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Colchester Hotels

Colchester Hotels

At travelsupermarket.com we compare hotels in Colchester from a wide range of hotel providers and travel websites to help you find some great deals and bargains. Our service offers some great functionality, allowing you to sort hotels by price, distance or star rating, view hotels on a map and browse local facilities and attractions. We have also teamed up with tripadvisor to provide independent customer reviews of many of the hotels we compare.

To begin your search for cheap hotels in Colchester simply enter you requirements into the search form on the left, selecting the number of rooms, number of guests, star rating and the dates you wish to stay and hit the search button. Then simply choose the accommodation that suits you and click through to complete your booking.

What's On?                     Overview                     Prepare                     Highlights 

Overview

Overview

Ancient Colchester boasts ruined Roman walls, a Norman castle, half-timbered Tudor buildings and Victorian ornamental parks. Add in thought-provoking museums, undulating countryside and tranquil seascapes and it's all yours to explore.

See

Celebrate Colchester's Roman past with a trip to the Castle Museum and a stroll around the remains of the town walls. Alternatively, scramble in and out of steam engines at the East Anglian Railway Museum. Visit the time capsule of Mersea Island to wander the beachfront and slurp freshly caught oysters. Try your luck on the slots in the amusement arcade or brave the nail-biting rides on the Victorian pier at nearby Clacton-on-Sea.
Spend

Explore Colchester's specialist food and wine shops and keep up to date in the top-brand stores in Lion Walk Shopping Centre or Clacton Factory Shopping Village. Find the well-stocked independent department store, Williams & Griffin, in the centre of town. Buy local arts and crafts from galleries strewn around town, and Constable memorabilia in Dedham in the Stour Valley.
Get Out

When the sun shines, relax in the manicured parkland surrounding the Castle Museum. Hike in High Woods Country Park or amble around the immaculately planted Beth Chatto Gardens. Escape town to the rolling Stour Valley, dotted with Tudor villages, and lose yourself among well-marked walking and cycling trails. Across the causeway, Mersea has rousing sea air and empty beaches.
Culture

Enjoy arty Colchester's burgeoning contemporary gallery scene, with firstsite @ the Minories Art Gallery and Cuckoo Farm Studios leading the way. Go back in time to explore John Constable's neck of the woods at Flatford and East Bergholt. To pursue the art theme, see Thomas Gainsborough's typical Suffolk house in Sudbury and Sir Alfred Munnings' startlingly realistic horse portraits at Castle House in Dedham.
Eat & Drink

A mixture of international and British cuisine typifies Colchester's restaurants. Splash out on local seafood, share a bowl of pasta or indulge in a late-night curry. The city centre is packed with pubs offering steak and chips washed down with a pint of beer. Sample fresh oysters straight from the sea in West Mersea and sip a locally grown rosé wine to wash them down.
New Perspective

Meet phantoms and spectres on a ghoulish guided night-time walk (Thursday only) through the haunted streets of Britain's oldest recorded town. Recover with a pint of local brew in one of the many ghostly hostelries.

Prepare

Prepare

Bring a stout pair of shoes to follow in the tracks of Roman legionnaires in Colchester, or stomp the hiking tracks of the Stour Valley.

Colchester Year

Eat, drink and make merry all year around; quaff local ales at May's Beer Festival. In June, diet after the Food and Drink Festival in order to do justice to the spectacular Medieval Oyster Fayre. Look up from the table for long enough to spot the fly-past at Clacton's August Air Show. Then get back to the serious job of appreciating local delicacies at Colchester's Oyster Festival in October.
Public Holidays

New Year's Day, Good Friday (Mar/Apr), Easter Monday (Mar/Apr), Early May Bank Holiday, Spring Bank Holiday (May), Summer Bank Holiday (Aug), Christmas Day (25 Dec), Boxing Day (26 Dec).
Weather

This corner of England is one of the driest and warmest in the country, although the months between November and February are the rainiest. Temperatures rarely dip below freezing even in January, while the summer months – May to August – are warm (16°C – 25°C). Unless Colchester is experiencing a heatwave, there is no need for air-conditioned hotel rooms.
Electricity

240V AC, 50 Hz, three-pin plugs are standard.
Dialling Code

+44 (national), (0) 1206 + six-figure number (Colchester).
Money

Pound sterling (£) is the currency.
GMT

Precisely (+1 in British summertime).
Colchester Tourist Info

Visit Colchester website

Fit In

Put on a smock and a beret and take a paint brush and easel to join the hundreds of aspiring artists at Flatford Mill.

Highlights

Highlights

Visit Roman ruins, unspoilt Tudor villages, Victorian watermills and thoroughly modern fun fairs.

The Castle Museum is Colchester's cultural heart, home to Roman coins, mosaics and the celebrated Colchester Vase. Check out the madcap timepieces at Tymperleys Clock Museum, or the sedan chairs, dolls' houses and Star Wars toys at child-orientated Hollytrees Museum.

Jostle with the hordes on Clacton's crowded summer beaches and packed pier, bristling with arcades and rollercoaster rides. If you're looking for peace and quiet, you can find solace in the tranquillity of the Stour Valley. Here, East Bergholt is the rural birthplace of artist John Constable, and Flatford Mill, the setting of his most famous painting, The Hay Wain. Step back through time in peaceful backwater West Mersea for a blustery walk along deserted beaches.
Sightseeing Tips

Entry is free to Wilkin's Tiptree Jam Factory Museum and its homely tearoom, as well as to Tymperleys Clock Museum, the Hollytrees Museum and the Natural History Museum. Most other sights offer money-saving family tickets.

Content provided by Frommer's Unlimited © 2009, Whatsonwhen Limited.