Clacton

Clacton in Essex, also known as Clacton-on-Sea, is the largest town in the Tendring Peninsula. It's between Jaywick and Holland-on-Sea.

By car
Exit the A12 at the Colchester North exit onto the A120, and then the A133 all the way into Clacton.

By bus
Buses serve Clacton from most parts of North-East Essex, including Colchester (every 30 minutes, approx. 1 hour journey time), Walton and Frinton (every 30 minutes, approx. 30 minutes journey time) and Harwich (every hour, approx. 45 minutes journey time). There are also 3 National Express coaches per day to London (#484, approx. 3 hours journey time) and 1 National Express coach per day to Liverpool, via Cambridge, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester etc. (#350, approx journey time 12 hours to Liverpool). As there is no distinct bus station, finding the correct stop within the town centre can be a problem, mainly because of a lack of any maps, and the digital displays at each stop only show departures for that street. If in doubt, walk out to the train station as most routes pass here.

By bicycle
National Cycle Route 150 runs along the coast from Frinton-on-Sea & Walton to the NE to Jawick (just past the golf club) to SW.

Get around
The main town centre is fairly compact and can easily be covered on foot.

By car
Clacton is a fairly driver-friendly town with cheap, plentiful parking, although during the summer holidays or the Clacton Air Show, parking and traffic can be problematic.

By bus
The two main operators of suburban routes are First Essex and Hedingham Omnibuses. The former operates a handful of suburban routes at half-hourly intervals, one of which serves the out-of-town Tesco hypermarket. The latter operates regular shuttle services to the Clacton Common Shopping Village.

Buy
The town centre areas feature the usual high-street shops (Argos, WHSmith, Marks & Spencer etc.), as well as plenty of seaside tourist shops. There are several decent sized supermarkets including Fiveways, Morrisons, Lidl and Tesco, the latter of which is quite a way out of town but can be reached by local bus.

The Clacton Common Shopping Village, located on an industrial estate on the edge of town, is one of two 'factory outlet' shopping malls in Essex (the other being Freeport, near Braintree). It mostly consists of numerous stores selling discontinued clothing lines at discount prices.

Connect
Clacton and its approach roads have 4G from all UK carriers. As of Feb 2023, 5G has not reached this area.

Stay safe
General precautions and common sense apply, avoid anywhere that looks rough and try to avoid walking the streets at night. Jaywick to the west of Clacton is extremely impoverished and rundown (especially the Brooklands area), commercial areas and the beaches are safe, but wandering around residential streets is ill-advised.

Go next

 * Frinton-on-Sea
 * Ipswich
 * Harwich
 * Colchester