The South Downs Way in weekends, by train

Plenty of people who want to walk the South Downs Way do not have nine days in a row. They do not need them. The railways from London to the south coast cross the Downs every few miles, and twelve stations sit on the Way or within an hour's walk of it. You can walk the whole thing in five weekends, one night away each time, and never need a lift.

Here is how the line divides, with the distances measured on our own route and the walk to each platform counted in, because a station three kilometres off the ridge is three kilometres you have to walk.

Winchester → Petersfield

25 mi

40.5 km with the walk-ins

Petersfield → Amberley

25 mi

40.7 km

Amberley → Hassocks

26 mi

41.3 km

Hassocks → Southease

14 mi

22.2 km

Southease → Eastbourne

20 mi

32.7 km

Five weekends

110 mi

the Way plus the walk-ins

Three weekends of about twenty-five miles, one of fourteen and one of twenty: that is a Saturday and a Sunday each time, with a night in the middle, and no day longer than a long day.

The five weekends

Winchester to Petersfield. The gentle end, and the right one to start on: broad Hampshire downland, the Meon at Exton, Old Winchester Hill, and a finish under Butser. Winchester station is a kilometre from the City Mill where the Way begins, with three trains an hour from London Waterloo, the fastest in sixty-one minutes, and an hourly CrossCountry from Reading, Birmingham and Manchester. Petersfield, at the other end, is four kilometres off the trail below Butser with two trains an hour to Waterloo and two to Portsmouth Harbour. Both checked in September 2026; the guide carries the dates.

Build your walkSouth Downs Way in 9 days101 mi · about 11 miles a dayOpen the planner →

Petersfield to Amberley. The stretch where Hampshire becomes Sussex and the scarp arrives: Harting Down, Beacon Hill, the beech hangers above Cocking, Bignor Hill and Stane Street, then the drop to the Arun. Amberley station is five hundred metres from the trail at Houghton Bridge — the closest station to the Way anywhere west of the Ouse — with two trains an hour to London Victoria via Gatwick and two to Bognor Regis, hourly on Sundays.

Amberley to Hassocks. The whaleback: Kithurst, Chanctonbury Ring, the Adur at Botolphs, Truleigh Hill, and Devil's Dyke. Hassocks is two kilometres below the ridge at Pyecombe, with two trains an hour to Victoria, two to Bedford via London Bridge, two to Brighton and two to Littlehampton. This is the longest of the five, and the one with Devil's Dyke in it.

Hassocks to Southease. The short one, and the best value: Ditchling Beacon, Blackcap, the swing south around Lewes and down to the Ouse. Southease station is on the path — nought kilometres, on the Lewes to Seaford line, with typically a train an hour each way. Fourteen miles over two days is a weekend with a long lunch in it.

Build your walkSouth Downs Way in 5 days101 mi · about 20 miles a dayOpen the planner →

Southease to Eastbourne. The finish, and the one to save: Itford Hill, Firle Beacon, Alfriston, the Cuckmere, the Seven Sisters, Beachy Head. Twenty miles, and the last ten of them are the best walking on the trail. Eastbourne station is two kilometres from the end of the Way at Holywell, with direct trains to Lewes, Brighton, Hastings and London Victoria.

The stations in between

If those five do not suit your legs or your weekends, there are six more stations to cut at. Every one is in the guide with the date it was checked:

• Falmer, two kilometres off the trail between Ditchling Beacon and Lewes — four trains an hour to Brighton, and extra ones on Albion match days.
• Cooksbridge, three kilometres from the trail at Mill Laine — hourly to Victoria and hourly to Eastbourne.
• Glynde, under Firle Beacon — hourly to Brighton and hourly to Eastbourne.
• Berwick, three kilometres from Alfriston — or the bus into the village: the 126 calls at the station and ran three times each way on weekdays and once on Saturday in the week we counted.
• Seaford, four kilometres from Exceat over Seaford Head, or the 12 or 12X bus along the coast road.
• Hampden Park, the stop before Eastbourne, which every train through Eastbourne calls at.

What the planner does with this

Give it the days you have and it splits the whole trail; give it five and it gives you five long days rather than five weekends. The weekend split above is the one thing it does not do yet — it plans a continuous walk, not a series of returns. Until it does, the stations are all in the guide's travel card with their service patterns and the dates they were checked, and the planner's day cards list the checked links at each end of each day.

Build your walkSouth Downs Way in 7 days101 mi · about 14 miles a dayOpen the planner →