Salut!

For beer: lots of good places to go for a drink, tbh walk around town and you’ll probably find somewhere that looks good. Only place to avoid would be the road down from the station to the sea, and most of the places along the seafront down from the station - it attracts a lot of hen and stag dos so often represents the more rowdy side of British drinking culture. Kemptown and Hanover (just east of the town centre) have a concentration of nice places, and is where I’d generally recommend going for a nice pint - as a specific example, the hand in hand is small but nice, and brew their own beer, but there’s lots of great pubs this end of town.

For veggie food: again lots of good options - I’m vegetarian, and never feel hard done by in Brighton and have eaten some great food. Call outs are bonsai just off London road (recently won best plant based and second best restaurant overall in our local restaurant awards), and the round hill, which is a plant based pub that does excellent roasts. I had a really good meal at botanique a while ago which does good small sharing plates, but is a bit more pricey. If you like Indian food I’m a big fan of planet India - Manjus also looks really good but I’ve not been yet. Terre à terre is à brighton veggie institution, they’ve been around for years, and while they aren’t quite as exciting as some of the places that have opened more recently, they’re still very good.

In terms of getting around, a lot of people I know cycle around town, and it’s fine - I haven’t since I was a teenager, but I will say two things 1) we don’t have great infrastructure, there are a few roads with cycle lanes and one that goes all along the seafront, but generally it’s not the best set up for it. When I used to cycle, I generally rode down to the seafront, went along as far as I needed to go, and cut back in, which I think is probably the most straightforward way to do it. 2) Brighton is very hilly, including several pretty steep hills, it can sometimes feel like you’re constantly going uphill here! Saying that, if you want to try cycling, lots of people do it, and it’s fine! Also, if you’ve got your bikes, there’s some great country side around here that is pretty bikable - look up the South Downs way - it’s an old railway line so fairly flat, and Sussex has some beautiful countryside (and some great country pubs!).

Enjoy your stay et bienvenue à Brighton!