Isle of Wight to lose all trains for a month

Interesting, Nigel. It's never been on my radar, but now you've awakened an interest in it. What is special about it?

when you get off the ferry (Portsmouth, car or passenger or hovercraft; Southampton, car or jet passenger) it is a unique look at a completely different place. A relatively small island it combines going back to the 1950s or early 1960s with exquisite countryside.

The train, when it is running, is a quite old London Underground train. Look up The Needles. Open top (mostly) buses take tourists from village to village to town. Great walking, both inland and along the coast.

What a lot of Americans might have described as quaint.

(as far as I know, the entire island has exactly one McDonalds) (oh, and Queen Victoria's favourite retreat - Osbourne House, now open by English Heritage)

Okay, one more place to add to my England list. Thanks, Nigel!

The Isle of Wight is a fantastic place to visit. As Nigel has stated, it feels like you've gone back a few decades with its slower pace of life. Osborne House is worthy of a visit as is Carisbrooke Castle (one of my favourites), you can even stay there in the Bowling Green apartment, a two bedroom cottage in the heart of the castle.

The Needles are a spectacular rock formation and for those keen on a white cliff experience the area is ideal. There's also a fascinating former secret rocket testing site nearby that is open to the public.

If you like the idea of pottering around visiting small seaside towns and driving through gorgeous English countryside then the island is perfect.

Thanks for asking, Mardee, and thanks for these enticing descriptions, Nigel and JC!

I agree, Kim—it really sounds wonderful!

Just quit, Nigel and JC. Ha! I kept trying to get there from Chichester in May and finally had to give up. Oh, I could have GOTTEN there, but would have had to give up other things. Apparently you can’t do everything all on the same trip…..

I've never stayed on the Island overnight- I have always done it as quite (correction, very) long rail connected day trips from Essex, through every one of the various sea ports.

I used to like going into one port and coming back into another.

The one time I was meant to stay there for a week, on a bus tour for a Birthday treat (even I do those sometimes) it was cancelled at very short notice when the Owner of the hotel the tour was going to stay at had a stroke and so had to close the hotel down.

Once I did a round the Island circumnavigation on the Paddle Steamer Waverley during Cowes Week which was memorable, particularly when we met the Steam Ship Shieldhall (a former Glasgow sludge boat) also on a day cruise coming back into Southampton as 2 cruise ships departed.

This is the 2 vessels side by side at one of their annual meetings at sea- https://ss-shieldhall.co.uk/steamship-shieldhall-and-paddle-steamer-waverley-put-on-a-show-together/

On my many annual visits to England, I have considered visiting the Isle of Wight but never have primarily due to my understanding that when I hire a car (in my case, I always hire at London Heathrow), I am prohibited from taking the car on a ferry. I suppose I could check into this further with car rental companies. Has anyone on the Travel Forum hired a car then taken it on a ferry to the Isle of Wight?

Has anyone on the Travel Forum hired a car then taken it on a ferry to the Isle of Wight?

Are you sure that the prohibition only referred to ferries that sail to a different country?

JC, that's a good question. I have not read the fine print re any prohibitions of taking a hired car on a ferry.