Portsmouth is known as a naval town and some of the best things to do in Portsmouth are navy-based. However, it has many other attractions including several interesting museums, the beaches of Southsea, the Spinnaker Tower, and the possibility of day trips to the Isle of Wight and longer ferry trips to France and other parts of Europe.
Portsmouth has always been one of the main harbours for the Royal Navy. The first European colony in Australia was founded by ships that sailed from Portsmouth in 1787. It was the last British port that Admiral Lord Nelson would see, as it was from Portsmouth that he sailed on his way to the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It also has the oldest still-operating dry dock in the world, and is home to famous ships including HMS Victory and the Mary Rose (soon to take pride of place in a brand new museum, opening in 2012.)
Best Things to Do in Portsmouth
The best things to do in Portsmouth include, in alphabetical order:
Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum
The house in which Charles Dickens was born in 1812 became the world's first Charles Dickens Museum when it opened to the public in 1904. Visitors can see the bedroom in which the great Victorian novelist was born, the couch on which he died, the inkwell that was on his desk when he died, and various other personal items.
Cumberland House Natural History Museum
Like all urban areas, Portsmouth has surprising pockets of wildlife, and these are explained and explored at the free Natural History Museum, which also incorporates an aquarium and a butterfly house.
A day trip to northern France is easily done through companies such as Brittany Ferries. From Portsmouth there are regular ferries to Caen, Cherbourg and St Malo, as well as to Santander in Spain – a little bit far for a day-trip! However, Cherbourg can be reached in three hours on the high-speed boat, with several sailings daily. Caen and St Malo are further, but with overnight sailings it is easy to spend a night at sea followed by a full day in France before returning.
Regular daily ferries cross the few miles of the Solent to the Isle of Wight, England's largest island. Its attractions include castles, a Roman villa, botanic gardens, some notable country houses, a zoo, a steam railway and more than enough other things to make a day trip from Portsmouth worthwhile, whether on foot or taking a car.
The D-Day Museum and Overlord Embroidery
The D-Day Museum commemorates the D-Day (or Normandy) Landings on 6th June 1944, the largest amphibious landing in world history when 156,000 troops landed on the Normandy beaches and helped to change the direction of World War II. The Overlord Embroidery is one of the most impressive items in the museum, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and telling the story of the war from 1940 to 1944.
The wonderful dockyard contains several of the must-see Portsmouth sights, together in one place. Nelson's flagship the HMS Victory is here, as is the National Museum of the Royal Navy and the chance to do a harbour tour by boat. HMS Warrior is here too, which was built in 1860 as the world's first iron-hulled warship, bigger, faster and more heavily armed than anything else afloat.
Also here is the Mary Rose Museum, displaying over 1,000 items found on Henry VIII's favourite ship, the Mary Rose, which sank in the Solent in 1545 and was rediscovered to great acclaim in 1971. When the new Mary Rose Museum opens in 2012, not only will the ship itself at last be on display, but so too will 60% of the 19,000 items salvaged with the ship in 1982 - ten times as many as at present.
More of the Best Things to Do in Portsmouth
With its beach, fine shopping and good restaurants, a visit to Southsea is a day at the British seaside without having to leave Portsmouth.
One of the city's newest attractions is the sometimes controversial Spinnaker Tower, a 170m-tall futuristic-looking piece of modern architecture that resembles a billowing sail and provides viewing areas at three different levels with impressive views of the city and surrounding coast.
A Study in Sherlock and the City Museum
Portsmouth's City Museum naturally tells the story of the city in enjoyable displays over two floors. One of the most fascinating is A Study in Sherlock. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was living in Portsmouth and working as a doctor when he wrote his first two Sherlock Holmes stories. The City Museum now owns the Richard Lancelyn Green collection of Conan Doyle items, comprising 2,000 objects, 13,000 books and 40,000 documents. The small fraction that is on display gives an intriguing look into the life of Conan Doyle(he was also the first goalkeeper of the club that became Portsmouth FC) and his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes.
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Find out more about the best things to do in Portsmouth on the website of Portsmouth Tourism.
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Mike Gerrard - Mike is an award-winning travel writer who has worked for National Geographic, the London Times, and many other clients. ...
