Portsmouth

World : Europe : Western Europe : United Kingdom : England : South East : Hampshire : Portsmouth
For other places with the same name, see Portsmouth (disambiguation).

Portsmouth [1] (pronounced "ports-muth") is a city that is well worth a visit for those interested in British Naval history or British history in general. It is on the south coast of England, close to Southampton and The Isle of Wight. Population 190,000.

Understand

It is has a number of beaches and a Dunkirk memorial, but by far the biggest attraction is the Historic Dockyard.

Portsmouth has a university, so it has a largish population of younger people (and several internet cafes).

Get in

Portsmouth can be reached by train from London, by motorway from anywhere in England and by ferry from France and Spain.

By plane

Nearest airport is Southampton Airport [2], located around 20 miles from Portsmouth in Eastleigh. There is a regular train service from Southampton airport train station (Parkway) to Portsmouth.

By train

Portsmouth is on the National Rail network. Direct trains from London take about 90 minutes from London Waterloo, a cheap day single is about £21. Other major services include Brighton (1 hour 40 minutes), Cardiff (3 hours 10 minutes) via Bath and Bristol; and Southampton (1 hour).

Alight at Portsmouth Harbour for the Historic Dockyard, Gunwarf Quays, Ferries to the Isle of Wight. Alight at Portsmouth & Southsea for Portsmouth City Centre. Alight at Fratton for the football stadium

By car

By bus

By boat

There are ferry services from four ports in France as well as Bilbao in Spain.

There are also services to the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey.

  • Guernsey
    • Condor Ferries/1 daily/6hrs30min
  • Jersey
    • Condor Ferries/1 daily/10hrs30min

The Isle of Wight is a under an hour's journey by ferry or a few minutes by hovercraft.

The ferry to Gosport (for Submarine and Explosion museums) runs every 7 minutes at peak times and every 15 minutes at other times until midnight. Cost is £1.60 return.

Get around

Several bus companies operate within Portsmouth and the surrounding areas. A day travel ticket can be bought for £3 (£2.40 concessions). It is also possible to travel between the harbour and the city centre using the train. It is a compact city however and nowhere is a very long walk.

See

  • the Historic Dockyard [3] - located in the naval base, the Historic Dockyard has a number of historic ships including the Mary Rose, HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. In the Historic Dockyard there is also Royal Naval Museum and Action Stations, which is aimed at younger visitors. There is a great old pub out side of Dockyards called the Ship Anson, worth a try.
    • Mary Rose
    • HMS Victory' [4] -
    • HMS Warrior
  • the Spinnaker Tower [5], Gunwharf Quays, open Mo-Sa from 10am, Su from 11am, admission adult £4.95, child £4, concessions £4.50, family £16- this striking and highly-visible £21 million landmark tower rises some 170 m above the redeveloping harbour of Portsmouth, symbolising the wind filling a spinnaker sail... Visitors can use the tower to view from 3 levels: at 100m, 105m and 115m - one slow panoramic lift and a high speed internal lift assist with access.
  • Southsea Castle
  • Southsea Seafront
  • Royal Marines Museum
  • D Day Museum
  • Sea Life Centre
  • Southsea model village
  • Southsea Rose garden
  • Charles Dickens Birthplace
  • Cumberland House Museum
  • City Museum

Do

  • Clarence Pier - A small fairground close to the Hoverport with some rides and amusement arcades, if you like the classic English tat.
  • Relax on Southsea Common

If you like a bit of night life there are three parts of town you should visit;

  • The Gunwharf is a great place to eat and drink but a little pricey and upscale
  • Albert Rd. is the student part of town and adventures and Indian restruaunts abound.
  • The lesser known but nicer is Palmerston Rd. by the Commons(grassy areas) in south Portsmouth has some nice bars and resturants.

Learn

The [http://www.port.ac.uk/ University of Portsmouth is a thriving modern university. Where a lot of brillant people go to school.

Buy

  • Portsmouth City Centre - Usual high street names (Dixons, Top Shop, WHSmith) and chav viewing area.
  • Gunwarf Quays - A recent developement that boast many factory outlets for major names at reduced prices and no chavs. The casino is nice as well.
  • Southsea Shopping Centre - A variety of small specialist shops, boutiques, art shops, delis, home furnishings. Also Debenhams, Knight & Lee
  • Albert Road - A good bet for smaller (non-chainstore) shops, second hand goods, antiques.

Eat

Portsmouth and Southsea have literally hundreds of restaurants catering to all tastes. Further out towards Fareham, the marina Port Solent offers a variety of restaurants in a pleasant environment with a multiplex movie theatre nearby.

Some of the best include:

  • A Fistful of Tacos - Mexican (Albert Road)rather overpriced and not incredible; is the only Mexican to be found in this town.
  • Yellow River - Oriental (Gunwarf Quays)
  • Rosie's Vineyard - French/Modern European (Elm Grove)Excellent!! Wonderfull wine selection food and atmosphere. http://www.rosies-vineyard.co.uk/
  • Sur La Mer - French (Palmerston Road)
  • The American Bar - Modern European (Old Portsmouth) Also great but you can drop a lot of money in this place. Does have great service!

Best places for curry:

  • Golden Curry (Albert Road)
  • Jaipur (Albert Road)

A really great place for a light lunch is a small cafe by the mini golf course behind the sea wall at the eastern end of beach past the eastern pier. It is called the 10th hole and serves lovely salads and main courses. It's main highlight are the cakes which are home made and simply fantastic.

A trip to Fareham is recommended to sample the wares of Soothill's bakery. A small place with a long history of doing great pasties, bread and pastries.

Drink

Hole in the Wall The Wine Vaults (Albert Road)

Sleep

There is one hostel in Southsea called the southsea backpackers http://www.portsmouthbackpackers.co.uk/ not easy to get to but is cheap and friendly

Also good is the Ibis near the Southsea trainstation

Stay safe

Get out

  • Portchester Castle - about 5 miles from Portsmouth, this is the site of the first landings by the Romans in the UK. The castle itself was built in Norman times, the original church is still in use and is popular in summer for weddings.