The Brighton i360 is the tallest tower in Brighton, offering visitors 360 degree views of Brighton, the South Downs and the English Channel from its glass pod elevator as it climbs 450 feet in the air.
As part of our farewell to Brighton after two months of living there, we decided to head up for a ride and take in the views.
But was it worth it? Yes and no.
While we enjoyed our experience, I’m not sure the Brighton i360 is worth the entrance cost. The views were lovely and the glass pod was cool, but I can’t say it’s a must-do in Brighton.
To help you decide whether or not the i360 should make your Brighton bucket list, I’ve put together this guide.
Below I’ve listed everything you need to know about visiting, from opening times and accessibility to choosing the best Brighton i360 ticket for you.
And I broke down our entire experience with my Brighton i360 review, so you’ll know exactly what to expect when you visit! I’ve also offered suggestions for my favourite things to do nearby before or after your ride.
Ready? Let’s take a flight on the Brighton i360!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!
Fast facts about the Brighton i360
- Location: Brighton i360, Lower Kings Road, Brighton, BN1 2LN (If you hit the beach, just look up. You can’t miss it!)
- Opening times: Vary throughout the year; opening between 10:00 and 11:00am and closing between 4:00 and 9:00pm. Check this calendar for opening times on your visit date.
- Getting there: 20 minute walk, 15 minute bus ride or 7 minute drive from Brighton Railway Station. There’s also a parking lot across the street if you’re driving.
- How long to spend: The regular pod journey takes 25 minutes. You’re advised to arrive 20 minutes early to go through security checks.
- Accessible? Yes, Brighton i360 is fully accessible for guests with a disability, special needs or using a wheelchair. A free carer/companion ticket is offered to guests with a disability.
- Dog-friendly? Dogs are not allowed inside the i360 pod, but they are allowed in the gift shop and cafe.
- Kid-friendly? Yes, children of all ages are welcome aboard the Brighton i360 with kids under three going free and discounted rates for kids 4-15 years old. We visited with our one year old and she had a great time! The pod is fully enclosed so there’s no concern about kids running away or falling off.
The dramatic history of the Brighton i360
The Brighton i360 was formerly known as the British Airways i360 but their sponsorship ended in 2022 and the name changed. But the drama doesn’t end there.
In December 2024, the Brighton i360 actually closed down entirely due to the owners, West Pier Trust, being unable to repay their loans to the city council.
The project was originally supposed to be privately funded but the council had to step in with a loan at the last minute. They were given wildly optimistic revenue expectations that the i360 never hit, hence the loan not being repaid.
The Brighton i360 was reopened in March 2025 when it was purchased by current owners Nightcap Ltd. The new owners paid £150,000 to the council, which was just a fraction of the £51 million of debt the i360 had accrued.
Luckily for Nightcap Ltd (and all of us visitors), the city council wrote off the outstanding debt and the Brighton i360 remains operational today.
Choosing your Brighton i360 tickets
There are a few different experiences you can buy tickets for at the Brighton i360, which I’ll break down below. For all tickets, it’s cheaper to book online! Booking online also saves you from having to wait in any lines.
All prices below are for adult fares (16+) and current as of May 2026. Visit i360’s ticket page for up to date prices.
Just the view
View 360: £18.50 ($25 USD, $34 CAD)
This is the cheapest i360 ticket where you book a specific time slot for your 25-minute flight up the tower. Colin, Baby C and I booked this ticket for our experience.
View 360 Anytime: £23 ($31 USD, $42 CAD)
If you want more flexibility, book this ticket where you pick a specific date but can arrive at anytime for your 25-minute experience. This is great if your plans for the day are loose or you’re waiting out bad weather.
The view and a drink
City Lights Flight: £20.50 ($28 USD, $38 CAD)
A 45-minute extended experience offered on Friday and Saturday evenings and served with a glass of bubbly. This is a great choice if you want to see the city lit up and don’t mind missing a daytime view.
Sky Bar 360: £32 ($43 USD, $59 CAD)
This is the regular 25-minute i360 experience but served with a glass of premium Lanson Champagne. You can book this here!
The view and a meal
Fly & Dine: £39.50 ($53 USD, $73 CAD)
With Fly & Dine, you’ll have your meal on the ground at the adjoining Drift Bar & Kitchen. Then you’ll head up in the pod for the 25 minute experience over Brighton.
Sky Dining: £80 ($108 USD, $147 CAD)
With Sky Dining, you’ll actually eat in the pod! You’ll enjoy a 3-course meal and glass of prosecco while live music plays and you ride up and down the tower. Sky Dining is offered once a month, so check the calendar if you’re interested.
Extreme view
Sky Walk: £55 ($74 USD, $101 CAD)
This 60-minute experience allows you to walk on top of the Brighton i360 pod, 450 feet in the air. It’s an open-air walk (but of course, you’re strapped in) and available on weekends at 9:00am before the attraction opens.
Must be 10 or older to participate.
Climb: £90 ($122 USD, $166 CAD)
For the biggest thrill seekers, this 75-minute experience will reveal the inner workings of the i360 as you climb to the top and enjoy the best views in all of Brighton. If you don’t like heights, this one isn’t for you (or me!).
Must be 12 or older to participate.
Review: Our Brighton i360 experience
We visited the Brighton i360 on a slightly overcast day in February. We had booked View 360 tickets for the 1:30pm “flight.” (They call it a flight, but it’s more like taking a very large and very slow elevator ride.)
Entering through the cafe, we got our tickets scanned and then went through the security check. We walked through a metal detector and they checked our bags.
We were then shown into a waiting room that was very spacious with lots of comfy couches and chairs. There was a hallway with individual bathrooms and lots of information and photos about the making of the i360 on the walls.
Once everyone for our time slot had checked in, we were shown into the pod for our flight. The pod looked very similar to the London Eye carousel pods, which makes sense as the i360 was created by the same team.
Up to 200 people can ride the Brighton i360 at a time, but we only had seven in our group. That’s what you get when you visit on a grey weekday in February! It was so nice to have lots of space to ourselves.
In addition to us seven guests, there were also two staff members who were available to answer questions, take photos and serve drinks from the bar.
The ride up the i360 tower was very smooth. I actually didn’t even realize we were moving at first! The staff told us it would be an eight minute ride up, we’d pause at the top, and then eight minutes back down.
The 20-ish minute experience actually felt like a decent amount of time, as there’s not a ton to do besides look out at the view. There’s a bar where you can get drinks, some couches to sit on and that’s about it!
I was expecting there to be some sort of voiceover or information provided by the staff about the history of the i360, the mechanics, how high up we were going, etc. Or maybe an interpretive panel with a map of the city and important locations labelled.
Of course, the whole point of the i360 is the view, so that’s what we focused on. It was very cool to do full laps of the pod, seeing all sides of Brighton, Hove and the English Channel.
We pointed out where we lived and I liked watching the view change as we got higher and higher, such as being able to see the art on rooftops and no longer being able to see people’s faces on the beach.
Though I’m not a huge fan of heights, I didn’t feel scared riding the Brighton i360. The ride was so smooth and so gradual, that I didn’t feel the shock of the height. Even my husband Colin, who is quite scared of heights, was able to stand close to the windows.
And Baby C, who is fearless, crawled all around the pod, leaning up against the windows and looking straight down!
We spent most of our time taking photos of the view and some family photos in front of it. The staff were very kind in offering to take our photos and obviously quite experienced in getting the best angles/backgrounds.
After our ride, we exited through the gift shop. It was a nice gift shop with a few different collections of Brighton-related souvenirs. I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more items that specifically had to do with the i360 though.
We also stopped at the cafe on the way out, as I was pulled in by their list of specialty winter drinks. I got a butterscotch hot chocolate and caramel brownie, while Colin got a cheese twist.
The cafe space was really nice and they had a good selection of food and drinks to choose from. So much so that I added the i360 Cafe to my list of top Brighton cafes to visit!
What else can you do near the Brighton i360?
Since the i360 experience is only 25 minutes, you’ll want to do something else while you’re in the area. Luckily, Brighton Beach is the perfect place to spend a few hours!
Inside the i360 building there’s the gift shop and cafe that I mentioned above. And directly outside are a line up of little shops, art galleries and the Upside Down House (a fun house attraction for kids and Instagram photos).
We really liked the shops and galleries here, specifically Artist Anon Limited for funky locally designed clothes, Cad-eau for souvenirs and gifts, and Bird & Blend for loose leaf tea.
To the east of Brighton i360 you can stroll down to Shelter Hall food court or pick one of the other beachside Brighton restaurants to dine at. I’d recommend Riddle & Finns for upscale seafood, Brighton Smokehouse for more casual seafood, and The Grand for afternoon tea!
You’ll see more shops and galleries (including The Open Studios, where we picked up a print from the artist in residence) on your way to Brighton Palace Pier for food, arcade games, carnival rides and more!
Or if you head west from the i360, you’ll pass the iconic Brighton Beach Bandstand as you journey towards Hove Beach and the colourful Hove Beach Huts.
Wrapping up: Would I recommend the Brighton i360?
So is the i360 actually worth it and do I recommend visiting? Maybe.
We did enjoy our experience riding up the Brighton i360 and taking in views of the city and the water. It was fun and a nice cap on our two months in Brighton.
But is it a must-do activity in Brighton? Not really. The Brighton i360 isn’t a record-breaking tall tower; it’s 1/5th the height of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. So you won’t get a super high view.
Brighton also isn’t a particularly interesting city to view from above. There are no city skyscrapers or mountain ranges to take in. It’s not a bad view by any means, just not one you have to see from above.
There’s also nothing else to do in the i360 pod except see the view. When we went up the CN Tower in Toronto, there were tons of things to do at the top, like cafes, art installations, multiple viewing floors, photo spots, etc.
If you are a fan of going up the tallest thing in a city to get a bird’s eye view, you’re going to love the Brighton i360. Why not make a day of it with a drinks, dining or extreme view ticket?
But if you’re just looking for something to do in Brighton and want to save some money, I think you can skip the i360.
Instead, head over to Palace Pier at dusk and watch the murmuration of starlings over the water. It’s stunning and it’s free to watch!
For me, I’m glad we went on the Brighton i360, especially since it was so empty when we visited. But even at their cheapest ticket price, I was expecting a bit more.
So if you don’t do the i360, I don’t think you’re missing out on anything spectacular. If you still have some Brighton restaurants, cafes and independent shops on your bucket list, I’d visit those instead.
But if you have some extra time and enjoy nice views, go for it!
