying you can stay but nothing saying you can't so" let them know you're there and they'll tell their guys to leave you alone".
Can't ask for more than that really.

 

[cliffanger]

Isn’t the station quite a long walk from bus station?

When I posted my comment, I thought whether I should edit it to read ‘bus station’ ….

 

[cliffanger]

Have just spoken to enforcement, very nice people. They suggest Tankerton Road car park, there's nothing saying you can stay but nothing saying you can't so" let them know you're there and they'll tell their guys to leave you alone".
Can't ask for more than that really.

Brilliant! Wish we‘de known that!

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[Barti Ddu]

Thanks highwayman - that's really helpful. As in my opening post, Tankerton appeared the best option - and comments on Park4night indicated that the coach spaces could also be used - someone asked the same as you.
Do you have a contact / phone number for Enforcement by any chance?
Best regards.

 

[highwayman]

You're welcome. 01227 862000 you'll almost certainly have to leave a Voice message but they always get back to you.
If you need to empty your toilet etc I suggest a night in Canterbury p&r.
Cheers. Nige

 

[Barti Ddu]

highwayman - Cheers Nige. That's brilliant. Yes - we'll have a night in Canterbury before Whitstable, so that we can "pump and dump".

PS. The south east of England is not an area I know very well - so expect more questions in the next week or two. Apologies in advance everyone!

 

[cliffanger]

Broadstairs is beautiful. Rye, Canterbury, Sandwich, and lots of other places in the area are well worth a visit. Rochester is also lovely - and have a sandwich and cake in the community hub cafe if you go there.

You can stay at the Pilot Inn at Dungeness, but only after 6pm and you have to leave by 9.00am (I think) - thanks to the people who took the p*^s last year.

Not sure why I’m recommending the pub really, when after ringing them to check it was ok to stay if we ate in the pub, they said yes, it was a Thursday so it was fine (no arrival and departure times were mentioned). However, we were told to leave at 2.30pm having already bought a lunch and a pint for Cliff and a half for me). The Landlady’s reasoning was ‘What if 15 motorhomes turned up now, we wouldn’t have any car parking spaces left. As I said, it was 2.30pm on a cold and wet Thursday - and we were the only motorhome we had seen the whole day! I was gobsmacked when she continued to say ‘You can finish your drinks and lunch, but just move off and come back at 6.00pm!! Yeah right - there would be no chance of us coming back!

When we got back in the van (which had been parked well out of anyone’s way), and prepared to move off, we saw people who had eaten lunch like us, leaving their cars parked in the spaces and wandering off to walk on the beach! However, there was no evidence of another 14 motorhomes preparing to turn up…..

We had stayed there a couple of years ago, after recommendations from Funsters, and it was a lovely stay. Dungeness is well worth a visit, we love it there, but we won’t be staying at the Pilot again.

Rant over - we love the area. Enjoy your stay.

 

[mitzimad]

i f you can fill and dump in under 15 minutes canterbury is free .we often use the park and ride as a base there is sea within 20mins in three directions. Hearn bay is £2 to overnight but about 2.50 an hour during the day lots of places to eat but all weve tried were poor