A crenellated 19th-century navigational aid that marks the island's southernmost point. Tours climb the 90-odd steps up to the lantern room, revealing sweeping sea views.
St Catherine's Lighthouse
Isle of Wight
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
17.56 MILES
Portsmouth's blockbuster draw sees you gazing at the evocative hulk of Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, and jumping aboard Nelson's Battle of…
Bournemouth Beach
27.13 MILES
Bournemouth's sandy shoreline regularly clocks up seaside awards. It stretches from Southbourne in the far east to Alum Chine in the west – an immense…
Russell-Cotes
27.01 MILES
Ostentation oozes from almost every inch of this arresting structure – a mash-up of Italianate villa and Scottish baronial pile. It was built at the end…
Nearby Isle of Wight attractions
1. St Catherine's Oratory
1.32 MILES
Known locally as the Pepperpot, this 34ft, octagonal, 14th-century tower constitutes England's only surviving medieval lighthouse.
2. Carisbrooke Castle
7.74 MILES
Charles I was imprisoned here before his execution in 1649. Today you can clamber the sturdy ramparts and play bowls on the very green the doomed monarch…
3. Brading Roman Villa
9.27 MILES
The exquisitely preserved mosaics here (including a famous cockerel-headed man) make this one of the finest Romano-British sites in the UK. Wooden…
4. Isle of Wight Steam Railway
11.28 MILES
Regularly chugs the one-hour journey from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton Common.
5. Osborne House
12.15 MILES
Lemon-frosted and Italianate, Osborne House is pure Victorian pomp. Built in the 1840s at the behest of Queen Victoria, the monarch grieved here for many…
6. St Helens Duver
12.18 MILES
At this idyllic sand-and-shingle spit bordering the mouth of the River Yar, trails snake past swathes of sea pink, marram grass and rare clovers. It's…
7. Needles Old & New Battery
13.93 MILES
The Victorian fort complex at Wight's western tip is home to two gun emplacements where engrossing displays reveal how the site was established in 1862,…
8. Buckler's Hard Story
16.29 MILES
The hamlet's fascinating Maritime Museum and heritage centre chart the inlet's shipbuilding history and role in WWII, and feature immaculately preserved…