The White Cliffs

Iconic chalk cliffs with views across to France

The chalk cliffs stretch along the coast on both sides of Dover, rising up to 110 metres and visible from across the Channel on a clear day. They have been a symbol of England — of arrival and departure, home and exile — for centuries, referenced by Shakespeare in King Lear and Vera Lynn in the song that became a wartime anthem.

The National Trust manages the cliff tops east of the port, with a visitor centre about 3 km from the town and a network of walking paths along the cliff edge. The most popular walk runs about 4 km from the visitor centre to the South Foreland Lighthouse, with views across to France throughout. The clifftop turf is rich in wildflowers in summer, and peregrine falcons hunt along the face. Come at low tide when the chalk ledges at the base are exposed and the colour contrast between rock, sea and sky is at its most dramatic.

things to do landmark
A story
The cliffs are not actually white all year round — they are exposed chalk that glows white in bright sunlight and turns grey in overcast weather, which perhaps explains why they seem most potent as a symbol to returning travellers seeing them from the sea. The seabirds nesting in the crevices include fulmars, which look like gulls from a distance but are oceanic birds more closely related to albatrosses.