Explore · Dorset
Where to base yourself
Bournemouth is seven miles of bay and half a dozen genuinely different neighbourhoods. Here is what each one is like to wake up in, and which towns are close enough to be back for dinner.
Neighbourhoods
Pick your corner of the bay
Every one has its own pace, its own high street and its own stretch of sand. Worth ten minutes before you decide where to stay.
Boscombe
Bournemouth's cheaper, scruffier, more interesting east side: its own pier, its own beach, and a high street that still functions on a wet Tuesday.
Sandbanks
A narrow sand spit at the mouth of Poole Harbour: some of the most expensive real estate in Britain wrapped around a genuinely excellent Blue Flag beach.
Southbourne
The quiet end of the Bournemouth cliff: a wide beach, a working high street and Hengistbury Head at the far end of the promenade.
Westbourne
A Victorian arcade, a street of independent shops and a wooded chine down to the sea: the corner of Bournemouth that works best as a neighbourhood.
Towns
Towns worth the trip
Close enough to reach on a bus, a train or the coast path, and still be back for dinner.
Christchurch
An older town five miles east of Bournemouth, where the Avon and the Stour meet behind a spit: priory, quay, harbour and the Mudeford beach huts.
Poole
A working harbour town ten minutes west by train: Georgian quayside, Brownsea ferries, Sandbanks sand and the chain ferry to Purbeck.
Season by season
The bay all year round
A week here in February is a different town to a week here in August. This is what to expect whenever your stay falls.
Spring in Bournemouth
Quiet sand, blossom in the Lower Gardens and the Bay Run.
Jun – AugSummer in Bournemouth
Peak beach weeks, the Air Festival and light until ten.
Sep – NovAutumn in Bournemouth
Arts by the Sea, big skies and the best walking of the year.
Dec – FebWinter in Bournemouth
Christmas Tree Wonderland, empty beaches, long-stay rates.