Recently granted city status, Brighton has traditionally had a reputation for being a destination for a convenient day-trip or a dirty weekend, but such fleeting visits barely do the area justice. Spread out along the coast, around 50 miles south of London's outer fringes, the city has enjoyed a rather successful decade of regeneration and growth. This has brought a number of new developments (with the long-standing promises of much more to come), which have very much enhanced and enlivened the place, complementing more famous landmarks.

The aforementioned "city" status was actually granted to "Brighton & Hove"; the two towns officially joining together. As, geographically, there is no clear separation between the two, which run into each other and neighbouring towns in a strip alongside the sea, this is quite logical - however, this does make Brighton as an individual entity feel a little on the small side for a city; although this need not be a bad thing.

For the pedestrian, however, the Clocktower is likely to be the central point around which Brighton revolves - and it is from here I will generally give directions, assuming one is facing south, towards the sea. This lies around a ten-minute walk south from the station down Queen's Road, and is also close to most of the car-parks in the area, most notably the large, multi-storey NCP 200 yards straight ahead down West Street. To the right of the clocktower is the recently rebuilt Churchill Square shopping centre, a clean, gleaming affair unrecognisable from the gloomy concrete monstrosity that it replaced. The shops here, and along the length of the adjacent Western Road, are of the identikit, familiar-name type found in every high street up and down the country, but are plentiful, well laid-out and easily accessible.

In between these two major shopping areas lies West Street - which is either a vibrant strip of clubs and bars, or a vomit-drenched pit, depending on your perspective. Either way, you'll find better areas of town - the establishments are either over-priced meat-markets, soulless chain-bars or cheap, grotty dives; sometimes all three. That, or kebab shops. Much better clubs and pubs can be found all over the city, most within five minutes or so - although, on the positive side, if you accept what you're getting, everything's in easy staggering distance, and you're guaranteed crowds.

Beyond the beach, the Marina, built around a decade ago, lies a mile or so to the west. Housing a multiplex cinema, supermarket, restaurants and shopping, the complex is impressive enough to look at, but is generally rather over-priced and underwhelming in substance.

As a fairly small city, Brighton is pretty easy to walk around - most things of interest are within a ten-to-fifteen minute radius of the clocktower. However, if you're feeling lazy, or fancy going a little further afield, the bus network is excellent - a number of streets and lanes have been turned into bus-only areas, so zipping around on one of the many is likely the quickest way around the city. Most bus-stops also have train-style electronic information boards detailing time & destination, so getting about is pretty easy. Fares are either a flat-rate £1.40 to go anywhere in the city, or £2.60 for an unlimited one-day ticket (£2.50 if bought in advance).

Driving in the city is, as indicated above, difficult. The roads in the centre are set up to cater for public transport, and long delays are commonplace around the Steine and along the seafront, where it will seem as if the traffic lights are all conspiring against you. A park-and-ride scheme operates from Withdean Stadium (clearly signposted off the A23, a mile or so after Mill Road roundabout), but if you do opt to drive into the centre, Churchill Square car-park offers the best chance to find a space. Street-parking is non-existent, and parking wardens are more common than seagulls, so it's barely advisable to try.

~ Sights ~

Of course, the other infamous image of Brighton is the Pier, specifically the broken one. Ravaged by storms, and more lately, fires, it is simply a shell falling progressively into the sea - although it looks rather more elegant reduced to its iron skeleton than it ever did as a crumbling, decaying wreck. I'm not sure where the millions of Starlings that formerly inhabited the structure live now, mind. The other pier, a mile or so to the west, is intact, but has limited appeal. Made up of novelty shops, amusement arcades and some fairly tame rides, it's nothing outstanding, although is worth a walk along for the views out to sea and back to the shore.

The major attraction of the city is less in any particular "sight", more in the all-round entertainment Brighton provides - after the shopping and cafes in the day, an immense amount of restaurants and a strong variety of comedy, music and theatre are on offer, once again all within a half-mile or so of each other. Some of the best eateries are to be found in the Lanes and surrounding streets, although I'll resist suggesting specific venues - partly because there's such a variety of styles and settings that every person will have a different group of favourites, partly due to a major part of the enjoyment being wandering around seeking a feeding without really knowing what it is you're after.

Clubs are less widely distributed - concentrated principally on West Street and the seafront. The latter are probably the better of the lot, but come at an increased price. Drinks, as ever, are ridiculously expensive in almost all of the venues - take advantage of the great number and quality of pubs and bars first.

Brighton has few down-sides for visitors; and those that it does are simply those that apply to almost any city - parking is a nightmare and most everything is expensive. The city also suffers from a significant lack of major sporting facilities - both the football ground and ice rink have disappeared in the last decade without being replaced, despite promises to the contrary.