Any suggestions for things to do and where to stay for a two day layover in Southampton? Thanks
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32765 posts
Go to the Ageas Bowl (much better named in its previous incarnation as Rose Bowl) and watch a day or so of Cricket.
Go to Portsmouth and play on old boats. Pretend you are in the Navy.
Take a boat ride over to the Isle of Wight and ride a 1936 London Underground train which is now in use there for public transport.
Take a walk along the shore.
Posted by
Rhode Island, USA
472 posts
We visited the Solent Sky Museum, SeaCity Museum and did a historical self-walk around town. Had a great day! We stayed at the "Novotel" hotel.
Posted by
2409 posts
Take a train to Portsmouth Harbour and see the historic dockyard.
Take a train to Salisbury and then shuttle bus to Stonehenge. On returning to Salisbury, see medieval cathedral.
Take a train to historic Winchester.
Take a train to Bournemouth is you want the seaside.
Google the places mentioned for more info. Trains are frequent. Pay on the day - ask for a return ticket.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
A short train ride to Winchester would be my suggestion. Visit the cathedral, stroll on the High Street, and when you get back to Southampton have dinner at the Red Lion Pub. We stayed at the Ibis, which was fine but I hated the view of the McDonald's and TGIF from our window.
Posted by
Truro, NS, Canada
3941 posts
We enjoyed the SeaCity Museum as well.
Portsmouth Historic dockyards were great - I'm not a 'boat' person per say, but I really enjoyed the Mary Rose museum - way more than I thought I would. If you decide to do the Dockyards, it can be quite pricey. Check online beforehand and you may luck into a discount. We always go to Portsmouth as my sister lives there, so after 5 trips, last year we finally did the dockyards (because we ran out of other stuff). Went online and they had a weekend special - I think it was buy 1 get one half off, or buy 1 get 1 free. And even if there isn't a deal, I think you can still get 10-15% off if you buy online. My sister didn't have a printer and I didn't have a smartphone with wifi, so I just took a screenshot of the email on my ipad and showed that at the ticket table...had no problem. We also enjoyed our visit to the Garrison Church in Portsmouth - mostly because the custodians were very engaging - talked at least 45 min to them.