Walk From Dover To Deal – South East England Coastal Path
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Another day, another walk! I’ve been wanting to see the famous White Cliffs of Dover for a while now. Can you imagine that I’ve been living in England for almost 7 years now, 2 of which I spent in Kent, and I’ve never been to Dover before? I felt like I was really missing out on something and that’s why I was really excited to go on a walk from Dover to Deal.
There are several things worth mentioning before we start.
Because our kiddo is still too small to walk the entire distance of the walk from Dover to Deal, we had to take a stroller with us. Because of that, we often had to abandon paths along the cliff edge and follow roads instead. Only during writing this article I realised that there are plenty of paths along the cliff edge that are suitable for walking with a stroller.
Since we didn’t follow the “proper” route, I wasn’t sure if I should write about it at all. The entire trip felt like a huge fail. I decided I want to show you the alternative perspective, and that sometimes we have to find our own way of reaching our goals. Different doesn’t equal worse after all.
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Walk from Dover to Deal
Walk from Dover to Deal turned out to be around 11.37 miles (18.3 km) long and took 5 hours 17 minutes to complete it. It’s a part of Saxon Shore Way and covers the entire White Cliffs of Dover walk trail. Route takes us past three castles, the lighthouse, and, of course, along the edge of famous White Cliffs of Dover. We’ll be also walking through a couple of villages before we arrive at Deal. Let’s go!
Arriving at Dover
We arrived at Dover train station and headed through the town centre, straight to the main road, where we turned left. After walking alongside the Townwall Street, we took the E Cliff road that leads along a backstreet of houses with beautiful, and very high, cliffs behind them.
Road quickly turned into a narrow Dame Vera Lynn Way path with the view of the Port of Dover. It goes underneath the cliffs and has a warning of falling rocks, which made me second-guess if this is the correct way of reaching the cliff tops. The path ends with a hell lot of steep steps – it’s definitely one of the most tough parts of the entire walk, especially if you have a stroller and little kiddo with you. The views are very interesting though, especially for me, as I’ve never seen a ferry port before.
When you reach the top of the stairs, don’t forget to look behind you!
The end of the path is very steep, so be careful there.
White Cliffs of Dover walk
Here’s the first mistake we did on the Dover to Deal walk. I missed the gate to the path leading alongside the edge of the cliffs, and we walked along the road instead. Hopefully, we didn’t miss too much!
We followed the wide gravel path but unfortunately it turned into a narrow dirty track soon. It was difficult to walk with a stroller, but not impossible. At some point, we almost turned back to look for another route. The views are definitely worth the trouble.
We kept walking, admiring the glorious views of so famous White Cliffs of Dovers and the beautiful green valley ahead of us. Then, we realized that the only way down was via steep stairs. Only my little one was happy when she saw them. The good news was that the hardest part of the walk was over.
From now on, we had a fairly comfortable path to walk on with a stroller. We chose a route that was further away from the cliff’s edge, but a fence surrounded it so my little one could run on her own with no issues.
Views were truly mesmerizing. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see France, as there was a fog on the horizon, but I bet it must look awesome. I can see it regularly from Ramsgate or even from Deal, so I was really curious how it looks like from Dover. It’s another reason to go for a walk from Dover to Deal again in the future, isn’t it?
South Foreland Lighthouse
Once we reached the South Foreland Lighthouse, we found ourselves in a pickle. Gates weren’t big enough to go through with a stroller! We had to ask someone to help us move it over the fence.
I think it took us around 2.5 hours to get to this point, mostly because our little one was walking for half of the time. According to Google, you can get through this part of the walk from Dover to Deal in less than 1.5 hours, so it looks like we were walking really slowly then! It was worth it, although it took a huge toll on me, both physically and mentally. I was already exhausted and on the verge of giving up.
Arriving at St Margaret’s Bay and St Margaret’s at Cliffe
That’s why we made another “mistake” and we started walking towards the small village of St Margaret’s Bay instead of looking for a route leading closer to the seaside. We found a slightly hidden public footpath that starts just at the entrance of the village. It goes through the fields, straight from St Margaret’s Bay to St Margaret’s at Cliffe village. That’s where I was so, so tempted to give up and head to the nearest train station in Martin Mill. At that point 1.5 miles (2.4 km) walk looked much better than a 5.7 miles (9.2km) one! Because that’s how much it left to reach Deal.
I didn’t walk such a long way just to give up now, though. We turned right from High Street into Kingsdown Road and continued our walk from Dover to Deal. Village isn’t perfect for walking with a stroller, as there was no pavement at some point.
Otherwise, St Margaret’s at Cliffe looked like a lovely, tiny village – a perfect place to live in. I was once again surprised how quiet and beautiful places you can find in Kent once you leave the beaten tracks. I’ve heard many negative opinions about this part of England from people who live in bigger towns like Margate or Folkestone, but I bet they never truly tried to discover the area they live in.
Walk to Kingsdown
Kingsdown Road was so comfortable to walk on, after all those cliffs and narrow dirty tracks! I was glad to discover that we can follow it to the Deal itself, although there was no pavement alongside. Part of the road is closed for the cars and the rest of it is fairly quiet as it leads only to a few houses and a golf club. Even though I felt slightly uncomfortable walking down there with a stroller, I didn’t feel unsafe. The views were mesmerizing, and the valley looked so beautiful!
We’ve seen many horses on our way to Kingsdown and even found lovely hidden Otty Bottom Cottage that’s supposedly a wedding venue. I couldn’t find any information about it online, but it looked like a perfect place for a weekend wedding getaway.
We were thrilled to see a beach at the end of the road. I bet it would be lovely to continue our walk from Dover to Deal on the beach and that’s what I’d surely do if we didn’t have a stroller with us.
We continued our walk through the village of Kingsdown alongside the roads and turned right onto Boundary Road. This route was marked as more suitable for families, which was just perfect for us.
Walk from Kingsdown to Walmer
We continued our walk from Dover to Deal alongside Wellington Parade. This part of the walk was difficult mentally to go through, as we could spot the Deal Pier at the distance, as well as Ramsgate’s white chalk cliffs. Time seemed to slow down immensely!
Just before we entered Walmer, we saw Walmer Castle on our left. It quite surprised me to see how many people chose this route for an afternoon walk. Even though the sun was shining, it was windy and quite cold.
Arriving at Deal
Path leading from Walmer to Deal was full of cute beach huts, boats and colourful buildings. This part of the walk was much more pleasant for me.
Soon, we reached the Deal Castle, third castle during the entire walk from Dover to Deal. This one looked much more interesting than the Walmer Castle. I would love to go on a tour someday. I couldn’t resist and not to take a picture, of course!
Less than 10 minutes later, we arrived at the pier in Deal. We were starving and tired, so we headed back to the train station instead of staying at the beach. Our train was due to depart in a few minutes, so the timing was perfect.
Logistic for the Dover to Deal walk
| Start | Dover |
| Finish | Deal |
| Distance | 11.37 miles (18.3 km) Distance depends on the exact paths you follow. |
| Time | around 3.5 – 5 hours |
| How to get to, and from, Dover | The easiest way to get to Dover from London is by getting a direct train from St Pancras International. Journey takes around 1 hour. If you’re travelling locally, there are also direct trains and buses from Herne Bay, Canterbury, Thanet, Folkestone and other towns. The same applies to travelling from Deal, although it takes around 1.5 hours to get from there to London by train. |
| Recommended tide times app | Tide times (iOS/Android) |
Dover to Deal walk map
Can you see France from Dover?
Yes, you can see France from Dover! It’s necessary though to go to the top of the cliffs on a clear day. Even though the weather seemed to be perfect and we had a clear sky for most of the time we spent on the cliff top, the fog on the horizon limited visibility and we weren’t able to see France. I’ve seen France from Ramsgate and Deal multiple times though.
Are there white cliffs in Deal?
No, there aren’t any cliffs in Deal. The nearest white cliffs are in Kingsdown or Ramsgate and you can easily spot both of them from Deal.
More walks along the South East England Coast Path
- Margate to Broadstairs – 6 miles (9.7 km) part of the Viking Coastal Trail full of sandy beaches and beautiful views of the white chalk cliffs. It’s also my first ever walk along the coast!
- Ramsgate to Margate – 10.25 miles (16.5 km) stretch of the Viking Coastal Trail that also covers a similar route to my previous walk from Margate to Broadstairs. This time, I walked with a stroller so it was a completely different experience.
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