Southwold

Southwold is an unspoilt seaside town in Suffolk.

Understand

Described in the Doomsday Book as a fishing port, over time a shingle bar built-up across the harbour entrance preventing the town becoming a major port. A fire in 1659 severely damaged the town and even today the town has many village greens where some destroyed areas were never rebuilt.

Today the town is well known for the Adnams Brewery which is the town's largest employer.

Get in

By road

Southwold is about 35 miles from Ipswich and a similar distance from Norwich. 6 miles E of the A12 main road, 14 miles S of Lowestoft.

By train
  • 🌍 Darsham station, Main Road (A12), near Darsham, IP17 3PN (9 miles SW of town). On the East Suffolk Ipswich to Lowestoft line. Station operated by and services run by Greater Anglia (updated Jun 2017) Darsham station is not linked to Southwold by public transport so you may need to pre-book a taxi. Alternatively you can travel by train to Halesworth or Beccles where there are connecting bus services to Southwold.

By bus

Southwold is served by First Norfolk & Suffolk bus services 99 from Lowestoft and 99a from Bungay and Halesworth, and by Border Bus services 146 from Norwich and 524 from Halesworth, both also serving Beccles.

By bicycle

The town is at the south end of Regional Cycle Route 31 which runs north to Beccles where it joins Regional Cycle Route 30 (to Lowestoft to the east and to Harleston and beyond to the west). This also joins National Cycle Route 1 (Shetland Islands to Dover) to Norwich and beyond to the north and Ipswich and beyond to the south.

Get around

The town is small enough to walk around by foot.

See

Do

Walk along the pier and visit the lovely shops along it, or stop for lunch or a snack in the restaurant.

Walk to the river and take ferry over to Walberswick.

Shop in the many boutiques, gift shops, delis etc. There is a lovely Adnams Kitchen shop which sells a huge variety of wines, as well as unusual kitchen equipment. There is also a nice cafe at the back.

Take a walk on the beach.

Play golf on the very pleasant nine hole course. Visitors welcome and does a very good fish and chip meal.

Visit The Sailors’ Reading Room . Ship figureheads, pictures and portraits of local fishermen and seascapes, model ships and maritime memorabilia offer a fascinating history of Southwold’s connections with the sea .

Visit The Alfred Corry museum. The museum building is the 1923 ex-Cromer Lifeboat shed and it houses 'Alfred Corry', the Southwold No1 Lifeboat built in 1893.

Buy

Eat

Drink

There are several wonderful pubs. Many are run by Adnams Brewery, which is based on East Green.

Sleep

Connect

As of July 2022, Southwold and its approach roads have 4G from EE, O2 and (in patches) from Vodafone, but no signal from Three. 5G has not reached this area.

Go next
Routes through Southwold
Ipswich ← Saxmundham ←  SW  NE  → Lowestoft → Great Yarmouth


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