Bournemouth

Walks: Bournemouth to Barton-on-Sea via Hengistbury Head, Branksome to Swanage or Corfe Castle.

Bournemouth is is the best beach within day trip reach of London – a glorious eight mile stretch of sand, very gently shelving, and with clean blue waves breaking onto it. With a sandy ridge topped by pine trees behind, it can seem positively Mediterranean on a sunny day. It also has a bit of a microclimate, being more prone to blue skies than other spots, and a sea temperature that is often a degree or so warmer than further up the Channel.

Train services from Waterloo take two hours, and you arrive in Bournemouth’s fine arched station. But outside of it you are in a wilderness of multi-storey car parks, supermarkets, and the way to the seafront is not obvious.

• The shortest and nicest way to reach the beach is to turn left along the front of the station to the main road: cross this, and carry on along St Swithun's Road. Where this turns right in 100 metres veer left (following the larger road) into Southcote Road. In about 350 metres turn right into Derby Road, a pleasant residential street. Follow this for 400 metres to a junction with a main road (Christchurch Road): cross this and keep on down Derby Road until it ends in a roundabout: here carry on down a footpath. This emerges onto the cliff top road, East Overcliff Drive, on the opposite side of which is a zig-zag path down to the beach.


• Alternatively you can get bus number 50 from Bournemouth station, which after many meanderings goes to the beach at the bottom of Branksome Chine, Sandbanks and Studland Bay (see Studland Bay and Swanage below).

Other ideas for getting to the beach include:

• Get off the train at Christchurch, just before Bournemouth. Refer to these directions for how to get from there to the beach. This route takes you along the beautiful River Stour, round the edge of Christchurch Harbour, a fascinating area of marsh and open water with excellent birdlife, and to the wonderful scrubland wilderness of Hengistbury Head ahead, which is also surrounded by a wild and unspoilt beach. This is definitely the best bit of the whole Bournemouth beach and worth spending a day exploring. There is a cafe in the car park at the start of the headland, and if you go beyond and to the north of the headland you find yourself on the fascinating Mudeford Spit, which has wonderful beach houses and an upmarket café/restaurant. There are also ferry boats in summer from Mudeford Spit back to Christchurch, which has a pretty old centre and waterfront.


• Get off the train at Branksome. The area around the station is dull, but if you find the nearby entrance to Branksome Chine (a wooded valley), you can follow this for a mile or so to the sea. You emerge onto the western end of the beach, about a mile from Sandbanks – the chic area of fancy houses at the mouth of Poole Harbour.

Barton-on-Sea

Walks: Lymington to Barton-on-Sea, Bournemouth to Barton-on-Sea via Hengistbury Head

These SWC walks cover a fine stretch of the Solent coast, with views across to the western end of the Isle of Wight. Both walks end in Barton-on-Sea, walk 62 approaching from the east with plentiful swimming opportunities in the afternoon, and walk 74 from the west, with plentiful swimming opportunities throughout.

• The Beachcomber cliff top cafe in Barton-on-Sea is an excellent place to finish your day. 

• The X10 bus goes from near the cafe to New Milton station (10 mins) or it is 2km through suburban streets to walk.

Studland Bay and Swanage

Walks: Branksome to Swanage or Corfe Castle, Wareham to Swanage or Kingston

At the far western end of Bournemouth's beach is Sandbanks (actually you are in Poole now, but let's not split hairs). Here you will find the Sandbanks ferry across the narrow mouth of Poole Harbour (which has fabulous and very visible currents when the tide is running), and beyond this the wild and wonderful beach of Shell Bay. The South West Coast Path starts here and carries on all the way around the coast of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall to Minehead in Somerset.

Swimming in Shell Bay is not advised due to the strong currents at the mouth of Poole Harbour, but walk around the bay and turn the corner and you find the immense two mile curve of Studland Bay, which is completely undeveloped and backed by endless sand dunes (which are well worth exploring). This is a wonderful swimming beach, with soft flat sand and shallow water, though note that the nearer end of it is a designated naturist beach. Towards the far end of the beach is a National Trust cafe, and the village of Studland – charming, but touristy, and with at least one pub.

• From Studland you can get the number 50 bus (last bus 6pm-8pm depending on season) back to Sandbanks. This continues to Bournemouth station, though by a somewhat slow route.


• Beyond Studland it is a very pleasant mile long cliff walk to Old Harry Rocks, whose chalk arches and stacks mark the far end of the bay. At a pinch you can even carry on from here and do the wonderful three mile walk over Ballard Down to Swanage. The 50 bus also goes from here to Sandbanks, or you can get a later bus from there to Wareham, which is on the South West Trains main line beyond Bournemouth. This really is the furthest you can expect to get from London on a day trip: better to stay the night in Swanage and explore the wonderful Purbeck coastline beyond.