Top Things to do in Rochester
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What to do and see in Rochester, England: The Best Budget-friendly Things to do
Discover the best top things to do in Rochester, United Kingdom including City of Rochester Society Guided Walks, Jetstream Tours, Playopolis Board Game Cafe, Rochester Cathedral, Rochester Castle, Guildhall Museum, Restoration House, Six Poor Travellers House, Eastgate House, Baggins Book Bazaar.
Restaurants in Rochester
1. City of Rochester Society Guided Walks
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 34 reviews
***Our 2021 season starts on 19th May but will be limited to 8 guests per tour*** The City of Rochester Society was formed in 1967 & has been providing guided tours of this beautiful & fascinating place for over forty years. Our tours include the many links to Charles Dickens, as well as stories from 2,000 years of history. Open tours are 90 minutes long & free (although donations to society funds are welcome) & start at 2.15 pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays from the first Saturday in April until the end of October, plus all bank holidays, the Christmas Market weekends, & during the Dickensian Christmas festival. During festivals we also run 45 minute open tours at 10:45 am. We also offer booked tours for groups, & charges can be viewed on our website. All tours start from the Visitor Information Centre.
2. Jetstream Tours
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 541 reviews
Jetstream Tours is the leading operator for sightseeing tours on the River Thames and Medway. From River Cruisers to adrenaline fuelled Jetboats, we have something for everyone. Discover hidden castles, forts, U-Boats and wrecks. What better way to see Medway's sights than from the river? All our tours are supplied with an informative commentary which will let you know all about the rivers history. Depart from either Rochester Pier on our RiverCruiser or from Sun Pier on our Jet boat. Our most popular tour the "MedwayRaid" is a 90 minute experience tour aboard our 530hp Jetboat "Twist". But if it's a more sedate cruise your after, jump aboard our RiverCruiser in Rochester and enjoy a glass of wine while you cruise to Upnor and back.
3. Playopolis Board Game Cafe
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 221 reviews
Reviewed By AlexPolishZ
Absolutely amazing place! Super friendly staff; amazing selection of games; nice selection of coktails and milkshakes- even have vegan options. 100% reccommend this place. Great atmosphere overall :)
4. Rochester Cathedral
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,131 reviews
Growing in Christ since AD 604. This is England's second oldest cathedral. We are home to the Textus Roffensis, the only existing copy of the first code of English Law. Dating from 604 AD, this is the second-oldest cathedral in England.
Reviewed By 819stephanieo - Rochester, United Kingdom
Rochester Cathedral is such an interesting place to visit. It is full of history and has lots of information to read and learn about it's past. Even though it is a very popular tourist attraction in the area you ca always find a quiet space to sit and be with your own thoughts. The ladies chapel and the gardens are a favourite place of mine & my husband's to just sit quietly, light a candle and escape from the hustle and bustle of life. The team of volunteers are brilliant, very friend and always happy to help or talk about the cathedrals rich history. There is a great programme of events throughout the year, they are very popular so best to book tickets. The refurbished vaults are very impressive and a great space to have a coffee.
5. Rochester Castle
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,227 reviews
Built in 1087, this castle is one of England's finest and best preserved examples of Norman architecture.
Reviewed By W5267XHannam - London, United Kingdom
I visited Rochester Castle in both July and August. It really is very imposing, and apparently the tallest castle in the UK. While it is just a shell of its former glory it is really worth the climb to the top just for the spectacular views and the great photo opportunities. You will get your best view and photos of the cathedral from the top of the castle, and great views over the town and the Medway. It is it's a difficult climb though for those who have walking difficulties or anyone with a vestibular disorder as there are a lot of spirals going on. The Castle is equally impressive from the ground a good place just to sit and while a couple of hours away read a book or for children to play. There are toilet facilities and a small kiosk serving teas coffees snacks and ice cream. I was there over bank holiday weekend and it wasn't particularly crowded it was still quiet and peaceful.
6. Guildhall Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 463 reviews
Reviewed By danielgraham1989 - Chandler’s Ford, United Kingdom
An interesting museum full of interesting artefacts and references to the local history. Well set out with plenty of information and an enjoyable place to visit.
7. Restoration House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 92 reviews
Ancient mansion house in historic Rochester. Just off the High St., this house is like entering into another world. The rooms have an historic ambience, with early surviving paint schemes and original floors, windows and furnished with fine English furniture and portraits. The gardens are exceptionally well maintained in classic English style, with immaculate lawns, yew hedges, topiary, an astonishing geometric parterre. There is a lush cutting garden which supplies flowers for the arrangements in the house. After 7 years of restoration the so called Tudor garden is emerging as an Italian water garden with statues and fountains, the water sourced from the aquifer and recycled through a gravity feed system. This private gem is open to the public on a restricted basis, on Thursdays and Fridays from the end of May to the end of September. If you're in the area (on an open day), make sure you don't miss out. This is a real treat!
Reviewed By 400ahmeto - Rainham, United Kingdom
The tour, that included a visit to the location of the Restoration House, lasted almost 3 hours and run by Shane Waterman. No fixed charge are enforced. Instead voluntary donations is encouraged with emphasis on encouraging participation and learning. Shane is very knowledgeable about Dickens, his art and the area, taking you through a journey of discovery from Dickens humble beginnings to ascension to world fame and fortune. The tour illustrates how Rochester is littered with locations (Restoration House, Eastgate House, Six Poor Travellers House, Minor Canon Row) and names which Dickens took inspiration from using many of them in his works. Shane not only tells you all about Dickens but also illustrates other events and characters that also played a significant role in the development of the Christmas traditions as we know today. All in all a very informative tour of developing cultural traditions, characters and history in time and place. Well worth a go.
8. Six Poor Travellers House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 210 reviews
Also open some weekend during winter.
Reviewed By LadyGreenbaum - Rochester, United Kingdom
(Click here to read la première partie) https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g635679-d2433291-r723429508-Six_Poor_Travellers_House-Rochester_Kent_England.html?m=55593 ‘Watt(s)’ the Dick’ens is going on at the poor travellers’ house again - I hear you ask! The must see 6 PTH has undergone a cabinet reshuffle (literally) that’s ‘Watt’, which makes this 16th Century historic site well worth a 2nd visit & then some!! A fascinating alms house situated in ‘The silent High Street…’ ‘in the ancient little city of Rochester in Kent’ visibly inscribed, inter alia, in the annals of history and immortalised in Dickens’ very own short story ‘The 7 Poor Travellers’. However, far from being relegated to the annals of history, the ethos behind the 6 PTH has never been more relevant today! EXHIBIT: Enter Stage left or rather through ‘the quaint old door... (an arched door)’ ‘and… ben(d) [your] head, and [descend] down two steps into the entry.’ ‘Watt’ did the 21st Century ‘Lockdown’ and its mantra ‘We’re all in this together’ associated with the virulent strain of COVID-19 (already added to the OED) show us? Namely that ‘It is a time…when want is keenly felt’. Never has the chasm between ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ been more evident - the pandemic having given rise to an unprecedented number of calls for help on an ever dwindling charitable purse with ‘Many thousands…in want of common necessaries’ – to which the ‘Watts’ Charitable arm and its 6 PTH are no strangers, having seen it all before, especially during the 1630s and 1902 plagues and everything else in between. The paradox is simply, that in the midst of the health crisis, humans need connection with each other more than ever! Once again the Watts Charity continues ‘to execute in no niggardly spirit the intentions of Master Richard Watts!” and has risen to the challenge, bucked the national trend and met the ‘Great Expectations’ identified in its mission statement by providing much of the financial assistance needed to remodel the sensory/hydro pool at Abbey Court School, so its S.E.N.D pupils can benefit from a safe, stimulating space in order to understand and feel the freedom of movement that allows them to relate to their environment; to meet the cost for 5 nurses and a palliative care nurse to be trained at the Wisdom Hospice and to help AgeUK (Medway) distribute meals for the elderly in the ME1/ME2 areas, to name but a few! Watts ‘was simply and staunchly true to his duty…’ and I feel certain that both he and Dickens (considered travellers / migrants both) would be proud to see the continuation of the Charity’s ethos resonating through the streets of Rochester today, in what can only be described as some of the hardest social restrictions put in place since the 2nd World War and the effect it has on those who have fallen on ‘Hard Times’. It simply does what it says on the tin! EXHIBIT: Enter Stage right this time – in ‘Watt’ was the original supper room: ‘Lockdown’ also afforded the venerable, passionate Custodians - Elizabeth et al; the time to reorganise the exhibition, which includes many wonderful artefacts from the 6PTH’s golden era, now collated under one roof, as well as a 19th Century register of travellers, which takes pride of place in the adjacent ‘Travellers Room’. Then take a well-earned breather on the garden bench just outside the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms to pause, listen to the audio transcript and reflect on the evocative recollections of travellers experiences; like those of ‘Rags’ who, with britches held up by string, had need of the hospitality offered at the 6PTH after walking all the way from Wales during the 1920s depression, armed only with the vain hope of finding work in the coal mines at Dover, only to return to Wales without any luck! ‘Watt’ better way to while away an afternoon, with the peal of the Cathedral bells and sounds of trickling water never far away! And not forgetting the charm of the physic courtyard garden where 'the...perfumes of the little flower-garden [at the rear] scented the air around’; the fruit, vegetables and medicinal plants all in abundance ‘[shine] in the morning dew…: and the birds [sing]…’ and ‘. . . a very preserve of butterflies as I remember it. . . where the fruit clusters on the[vines], riper and richer than fruit… in any other garden…’ – it’s true, things just grow well here and all evidently a labour of love, for there’s a spirit here which clearly manifests itself through abundance! It’s a haven from the hustle and bustle of modern day life. There is no doubt in my mind that the 6PTH has – in the words of Gerry Rafferty - ‘got it made (yeah) in the garden of England, where the sun comes up to see us every day’! All this and to think, it was at the 6PTH itself, where I rubbed shoulders with Charles Dickens’ great, great grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens, whilst he was filming the latest adaptation of the great man’s work - A Christmas Carol - standing in the very place where Dickens’ himself once stood! So Hear ye! Hear ye! - partake in the latest 21st Century fashion trend and don on that mask, make good use of that antibacterial gel and get thee to the 6PTH – and if the Reader would indulge me a little longer - I may be so bold as to borrow yet another quote from Dickens himself “Do all the good you can and make as little fuss about it as possible.” After all ‘Mankind was [Watts’s] business; charity, mercy forebearance were, all, [his] business’!
9. Eastgate House
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 56 reviews
An Elizabethan Town House in the heart of Rochester. Recently re-opened after 13 years, now inviting visitors to learn about the history of this magnificent building. From a family home to a Victorian School this house has many tales to tell.
Reviewed By 864sarahe
My husband and I live in Kent and we love occasionally coming to Rochester as it’s so beautiful and filled with a lot to do. Luckily, my in-laws live locally and treated us to the Saturday Dickensian Christmas market and it didn’t disappoint. Part of the scheduled programme was a stop off here to listen to Father Christmas read a story and it was wonderful. The house itself is beautiful and I must admit, rather ashamedly, we didn’t get to spend much time taking in the history as our four year old was dragging us round afterwards in search of the wooden mice that feature in the story and are dotted about. Finding them was a great way to get her involved and she was awarded a little badge at the end. What was really lovely was Father Christmas was dressed in his original green garb, he was absolutely charming and because no one was there, followed us round and gave us helpful tips as to the rodents location. The house was fantastically decorated and everyone was so nice. We couldn’t believe, given how busy the town centre was, it was so quiet! If they do it again we will be going back. Thank you.
10. Baggins Book Bazaar
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 40 reviews
Reviewed By monstervoyage - London, United Kingdom
The Baggins Book Bazaar is a treasure chest of literature and definitely worth visiting if you come to Rochester in Kent. If you're looking for your favourite childhood book or simply searching for the unknown, it will be difficult not to find what you're looking for. Baggins is the largest second-hand bookshop in England and when you visit you'll totally understand why... it goes on and on and on and on.
