Poole is the maritime neighbour at the western end of the Bournemouth conurbation: a big, working coastal town built around one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Bournemouth made its reputation with Victorian promenades and pleasure gardens; Poole grew up as a port, and that long relationship with the sea still shows in the quayside, the lanes of the Old Town and the famous pottery. A day here gives you sand, sailing and centuries of trade, and for anyone based in Bournemouth for a week or more it is the obvious first excursion.
Some history
Among the oldest towns on the south coast, Poole owed its wealth to the harbour for hundreds of years. Its merchants shipped Purbeck stone out and ran an Atlantic trade with Newfoundland, and the fine Georgian houses in the Old Town were paid for with the profits. There is a craft tradition here too: Poole Pottery began on the quay, its distinctive glazes were sold across the world, and it remains part of how the town sees itself. Poole Museum, housed in a restored warehouse on the quayside, tells much of this story, with collections that begin with an ancient logboat and run through the town's maritime and industrial history.
The Quay and the Old Town
Think of Poole Quay as the town's front room. It is a working waterfront shared by fishing boats, harbour ferries and yachts, and on summer evenings the quayside is thick with people. Pubs, seafood restaurants and cafés line it, and through the season it stages markets, live music and firework nights. A few steps back from the water, the Old Town opens up as a knot of cobbled lanes containing some of the oldest buildings in England alongside independent galleries and small shops. Scaplen's Court, which is medieval, and the Georgian Custom House give a sense of how much money once flowed through the port. The whole quarter is compact and walkable, best done with an ice cream and no fixed plan.
Sandbanks and the beaches
Sandbanks occupies the mouth of the harbour, a narrow peninsula of golden sand that counts among the most expensive real estate in the UK. The beaches are what bring most people: soft, pale sand, calm water that shelves gently and regularly earns Blue Flag status, and a view over to the Purbeck hills. The peninsula has sand on both sides, the sheltered harbour shore and the open sea. At its tip the Sandbanks to Studland chain ferry crosses the harbour entrance in a few minutes, and on the far side are the wild dunes, heathland and National Trust coastline of the Isle of Purbeck. It is one of the best short crossings on the south coast.
Days out on the water
The harbour is a playground in its own right. Shallow and sheltered, it is among the best water in the country for sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and paddle-boarding, and in the warmer months boat trips leave from the quay. The destination most people choose is Brownsea Island, the largest island in the harbour and a National Trust nature reserve where red squirrels still do well. It has a place in history too: Robert Baden-Powell held his first experimental camp here in 1907, and the Scout movement grew from it. Passenger ferries also run from the quay to Swanage and along the Purbeck coast, so Poole is the natural starting point for anything further west.
Getting there
Poole lies just west of Bournemouth and is simple to reach by road, rail or bus. Its railway station is on the South Western main line from London Waterloo, and frequent buses connect the quay with central Bournemouth and the villages between. If you are driving, there are car parks by the quay and around Sandbanks, but both fill up fast on sunny days; in high summer, arriving early or leaving the car behind and taking the bus is usually the less stressful option.
Nearby
Heading back towards Bournemouth, Poole runs without a break into the villages of Westbourne and Boscombe, while the chain ferry connects it to Studland and the Purbecks in the other direction. For more of the coastline, see our guides to the area's beaches and things to do, or look for somewhere to stay close by.