Christmas in Rye

About Christmas in Rye

By the ULTIMATE Brighton Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Rye is made for winter: cobbled lanes on a hill above the marshes, timber-framed inns with log fires, and independent shops that make Christmas shopping a pleasure. The town’s Christmas in Rye Festival was cancelled in 2025; the Rye and District Chamber of Commerce hopes it will return in 2026, so check visitrye.co.uk before you plan around it.

Rye was a member of the Cinque Ports confederation, and its hilltop streets have changed little in centuries. On a December afternoon, with lights in the windows and the smell of woodsmoke in Mermaid Street, it is as close to a Christmas card as the South Coast gets.

The festival

In past years the Christmas in Rye Festival has filled the town with a procession, a carol concert and Father Christmas. It did not take place in 2025, and the Chamber of Commerce, which runs visitrye.co.uk, has said it hopes the festival will return in 2026. Its plans will be published there.

Come on a weekday in December, when the lanes are quiet and the fires are lit.

Shopping and inns

Rye’s independent shops, antique dealers and galleries line the High Street and the lanes around Church Square, and the old coaching inns and pubs serve long winter lunches by the fire. It is a town to wander rather than to plan.

A walk to the sea

For fresh air, follow the River Rother down to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, where winter brings flocks of wading birds and ducks to the lagoons and the shingle runs out to the sea.

Our advice: Rye is on the Marshlink line beyond Hastings; check National Rail for the best connection from Brighton, book a room in town and make a weekend of it.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Christmas in Rye before you go.