Departing from Southampton, UK - travel advise wanted

[Marga.Anders]

Hi,

 

We are departing from Southampton cruise port and we want to arrive there at least a day early (travelling by train from mainland Europe). 

How many days should we plan for Southampton? Is it a fun tourist destination with loads to see and do or just a boring port town?

Also, any hotel recommendations for Southampton?

 

We have a week in the UK before our cruise starts. Any other recommendations of places to visit that are accessible by train? We have already been to London, Cambridge, Bath, Oxford so hoping for some new sites. Is Stratfort-upon-Avon worth the trip there?

[gumshoe958]

Trust me, a night in Southampton is more than enough! To be fair it’s got a decent maritime museum but it’s certainly not on anyone’s list of must see places in the UK.

 

However Salisbury and Winchester are both easily accessible from Southampton by train and are worth seeing, or you could hop on a ferry across the Solent and visit Queen Victoria’s family home on the Isle of Wight, Osborne House.

 

Southampton has plenty of unremarkable but perfectly adequate chain hotels near the port (Holiday Inn, Novotel, Premier Inn, Ibis) but I’ve got a soft spot for the Pig in the Wall which is a very small boutique hotel in the city centre.
 

https://www.thepighotel.com/in-the-wall/

 

I’m sure others will have other good hotel suggestions.

 

Further afield yes, Stratford is certainly worth seeing. Or as you have a week you’d have enough time to see Edinburgh, or maybe Liverpool. There are very few towns in Britain that aren’t easily accessible by train.

 

 

[John Bull]

Southampton isn't a tourist city, but it does have a wide selection of hotels, shops, pubs, restaurants & other services plus it's a railway junction with direct trains in 6 directions, which makes it a great base to explore a multitude of interesting and iconic nearby places.

 

So your easiest and probably cheapest option is a Southampton hotel and day-trips by train to places like....

The Victorian seaside resort of Weymouth.

 Historic Salisbury and its magnificent cathedral (and ho-ho from there to Stonehenge)

Historic Winchester (the ancient capital of the kingdom of Wessex) and its 11thC cathedral.

The historic dockyard & ships of Portsmouth and seaside attractions of its conjoined resort city of Southsea with  promenade walks along The Solent with views of the Isle of Wight, diminutive Southsea Castle, D-Day museum and seafront attractions. Well worth a very long day or more. 

Hourly or half-hourly trains on those routes, those destinations between 15 minutes and 30 minutes away, and return fares between £8 and £12.

https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Also ferries across the Solent to the laid-back Isle of Wight which in many ways is still locked in the 1950's. Or the little Hythe ferry across Southampton Water to Hythe and about 6 miles b taxi across a corner of the New Forest to Beaulieu.

If you rent a car for a day or two you can add day-trips to places like the Jurassic coast of Dorset or much closer explore the little lanes of the New Forest.

 

Stratford-upon-Avon from Southampton is a little complicated by train and about two hours by road, so unsuitable for a day-trip from Southampton. But well worth visiting by rented car as part of a little 3 or 4-day road-trip including places like Blenheim Palace, the Cotswolds, and Warwick Castle. And lots of countryside and charming towns & villages on the way if you keep off the main roads.

 

Google the places in bold face & see what takes your fancy.  Starting your search with "visit xxxx" makes a search more focussed. 

 

Here's a website of hotels in Southampton city centre - three close to the train station & the others close to old town & the port, but the station is only a 10- 15 minute walk from the old town

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_accommodation.htm (useful thumbnail map on that page)

Yes, most of the hotels are cloned national & international brands - unremarkable but modern, clean, comfortable and convenient. There are none on that list that I'd caution against.

 

JB 🙂

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by John Bull

[tony s]

We always do day prior in Southampton, less stressful than London and half the price. Stay at White Star Tavern and ask forTitantic room.Centrally located great walking and some history