Southend-on-Sea is the classic London day-trip seaside town, sitting at the mouth of the Thames Estuary in Essex. Its centrepiece is Southend Pier, at 1.34 miles the longest pleasure pier in the world — you can walk it or take the small pier railway to the end, where there is a lifeboat station and views back across the estuary.
Before and after the Second World War, Southend was where East Londoners went for a day out, and that tradition has never entirely faded. The seafront has the usual seaside amusements — arcades, ice cream, fish and chips — alongside Adventure Island, a small amusement park. The Kursaal, a grand Edwardian entertainment venue, has been converted into a bowling alley but retains its striking dome.
To the west, Old Leigh (Leigh-on-Sea) is a different character entirely: a picturesque fishing village with cockle sheds, pubs on the waterfront, and an increasingly good food scene. Out beyond Leigh in the salt-marsh, the unsettling Graveyard of Lost Species — a slowly sinking boat carved with the names of vanished Estuary creatures — is one of the area's strangest sights. The contrast between brash Southend and gentle Leigh is part of the area's charm. Southend is about an hour from central London by train.