Hydro Hotel

The hotel was opened in 1895 and during its early years, it catered to wealthy industrialists from London, Brighton and Seaford who would stay here for weeks at a time while undertaking hydrotherapy treatment that was fashionable at the time.

For a long time, the Hydro Hotel was a three-star establishment but it was awarded its fourth star in 2017 and most of the hotel rooms have been refurbished since 2016.

It is a great hotel for a romantic getaway and it is nicely decorated in a style to emphasise the building’s period features.

The hotel has 82 guest rooms which range from compact single rooms up to spacious suites. All rooms feature comfortable beds, flatscreen televisions, ironing facilities, tea and coffee making facilities and en suite bathrooms.

Most of the rooms are classic and sea view bedrooms that can be configured as either double or twin rooms. At the top end of the scale are the Downlands and South Downs suites, which offer more space and separate living and sleeping areas. The handful of single rooms are much smaller and during the quieter season, these rooms offer a surprisingly affordable opportunity for single travellers to spend the night in a four-star hotel.

One of the rooms is adapted for wheelchair access and disabled parking spaces are also available.

There are also two restaurants at the hotel: the Crystal Restaurant and the Conservatory. The Crystal is the fancier of the two while the Conservatory is a more informal setting that offers lighter meals.

The Crystal is an elegant space with marble columns and chandeliers with a table d’hôte menu that has a focus on fine dining with a British and European-influenced menu using locally sourced ingredients. It is the sort of place where people are expected to dress up for dinner.

The Hydro Hotel is a lovely spot for afternoon tea, which can be served in either the lounge, drawing room or the Conservatory.

Room rates at this hotel include a cooked full English breakfast and there is also the option of including dinner in the room rate.

The hotel also has five function rooms that can be rented for business functions and weddings.

Free Wi-Fi wireless internet access is available throughout the hotel.

The hotel is located a little way out of town, which means that there is more room for outdoor amenities such as a swimming pool, a nice outdoor deck, gardens and a croquet lawn.

Despite being just a few minutes’ walk from the beach, it has an elevated setting 37m (121ft) above sea level and this position ensures that many areas of the hotel, including the outdoor spaces, have lovely sea views including views of Beachy Head.

Hydro Hotel is in a residential neighbourhood a fair distance south of the town centre and most points of interest are a good walk from here. The Eastbourne Heritage Centre, the Lifeboat Museum and the Towner Art Gallery are all a little under a 15-minute walk away, Eastbourne Pier and the town centre are around a 20-minute walk and the Redoubt is around a half-hour walk. Although it is a little out of the way compared with many of Eastbourne’s other hotels, the location south of the town centre puts it within reasonable walking distance to Beachy Head, which is around a 40-minute walk from the hotel.

Free parking for 40 cars is available and there is also unrestricted parking on the streets surrounding the hotel, which makes this a great option if you’re driving.