Top choice in Dorset
For a real sense of Portland's remote nature, head to its southern tip, Portland Bill, to climb the 41m-high, candy-striped lighthouse. It offers breathtaking views of rugged cliffs and the Race, a surging vortex of conflicting tides. The interactive displays in the former lighthousekeepers' cottages include Into the Dark, a recreation of sailing into stormy seas.
The lighthouse is also open on some summer Fridays and some weekends outside the main season – call for the latest times.
19.54 MILES
The massive, shattered ruins of Corfe Castle loom so dramatically from the landscape it's like blundering into a film set. The defensive fragments tower…
10.82 MILES
Durdle Door is the poster child of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. This immense, sea-fringed, 150-million-year-old Portland stone arch was created by a…
27.72 MILES
Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. It overflows with rich decor, most famously in the Spanish Room, which is…
16.6 MILES
The tiny cottage that was home to TE Lawrence (1888–1935) provides a compelling insight into a complex man. The British soldier became legendary after…
12.78 MILES
Occupying a massive slab of horizon on the southern fringes of Dorchester, Maiden Castle is the largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain…
2.51 MILES
Portland's white limestone has been quarried for centuries and has been used in some of the world's finest buildings, such as the British Museum and St…
20.66 MILES
Rarely do you find such a nudge-nudge, wink-wink tourist attraction. Nude, full frontal and notoriously well endowed, this hillside chalk figure is…
13.92 MILES
The Thomas Hardy collection here is the world's largest, offering extraordinary insights into his creative process. You can see from text in Hardy's…
2.51 MILES
Portland's white limestone has been quarried for centuries and has been used in some of the world's finest buildings, such as the British Museum and St…
3.74 MILES
A particularly fine product of Henry VIII's castle-building spree, with expansive views over Portland Harbour.
4.51 MILES
This centre at the start of the bridge to Portland, is a great gateway to Chesil Beach. The pebble ridge is at its highest here – 15m compared to 7m at…
6.45 MILES
Weymouth’s photogenic 19th-century defences are studded with cannons, searchlights and 30cm coastal guns. Exhibits detail Dorset’s Roman invasion, a…
6.85 MILES
The nostalgia-inducing offerings along Weymouth's fine sandy shore could see you marvelling at highly skilled sand sculptors, renting a deckchair or…
7.77 MILES
Highlights include sharks, penguins and seahorses, and talks and feeding demonstrations are held throughout the day. Tickets fall to £14 for adults and …
10.82 MILES
Durdle Door is the poster child of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. This immense, sea-fringed, 150-million-year-old Portland stone arch was created by a…