Six Things You Have To Do In Bournemouth
A few month’s back I headed on a quick weekend break to Bournemouth to experience a part of the UK I hadn’t been to before and it was a lovely two days even in the weather wasn’t 100% on our side. Thankfully the beach at Bournemouth is sandy unlike some other South Coast destinations like Brighton so it’s a great trip with the kids, and when the weather’s good. Here are six things you have to do in Bournemouth. Thankfully everything I’m going to mention here is only about 5 minutes max from each other making it great if you’re tight on time.
Things you have to do in Bournemouth: Play mini-golf
In Bournemouth gardens, there’s a really nice mini-golf course and it’s not tacky like some with gnomes and windmills, the obstacles are more like hills, streams, and pipes and it’s a great way to pass some time. It’s best to head here first thing as it can get pretty busy and you don’t want the added pressure of people behind you.
Visit the Sealife Centre
Who doesn’t love a good aquarium? There’s a lovely Sealife centre right on the seafront in Bournemouth and there’s plenty of creatures to see including a tunnel underneath the tank which has sharks, stingrays and some massive turtle’s which are awesome. There’s sea otters, penguins and a massive iguana so you’ll be able to see a lot of creatures under one roof, and this is perfect if the weather’s a bit on the dodgy side as pretty much everything is inside.
Play some games at the arcade
On the beach at the front of the pier is an arcade full of penny machines and video games, so much that you could lose yourself in here for hours. When I went we played some shooting games, a motorbike racing game, Jurassic Park and of course Guitar Hero (which I won!) There are loads of the smaller, cheaper penny pushing games and similar so you could spend a while here with just a few pounds.
Grab some ice-cream
Just as you walk out of the pier there’s a lovely ice cream shop which offers loads of flavours (I can recommend the white chocolate and mint chocolate chip) and they if you order a waffle cone is huge, but great as none of the ice-cream hangs out so there’s less chance of losing it to the wind/ melting. I don’t think you can do a seaside trip and not have ice cream at least once.
Talk a walk along the beach
Once you have your ice cream it would only make sense to kick off your shoes and talk a walk along the sandy beach. The beach is quite wide even when the tide is in so there’s plenty of space to grab a seat and play around without it feeling too crowded which is nice. We went the first weekend of the summer school holidays so we were expecting it to be packed but it didn’t feel like that even though there were plenty of people braving the cold waters. There are some cute beach huts which I am sure would be great for families going on a summer holiday.
Take a ride on the Ferris wheel
There used to be a hot air balloon you could ride in Bournemouth but sadly this has gone so now the best way to take in some views is from the Ferris wheel just next to the sea life centre. Once you’re relaxing in your little pod you take in a few trips around and you can see the lovely views both out into the city and over on the beach. It’s a nice relaxing way to see what the city has to offer.
I’m going to add a bonus recommendation as this isn’t technically in Bournemouth, it’s in Poole (but only about a 10-15 minute drive away) is Compton Acres which is one of the largest privately owned gardens in the UK and it’s just breathtaking. There’s so much to explore and when everything is out in bloom you can easily spend hours wandering the grounds here.
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23 responses to “Six Things You Have To Do In Bournemouth”
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All About Me
Rhian Westbury
Travels and Destinations
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We had a lovely weekend in Bournemouth a few years ago now with friends, think it was a little later in the year as they also had a christmas market. It is a lovely place to visit x
While I would be tempt to say my six things to do would be to go get six ice cream cones in six different flavors,your post does a nice job of pointing some fun things in Bournemouth.
Every time I visited Bournemouth I always played mini golf and strolled at the beach, I need to head back and do some more
Ice cream and arcades are a must at any seaside. I haven’t been here since I was a kid, but it has brought back some happy memories.
Iāve only been to Bournemouth once, over a decade ago, I tried some delicious ice cream!
Do you know I can’t remember the last time I went to Bournemouth I would love to go again though sometime and I am all for some nice ice cream!
I’ve lived in London my whole life. I really need to venture out and see more places in the country. Bournemouth looks like a great place to visit. Great post!
Haven’t been to Bournemouth since I was a child but have fond memories of ice cream on the beach!
I haven’t been to Bournemouth for ages. It’s such a lovely place.
I have never been to Bournemouth before it sounds like an amazing place
I’ve never been to Bournemouth before but it sounds like there is loads to do for a fab weekend break.
I went to Bournemouth the other day for the first time for my friends wedding and it was lovely! Will have to go back and try out our reconditions! x
Bournemouth looks ace! You really can’t beat a classic seaside trip, can you? Mini-golf is my absolute fav, but I got wrecked by my friends last time we played in New Brighton :(.
This looks like so much fun! I love a fun filled day/weekend like this! That ice cream looks delicious! Glad you had such an amazing time!
We were in Bournemouth this summer for the day and had such a fab day on the beach building sandcastles and eating ice creams. The ice cream there was the best we’ve had!
We stopped in Bournemouth just for one night over summer and the beach was just beautiful! It wasn’t too crowded either which was nice. We’d love to go back
That ice-cream looks the absolute nuts!!! Like seriously delicious!
I have never been to Bournemouth before but I like the sound of going to the beach and getting some delicious ice cream x
This sounds like my sons perfect holiday! Iāve never visited Bournemouth before but would like to one day, I think we will start having more uk holidays and exploring the country
It all looks like great fun. My kiddos would love it (and so would the big kids in the family)
I really want to visit Bournemouth – I visited once briefly many years ago. Kaz
For some reason Bournemouth is somewhere I haven’t really been to. I want to change that in the spring so thank you for this, it’s made me even more determined to make it there.
Ice cream and ferris wheels has me sold! Would love to visit Bournemouth someday