Portsmouth Attractions

These are all within the Historic Dockyard. You could easily spend the day there. You can buy one ticket to cover it all

https://www.historicdockyard.co.uk

I think Mary Rose now needs a separate ticket but it’s well worth it. Victory is great. And yes, you can spend the whole day there.

The Overlord Tapestry at the D Day Museum, is brillant!

We were there in Portsmouth in late May 2017 for a day and arrived about 11:00 AM. We only visited the Historic Dockyards. A half day plus was a good amount of time to see almost everything. There is a large, attractive self-service cafeteria on site with lots of choices and lunch was surprisingly good. The Mary Rose and the Victory are don't miss sights, absolutely incredible. Portsmouth was a little out of our way but I'm very glad we saw them. The Navy museum isn't large and for someone who is only somewhat interested in the subject it was OK. DH who is a student of British naval history found it quite interesting. The area on Nelson in one of the first sections of the museum was rewarding for both of us, having just been on Victory. There are some other ships to tour as well, which we did. We didn't do the harbor tour; in retrospect perhaps we should have done that and skipped some of the other ships. We arrived at Action Stations late in the day and it wasn't crowded, which was good, but it was just OK for us. We're in our 50's so the idea of some of the more physical things to do like wall climbing didn't appeal so much. We had dinner at Still and West, recommended at our hotel, https://www.stillandwest.co.uk/ which is right on the busy harbor and it was fun watching the giant ships slipping by as we ate. There is a conservatory of sorts on the second floor of the restaurant just next to the water that made for great viewing. It was too cool and breezy that day to sit outside. The food and service were good.

Do check on ticket specials on their website - we've been to Portsmouth 4-5 times as my sister lives there, and we waited a few visits to go to the Dockyards, as the price was quite high and our dollar exchange sucked. We lucked into a buy one get one half price on a weekend, so finally took the plunge. This was back in 2015 before the Mary Rose was fully on display. I'm not a huge fan of Naval stuff, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. We did the 1 hr harbour cruise/tour, visited the 2 ships, did the Mary Rose and we ran out of time and energy.

Another little site we enjoyed was the Royal Garrison church - but mostly because of the docents - we spent almost an hour there chatting with them - it was very informative.

Unfortunately the Mary Rose museum now requires a separate ticket (someone has to pay for the new multi million £ building!) however they're currently offering a 20% discount if you buy online. It's a very good museum and a vast improvement on the previous housing.

As others have pointed out there are discounts for the dockyard, simply search online. HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and The Mary Rose are the three big draws to the dockyard however the current Jutland exhibition is very interesting and well presented and I enjoyed the Naval Museum particularly HMS Victory’s Trafalgar Sail, the only surviving foretopsail from the Battle of Trafalgar, however be aware that it is only on display until December this year before being removed for conservation work. Action Stations is geared towards children so unless there'll be any accompanying you I'd give it a miss.

I've been on the harbour tour which is recommended however I much preferred the tour operated by the company at nearby Gunwharf Quays although if you're going to buy a full ticket it includes the harbour tour so there's no sense in paying for an alternative tour.

I've not eaten on site but I have heard that the food is good however I always hold on and eat elsewhere. Gunwharf Quays is next door and is a development of outlet stores, cinema, bars and restaurants, all of which are chains and don't come particularly recommended, the best option there would be Loch Fyne however I recommend a restaurant 15 minutes walk away, abarbistro http://www.abarbistro.co.uk (the head chef is a good friend of my wife but I'd still recommend the place even if he wasn't!).

If you do have time then you can continue walking through Old Portsmouth towards the Royal Garrison Church https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/royal-garrison-church-portsmouth/ after which you can continue with a short walk to Southsea Common and the old Victorian seaside resort of Southsea. A walk along the seafront will take you to Southsea Castle http://southseacastle.co.uk, built for King Henry VIII and from where he watched The Mary Rose sink. There's also a very good brewery there https://www.facebook.com/southseabrewing/ although they're only open to the public on weekends.

Just down from the castle is the D-Day Museum, https://theddaystory.com, a very worthwhile visit. It's had a makeover this year but I haven't been yet (waiting for the free admission days they hold during the year!).

If you have managed to fit all this in and have time left to walk back to the train station then I would suggest heading towards Portsmouth and Southsea Station which is the next stop after Portsmouth Harbour (return journey). If you take the route across Southsea Common, along Western Parade and into Castle Road you'll come across the Castle Road Clocktower https://www.tonywoodhair.co.uk/blog/the-castle-road-clocktower-before-tony-wood. A little up from the Clocktower you'll come across one of my favourite pubs, The Hole In The Wall http://theholeinthewallpub.co.uk, if you have time I thoroughly recommend a quick pint in here. The Landlord., Jon, is grumpy as hell but he knows his beer and there is always an excellent selection on tap (too much selection). Afterwards you'll make a quick pass through some unattractive post war tower blocks but it's all perfectly safe, the area is mostly student accommodation and University buildings, before passing through Guildhall Square and the imposing Guildhall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Guildhall, the train station is next to the Guildhall.

There's much more to see however you only have a day so that would be my recommendation.

JC...my niece works at yankee candle at gunwharf!

You can also get a boat from the dockyard across the harbour to the Gosport jetty where HMS Alliance (2nd world war submarine) is berthed, I took my nephew on the tour last year, very interesting.

JC...my niece works at yankee candle at gunwharf!

I would go and say hello but she'd probably call security!

JC...ummmmmmmm... ;)

JC, I'm bookmarking this thread because of your post! Wow, great information.

I visited the Dockyards this spring on Rick's Southern England tour and thought it was wonderful. I spent so much time on the Victory that I had to rush thru the Mary Rose. I actually thought I did better seeing the Victory first because the audio tour explains all the deck functions, etc which were similar on the Mary Rose. SIL and her sister did the Harbor tour from the Dockyards (our group entry ticket covered it, I think) but weren't much impressed.

That 5 hour visit has made me add it to the next time list...along with JC's recommendations!

JC, I'm bookmarking this thread because of your post! Wow, great information.

Thanks Pam, happy to be of assistance.