This guide helps you choose between seven places in and around Dover: a castle, a clifftop visitor centre, a museum, Napoleonic hill defences, a country park under the cliffs, a parkland in the Alkham Valley and a clifftop memorial at Capel-le-Ferne. The cards below link to each place’s InKent page. InKent lists Kearsney and Capel-le-Ferne under Dover. Several sights change their hours in winter, so lines below carry the date they were listed, 29 October 2026.
Dover Castle
Dover Castle, on Castle Hill, is run by English Heritage. The Great Tower dates from the 1180s, and the site also has the Secret Wartime Tunnels tour, the Anglo-Saxon church of St Mary-in-Castro, a Roman pharos and a regimental museum. English Heritage’s page on 29 October 2026 listed opening daily, 10am to 4pm, last entry 3pm. Its FAQ page lists that timetable to Sunday 1 November, then Saturdays and Sundays only, 10am to 4pm, from 2 November to 23 December, closed 24 to 26 December, daily from 27 December to 1 January, and weekends only again from 2 January to 12 February 2027, so check before a weekday visit. The page also said the Operation Dynamo section of the tunnels was closed for maintenance and that the Underground Hospital is not accessible by wheelchair or mobility scooter. Prices are shown by date on the booking page, and members enter free.
The White Cliffs of Dover
The National Trust looks after the clifftops at Langdon Cliffs, where there is a visitor centre, cafe and shop. The car park is listed as open 7am to 7pm, with parking at £6 a car (free for National Trust members and Blue Badge holders), and the cafe and shop are listed 10am to 4pm. Fan Bay Deep Shelter tours run on selected dates only and are booked separately, so check the National Trust’s page for dates. The Trust lists accessible toilets, ramped access, an accessible path to a cliff viewing point and wheelchairs to borrow. No clifftop entry charge is listed.
Dover Museum
Dover Museum is on Market Square and is run by Dover District Council. Its own site lists free entry. Galleries cover local archaeology, the history of the town and port, wartime Dover and a Bronze Age boat that the museum’s own site says is some 3,500 years old. It opens Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 5pm, and on Sundays, 10am to 3pm, from April to September only, and it closes on 25 and 26 December and 1 January. The White Cliffs Country Visitor Information Centre is at the entrance. White Cliffs Country, the council’s tourism site, lists a ramped entrance, level floors, a lift to all galleries and an accessible toilet.
Western Heights
Western Heights is a hilltop defence system above the town, begun in the Napoleonic Wars and completed in the 1860s. English Heritage cares for the Drop Redoubt and the North Centre Bastion, and says you can see the exterior and the ditches from the footpaths in daylight, free. The inside of the Drop Redoubt opens only on tour dates and open weekends run by the Western Heights Preservation Society, which English Heritage lists as tours on the third Sunday of the month from April to September and two open weekends a year, and the Grand Shaft opens on set dates. English Heritage lists no 2026 dates. English Heritage says the site is steep and uneven with steps and is not suitable for wheelchair access. Dogs on leads are welcome, but the paths cross grazed land.
Samphire Hoe
Samphire Hoe is a country park at the foot of Shakespeare Cliff, run by the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership. It is open from 7am until dusk, and you reach it through a traffic-light-controlled tunnel in the cliff. The partnership lists a pay and display car park at £3 for the day, toilets, picnic areas, an exhibition room and refreshments at Rebels Coffee, whose hours we do not have. Dogs on leads are welcome. The partnership describes the park as wheelchair accessible, with a disabled toilet on site. No entry charge is listed.
Kearsney Abbey
Kearsney Abbey is one of two Kearsney Parks in the Alkham Valley, in the Kent Downs, managed by Dover District Council. The parks’ website says they are open for public access all year, and on 29 October 2026 it listed the cafe as open 10am to 4pm until further notice. Facilities include toilets with a Changing Places toilet, disabled parking in the main car park and a Billiards Room for hire. Dover District Council says Kearsney station is about a five-minute walk away. No barbecues are allowed. The council says some routes may be harder for wheelchairs and pushchairs. No entry charge is listed.
Battle of Britain Memorial, Capel-le-Ferne
The Battle of Britain Memorial stands on the clifftop at Capel-le-Ferne, on New Dover Road. The Wing visitor centre holds The Scramble Experience and the Cockpit Cafe, with a lift to the first-floor cafe. The memorial’s own site lists 10am to 4pm from 1 November to 31 March, says the site is closed on Mondays from 1 November to the end of February, and says the grounds are open on foot every day through the side gate. Parking is listed at £2 for up to two hours or £6 all day, card only, with Blue Badge holders free; the memorial’s pages say entry to the grounds, shop and Cockpit Cafe is free and entry to The Wing is charged, at £6 for adults, £4 for children aged 5 to 15 and £5 for concessions, with under 5s free, and White Cliffs Country says the charge includes the Scramble Experience. Dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds, assistance dogs only inside The Wing. The site calls itself wheelchair friendly but with several slopes, so manual wheelchair users may need helpers.
Choosing between them
- History: Dover Castle, Western Heights, Dover Museum and the Battle of Britain Memorial.
- Walks and views: Langdon Cliffs, Samphire Hoe, Western Heights and Kearsney Abbey.
- Wheelchair or mobility needs: Samphire Hoe, Dover Museum and Langdon Cliffs list access features; Western Heights is listed as unsuitable, and Dover Castle’s Underground Hospital is not accessible.
- With a dog: Samphire Hoe, Western Heights (on leads, across grazed land) and the memorial grounds.
Planning the day
We have no distances or walking times between these places, so check a map before you decide what to link in one day. Start with the places that have a set closing day or limited entry: the Battle of Britain Memorial is closed on Mondays from 1 November, and the Western Heights interiors and the Fan Bay tours open only on set dates.
Getting there
Dover District Council says Kearsney station is about a five-minute walk from Kearsney Abbey. Langdon Cliffs, Samphire Hoe and the Battle of Britain Memorial list their own car parks. Use the operators’ journey planners for current train and bus services.
Frequently asked questions
Can wheelchair users visit the whole of Dover Castle?
No. English Heritage’s booking page says the Underground Hospital is not accessible by wheelchair or mobility scooter, although its access page tells visitors to ask staff about the tour’s suitability. The access page also says wheelchair access to the Great Tower is on the ground floor only, there is no lift in the medieval part of the castle, and some paths have very steep slopes. Wheelchairs and mobility scooters can be borrowed if booked by email in advance.
Is Dover Museum free?
Yes. The museum’s own site lists free entry.
Can I see Western Heights without a ticket?
English Heritage says you can see the exterior and the ditches from the footpaths in daylight, free. The inside of the Drop Redoubt and the Grand Shaft open only on set dates.