Bournemouth, beaches and the Jurassic Coast

Bournemouth is the great seaside resort of England's south coast, in Dorset, famous for miles of golden sandy beaches, cliffs cut by green ravines and one of the mildest climates in the country. With about 200,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the urban area that also includes Poole and Christchurch and has more than 400,000 people. It is a young town, created from nothing at the start of the 19th century and grown up as a Victorian health resort among the pines, and today it is also one of Europe's capitals of English language courses: every year thousands of foreign students, many of them Italian, come to learn the language by the sea. From here the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the New Forest and Brownsea Island, where scouting was born, are only minutes away.

Trains from London Waterloo take about two hours, and Bournemouth Airport is about twenty minutes from the centre.

A town born among the pines

At the beginning of the 19th century there was nothing here but empty heathland, crossed by a stream, the Bourne, flowing into the sea. In 1810 a former army officer, Lewis Tregonwell, who had patrolled the coast against smugglers, fell in love with the spot and built a holiday house here; a few years later he planted thousands of pine trees and began renting villas to visitors. The scent of the pines and the sea air were soon considered healthy for people with lung diseases, and Bournemouth became a fashionable health resort, with villas, hotels, gardens and churches. The arrival of the railway in 1870 turned it into one of England's most popular seaside destinations.

Before the holidaymakers, this empty coast was the realm of smugglers. The most famous was Isaac Gulliver, who in the 18th century ran, from Kinson, now a district of Bournemouth, a network of dozens of men landing brandy, gin, tea and silk by night from France and the Channel Islands, hiding them in the ravines, on the heaths and even in churches. Gulliver was nicknamed "the gentle smuggler" because, it was said, he had never killed anyone; in the end he obtained a royal pardon, retired rich and respected and was buried in nearby Wimborne.

Tregonwell's house still exists: it has been incorporated into a hotel in the centre. In 2010 the town celebrated its two hundredth anniversary.

The beaches and the chines

Bournemouth's real treasure is the sea: about eleven kilometres of continuous fine sandy beaches, running from Poole to Hengistbury Head, with some of the cleanest water in the country and many Blue Flags. A very long promenade for walkers and cyclists runs at the foot of the cliffs and links all the beaches, dotted with cafés, kiosks, rows of colourful beach huts and cliff lifts that carry you down from the clifftop to the sand.

The cliffs are cut by narrow wooded ravines called chines, carved by streams, which run down from the town to the sea among pines, rhododendrons and ferns: Alum Chine, Durley Chine and Boscombe Chine are among the finest and offer shady walks down to the beach. In the smuggling era, in the 18th century, these ravines were used to bring brandy, tea and tobacco ashore in secret.

The piers

Bournemouth Pier, the main pier, built in its present form in 1880, stretches out to sea in front of the centre and has a theatre and a zip wire, the PierZip, linking the end of the pier with the beach. A couple of kilometres east, Boscombe Pier, remodelled in the 1960s in a modernist style, is considered one of the most elegant post-war piers. Around it, Boscombe has become a hub for surfing and water sports.

What to see in Bournemouth

The gardens

From the pier inland, along the course of the Bourne, the Bournemouth Gardens stretch for almost three kilometres, divided into the Lower, Central and Upper Gardens: flower beds, streams, ancient trees, crazy golf and a concert area. In summer the Lower Gardens are lit by thousands of candles and lights, and a tethered balloon, the Bournemouth Eye, carries visitors more than a hundred metres up for views over the bay.

The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum

On a clifftop overlooking the sea, next to the pier, stands the Russell-Cotes villa, built between 1897 and 1901 by the wealthy hotelier Merton Russell-Cotes as a birthday present for his wife Annie. The villa, a quirky mix of Scottish, Italian and Japanese styles, keeps its original furnishings and the collections the couple gathered on their travels around the world: Victorian paintings, sculptures, Japanese objects and exotic souvenirs. It is one of the most curious museums in southern England.

St Peter's Church and Shelley's heart

In the centre, St Peter's Church, with its tall Gothic Revival spire, has in its churchyard the grave of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, buried here in 1851 together with her parents, the philosopher William Godwin and the writer Mary Wollstonecraft. Tradition says that the heart of her husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was also placed in the grave: Shelley drowned in the Gulf of La Spezia in 1822 and was cremated on the beach at Viareggio, and his friend Edward Trelawny is said to have saved the heart from the flames, which Mary kept all her life wrapped in a page of poetry.

Writers in Bournemouth

Between 1884 and 1887 Robert Louis Stevenson lived in Westbourne, in a villa he called Skerryvore: here he wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and finished Kidnapped. The house was destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War, but in its place there is a memorial garden with a model of the Skerryvore lighthouse, built by Stevenson's family of engineers. J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, also spent many holidays in Bournemouth with his wife Edith, moved to nearby Poole after retiring and died in the town in 1973.

English courses in Bournemouth

Bournemouth is one of the British towns with the largest number of English language schools for foreigners, attended every year by thousands of students from around the world, teenagers on summer study holidays and adults. The town is considered quieter, safer and cheaper than London, offers the sea and a lively youth scene, and many schools offer homestay accommodation. If you prefer the capital, see our guide to English courses in London.

A day in Bournemouth

A possible itinerary: start with a walk through the gardens to the pier, then visit the Russell-Cotes villa. After lunch, walk along the promenade east to Boscombe Pier, or west to Alum Chine, going down and up the wooded ravines. Late afternoon is for a swim or a drink in one of the cafés on the sand. In the evening dine in the centre or in Westbourne, or go to a concert. With more days, explore the Jurassic Coast, Brownsea or the New Forest.

Music, festivals and sport

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1893 as a municipal orchestra, was one of the first permanent orchestras in Britain and is still among the most respected in the country. Every summer, at the end of August, the Bournemouth Air Festival brings display teams, including the Red Arrows, over the bay in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators on the beach. The football club, AFC Bournemouth, nicknamed The Cherries, rose from the lower leagues to the Premier League in 2015, one of the fairy tales of recent English football, and plays in one of the smallest grounds in the league.

The districts

The town centre, around the square simply called The Square, is the heart of shopping and nightlife, with Victorian arcades, theatres, pubs and venues popular with students. Westbourne, to the west, is the most elegant district, with independent shops, cafés and a 19th-century covered arcade. Boscombe, to the east, once neglected, has been reborn around its pier and surf beaches, with vintage markets, restaurants and a young art scene. Further east, Southbourne is a quiet residential district on the cliffs, with less crowded beaches and cafés overlooking the sea.

Eating and drinking

Bournemouth's food is that of the Dorset coast: fish and chips on the beach, seafood, crabs and oysters from Poole Harbour, and afternoon tea with scones, clotted cream and jam. Dorset is also famous for Dorset Blue Vinny, a blue cow's milk cheese, and for ciders from the nearby countryside. The centre and Westbourne have restaurants serving food from around the world, Italian included, and along the promenade there are many cafés to stop at between a swim and a walk.

The climate

Thanks to its sheltered position and the influence of the Gulf Stream, Bournemouth has one of the mildest and sunniest climates in Britain: summers are warm, with highs often around 21-23 degrees, and winters rarely bring frost or snow. The sea stays cool even in August, at around 17-18 degrees, and the weather can change quickly, with windy, rainy days even in midsummer. For more, see our page on the climate in the United Kingdom.

Around Bournemouth

• The Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the white cliffs of Old Harry Rocks, reachable on foot from Studland, the natural arch of Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, along a coast that tells 185 million years of Earth's history through its rocks and fossils.
• Poole, with its large natural harbour and the Sandbanks peninsula, one of the most expensive residential areas in the world.
• Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, reached by ferry: here in 1907 Robert Baden-Powell held the first scout camp, and today the island is a National Trust reserve with the last red squirrels in southern England.
• Christchurch, with its great medieval priory and harbours, and Hengistbury Head, a headland with views over the bay and the Isle of Wight.
• The New Forest, a national park of woods and heaths where ponies and donkeys roam free, about twenty minutes away.
• Corfe Castle, the ruins of a medieval castle on a hill, reachable on the Swanage steam railway.

Living in Bournemouth

Bournemouth's economy is based on tourism, language schools, its two universities (Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth), financial services and digital businesses. It has many retired people, drawn by the mild climate, but also a large student population and lively nightlife. Homes cost less than in London but more than the national average, and in summer traffic and parking can become a problem. Since 2019 Bournemouth has been part of a single council together with Christchurch and Poole.

Getting there and getting around

• By train: from London Waterloo about two hours; direct services to Southampton, Winchester and Weymouth, and to Birmingham and Manchester.
• By air: Bournemouth Airport has flights to several European destinations; Southampton Airport is about forty minutes away and Heathrow about two hours.
• By coach: frequent services to London and the London airports.
• In town: the centre and the promenade are easy on foot or by bike; buses serve Poole, Christchurch and Sandbanks, and a chain ferry links Sandbanks with Studland.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and for other cities British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: two days for the town and beaches; three or four to add the Jurassic Coast, Brownsea and the New Forest.
• When to go: June to September for the sea; late August for the Air Festival, when hotels are full.
• Don't miss: a sunset walk along the promenade, from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe Pier.
• A tip: beach huts can be rented for a day or a week, handy for leaving your bags and making a cup of tea the English way.

Bournemouth on the map

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