BillJ

We finish a cruise in mid August in Southampton. Instead of rushing off to an airport to fly home, (although we'll probably be somewhat ready to get home) is their somewhere in the general area of Southampton, say Portsmouth, that might be of interest to us history, museum minded older folks. Yes we have luggage and we would not want a lot of walking. We are not inclined to spend any time in London (been there, done that). Thanks for any info.

Moderator3

BillJ

Thank you Moderator3.

bilboburgler

Southsea and Portsmouth both will hit the spot (just next to each other) and both a fair bit better than Southampton, especially for museums.

Alternatively, you might like a train ride to Winchester.

Southam

You can enjoy a full day of history in Portsmouth across many eras -- it still functions as a modern navy base. I recommend a visit to the hulking old fortress at the mouth of the port. There are several other museums, including the Mary Rose which was pulled up from the harbour floor with help from Prince Charles. My favorite was HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship, painstakingly restored.The available audio tour points out many aspects of life at sea.

https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/th...-rose-p1560641

janisj

I'd rent a car and head over to the New Forest/Lymington area. See Bucklers Hard, Beaulieu, the Forest itself, maybe a day tip over to the Isle of Wightt

https://www.bucklershard.co.uk
https://www.beaulieu.co.uk

bilboburgler

Bucklers Hard us interesting especially the Master Builder, the Forest, on the other hand, is really for walkers, riders, cyclists etc

willit

I work in Southampton, and frankly, the city does itself few favours in selling itself. One of the common sights in summer, is cruise ship passengers wandering around with an expression of "what I am doing here".

That said, there are a few interesting bits and pieces. The city walls, the Bargate (one of the medieval gatehouses), a Tudor merchant;s house, a 15thC Wool depot that has been converted into quite a decent pub and restaurant.

In comparison, Winchester (20 minutes by train) or Portsmouth (45 minutes) offer far more.

Winchester if far prettier, has many buildings dating back to medieval times along the main street, has a wonderful cathedral, several museums (most of them military, but the city museum is quite good as well), a ruined castle, a very famous "public school" (A very expensive fee paying institution that has been on its current site for >600 years - they do tours) and "King Arthur's Round table" - which dates back to around 1300.

Portsmouth is a military city but has a great deal of history. As others have mentioned, the Mary Rose museum is superb (Henry VIIIs flagship - it sank and became embedded in the mud, which meant that half of it has survived approximately as though the ship was sawn along a line running from bow to stern. The museum has the remains of the ship on one side of the oval museum, with reconstructions and artifacts on the other. It is one of my favourite museums anywhere.

HMS Victory, and HMS Warrior are two ships, one from the mid to late 1700s, the other from around 1860. The city also has a long line of fortifications from the harbour entrance running a couple of miles down to Southsea Castle.

I love both Portsmouth and Winchester - because of my interest in military history I probably am biased towards Portsmouth but would highly recommend Winchester.

StCirq

I agree there are better options than Southampton, but we really did enjoy two full days there a few years ago and didn't run out of interesting things to do or see - or eat. I wasn't aware of its strong connection to the D-Day landings until we started noticing the plaques along the main road down to the port. And the small market had some good food and interesting treasures. What we really did not enjoy much was the Ile of Wight, except for the bus ride all around the island.

jc_uk

Southampton is not worth visiting, it really is bereft of anything of interest bar one or two exceptions. Portsmouth is by far a better option with some incredible, world class sights. Winchester is equally as worthwhile. The Isle of Wight is a fantastic island chock full of sights, I particularly enjoy Osborne House (Queen Victoria's summer residence), Carisbrooke Castle, The Needles and the nearby battery's, Yarmouth Castle and many more. The New Forest is idyllic and despite the assertions by another poster it's not just for walkers and cyclists. There's an excellent tourist bus route that covers the whole forest and the villages within and a ticket will allow you to hop on and off as you please.

nonconformist2

Salisbury is also quite easy to get to from Southampton.

BillJ

Thanks everyone. Very interesting, and maybe some other time. For a variety of reasons, we decided that after 3 weeks, we'll just zip up to the airport and head on home. We'll be ready for home.