Margate Caves
About
A separate underground site from the Shell Grotto and frequently confused with it, which is worth sorting out before you set off: the Caves are a chalk excavation on Northdown Road with a modern visitor building over them, and they have a documented history rather than a mystery. The site runs from an Iron Age presence through use as a chalk mine to its later career as a Victorian and twentieth-century visitor attraction, and it closed for years before reopening under a community trust. It is run by the Margate Caves Community Education Trust, a registered charity, and the volunteer-led feel is part of the visit. Practically, this is the most dependable indoor attraction in Margate: open daily, 10:00 to 17:00, last entry 16:30, and cheaper than the Grotto. There is a cafe and shop in the visitor building above.
Photos
Highlights
- ✓Open daily, 10:00 to 17:00
- ✓Chalk excavation with painted chambers
- ✓Run by a registered community education charity
- ✓Cafe and shop in the visitor building
- ✓Children aged 3 and under free
Tips
- →Do not confuse the Caves with the Shell Grotto. They are different sites a few minutes' walk apart, and the Caves are the one open every day.
- →Last entry is 16:30, half an hour before closing.
- →Underground and cool year-round, so it works as a hot-day escape as well as a wet-day one.
- →The Margaret Bryan Gallery and community rooms in the visitor building host changing shows.
Best Season
Accessibility
The Caves publish their own accessibility page. Not independently verified during this build; the site is an underground chalk excavation, so contact them directly before travelling.
More Attraction Activities
Turner Contemporary
Free contemporary art gallery on the seafront, on the site of Turner's Margate lodgings. Open Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays.
Dreamland
Free to enter, pay per ride. Vintage rides, a roller disco and a summer outdoor gig season. The Scenic Railway still stands but is retired and cannot be ridden. Opening pattern changes constantly.
The Shell Grotto
4.6 million shells in a tunnel under a Cliftonville side street. Discovered in 1835 and never explained. Grade I listed.