Welcome to Visit Essex.

The home county of Essex is a contrast of a region, to the south of the county is Metropolitan Essex, with the sprawl of the industrial development of London and the expansion of New Towns like Harlow and Basildon. On the other side of London’s Green Belt however, there remains the Essex of fields and rivers, coastline and salt marshes, village greens and inns, a county rich in history and full of interesting places to visit like Saffron Walden with its ancient Saxon burial grounds or Epping and its 6000 acres of forest.

Chelmsford at the centre of the county is the meeting point of industrial and rural Essex. From the Thames estuary, where Southend-on-Sea and Clacton-on-Sea are still popular seaside resorts and have been since Victorian times to the famous Oysters beds at Colchester, the Essex coastline has many busy yachting marinas to desolate marshes to explore and admire the British wildlife that flourishes here. There are plenty of family attractions, sporting and outdoor activities, museums and art galleries on offer throughout the region for a fun-packed family holiday.

The Essex coast also plays host to a community of creative artisans, providing locally inspired works of art and handmade crafts for the visiting tourist to take home a little piece of Essex with them. The diverse flavours of Essex, gives the region its own unique charm that’s appealing to all who visit the area.

Essex has excellent transport links to and from London via M11, A12 and M25. There are mainline train and coach services that run regularly from all the major towns with connecting services to the rest of the county. For travellers from further afield, Stansted Airport and Harwich International Port are located within the region. There is a variety of accommodation available across the county, from town centre hotels to quiet retreats in the Essex countryside that should cater for all; whatever your accommodation budget is, from the affordable to luxurious. Essex has a wide range of accommodation options for your individual holiday requirements.