The Spinnaker Tower Portsmouth, an iconic modern landmark on the Hampshire coast
Winchester is the historic capital of Wessex
A wealth of historic sights amongst the shopping centres in Southampton
The New Forest National Park in west Hampshire is excellent for outdoor activities
Basingstoke excellent shopping in north Hampshire
Get the best of the sun on the beaches along the Hampshire coast
The Isle of Wight is an excellent family holiday destination
Hampshire is a mecca for watersports and sailing Hampshire is a largely rural county with a strong maritime history along its coast. The cities of Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester provide some excellent visitor attractions documenting Hampshire's medieval, maritime and military history as well as excellent shopping. Around the towns you'll find some of the country's most beautiful countryside particularly in the New Forest and the South Downs in East Hampshire. Many of the towns and villages are traditional market towns where you'll find a host of locally grown and produced goods for sale.
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For seaside holidays there's the windsurfing centre of Hayling Island with its long beaches and family fun fair attractions, Lee-on-the-Solent and of course the varied choice of beaches around the Isle of Wight coast. Historic houses like Queen Victoria's Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and The Vyne near Basingstoke make great days out. Hampshire was where Jane Austen was born and preferred to live and you can visit many of the sites that she visited and lived, particularly her house in Chawton. If you're planning to travel without the car you'll find Hampshire well linked by the national rail and bus network. Southampton airport is also on the rail network and has a great choice of domestic and European flights.
Covering a vast area in the south west of Hampshire, the New Forest still has a unique way of life for those that live there. The New Forest has been a wilderness, an ancient Royal Forest and the source of timber for the forces during World Wars. All this has impacted on the site and made it what it is today - one of the largest expanses of heathland in Europe and one of the most popular places for recreation in the country, let alone Hampshire.
See the famous New Forest ponies and cattle wandering around the countryside, villages and roadsides. They amble along with an air of confidence that stems from their right to roam the commons never having been hindered. The heathlands are vast and bloom a wonderful purple in the late summer. The shade of the woodlands hide woodland walks and over one hundred miles of cycle trails particularly in the Forestry Commission areas.
The Isle of Wight has long been a popular holiday destination. It's just a short hop across the Solent and there are plenty of ferries that will take you there from the Hampshire coast. The Isle of Wight has played an important role in Britain's history in the defence of the country and was the favoured home of Queen Victoria at Osborne House near East Cowes.
Today it's an excellent family holiday destination with a range of sunny beaches and fun visitor attractions. The island has a lively events calendar with music festivals to suit all tastes as well as walking festivals and of course the internally renowned Cowes Week sailing regatta. If you want to explore the countryside of the island there are downland walks, coast walks and plenty of beautiful countryside to marvel at.
Away from the coast Hampshire is covered in some of the country's most beautiful countryside. Over to the east the South Downs stretch into Hanmpshire where rolling chalk downland contrasts with the rich hanger woodlands. The towns and villages often stem from historic market towns that are rich in listed buildings such as Winchester, Stockbridge and Petersfield. Some have modernised and kept up with the times and are now main shopping and business centres like Basingstoke and Andover.
There is plenty to see and do with military museums at Winchester, Aldershot and near Andover. Every two years Farnborough hosts the International Air Show drawing in thousands from all over the world to see the flying and aerobatic displays. It's this part of Hampshire that Jane Austen loved so much and where she wrote her best work in Steventon and Chawton near Alton. For exploring the countryside you can find a whole network of footpaths and cycle ways or take a leisurely steam train ride on the Watercress Line.
Top shopping and entertainment on the Solent Coast can be found in the Solent centres of Portsmouth and Southampton. Portsmouth offers great shopping and entertainment options and is a city with a maritime history rich in visitor attractions. Most Portsmouth attractions are found along the waterfront where fortified defences and the historic naval dockyard provide a wealth of places to visit to find out how the invasions through the centuries were defended. The town was also the birthplace for one of the world's most influential authors, Charles Dickens whose family worked for the Navy. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the celebrated Sherlock Holmes, also made his home here and you can find out more about their lives in the city's museums. Portsmouth is also the centre for the Royal Navy and a working port with a huge choice of ferry crossings to the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, France and Spain.
Southampton is an interesting mix of historic medieval town linked to some of the world's most famous naval events, and a modern cosmopolitan city with a fantastic art scene and stacks of shopping. The city centre is effectively split in two with all the historic sights, the docks and modern marinas in the south, Below Bar, and the art galleries, theatres, parks and the majority of the shopping centres Above Bar in the north. There is masses to do whether it's a historic walking trail around the city's medieval walls that once fortified the town, or a day of shopping 'til you drop - and with so many shopping outlets it's not difficult to! The city's art galleries and theatres along with the Guildhall that houses the City Art Gallery and hosts international pop and comedy acts gives all the culture vultures plenty to see and do while the variety of parks provide a welcome quiet oasis to rest your feet.
