Brighton Marathon finishes on Hove Lawns after a point-to-point course from Preston Park, and by the time most runners reach that finish line their legs have opinions about further travel. April in Brighton means cool air off the Channel, unpredictable wind, and the kind of light that makes the seafront look better than it feels to stand in for long. None of this rules out a day spent in the city itself; it just changes what the day should look like. Everything below is walkable from a central hotel, none of it requires booking ahead, and all of it can be shortened or extended depending on how the legs feel that particular hour.
The Royal Pavilion
George IV's Regency palace, an Indo-Saracenic fantasy of onion domes and cast-iron staircases built as a seaside retreat in the early 1800s, sits in the centre of Brighton and the marathon course runs directly past it around mile 5. Visiting the day after closes the loop: the state rooms, the Music Room's domed ceiling and the kitchens are all indoor, heated, and involve standing rather than walking, which suits legs that have had enough of pavement for one week. A self-guided visit runs 60 to 90 minutes at a comfortable pace, and the surrounding gardens have benches if a sit-down break is needed partway round. Check current opening hours and ticket prices before visiting, since these shift seasonally.
The Lanes and North Laine
Two adjoining quarters sit back to back in the centre of the city: the Lanes, a maze of narrow medieval streets packed with antique dealers and jewellers, and North Laine, a livelier stretch of independent cafés, record shops and vintage clothing running up toward the station. Both are flat and compact, easy to drift through without a plan, and dense enough with coffee stops that stopping every ten minutes is normal rather than something that needs justifying. This is the natural lunch stop on the route, wherever hunger strikes along the way.
Brighton Palace Pier
The Victorian pleasure pier at the southern end of the Lanes is the zero-effort option: free to walk, open into the evening, and visible from most of the seafront. It is also the most exposed spot on this route, with the Channel wind picking up noticeably once there's no building line to break it, so a short visit works better than a long one. Arriving in the late afternoon or early evening, when the arcade lights are on and the crowd has thinned from its daytime peak, is usually the better call than a midday visit in an April wind.
Return to a central hotel is a flat 10 to 15 minute walk from any of these three stops. No last train to catch, no booking to confirm, nothing beyond deciding when the legs have had enough.