Poole

Poole's hotels fall into a few distinct clusters, shaped by the town's split personality. On the Sandbanks peninsula, a handful of long-established hotels make the most of direct beach access and harbour views, ranging from grand, spa-equipped properties to more relaxed, family-oriented beachfront stays. These are the places to book for a proper seaside holiday, with watersports schools, sea-view restaurants and, in most cases, a private stretch of that famously clean sand right outside the door. Several have been run by the same family hotel groups for decades, which tends to show in the level of service and the loyalty of returning guests.

In the Old Town and around Poole Quay, a smaller number of boutique hotels occupy converted Georgian townhouses and former merchants' mansions, trading sea views for walkable access to the museum, harbourside restaurants and the Brownsea Island ferry. This is generally the better choice for visitors without a car, or anyone who wants an evening stroll along the quay to be part of the holiday rather than a drive away from it, and the architecture of the buildings themselves is often as much of a draw as the rooms.

Away from the water, Poole's town centre and surrounding suburbs offer more straightforward, better-value options, including branded hotels aimed at business travellers and families on a budget, useful as a base for exploring the wider area or for shorter, practical stays where proximity to the beach matters less than convenience and price. Prices across all of these categories rise sharply in July and August and around Bank Holiday weekends, particularly at Sandbanks, so early booking pays off for a summer visit. Outside peak season, Poole's hotels offer good value relative to nearby Bournemouth, with the added appeal of harbour views and a quieter, more local atmosphere that the bigger resort simply can't match.

Poole rewards a slow pace as much as a packed itinerary. Highlights include:

• Brownsea Island is a National Trust nature reserve reached by ferry from Poole Quay, home to one of the last mainland colonies of red squirrels, peacocks that roam freely, and the site of the first Scout camp.
• Sandbanks Beach offers seven miles of golden sand with some of the cleanest, safest water on the south coast, plus watersports schools for sailing, paddleboarding and kayaking.
• Poole Old Town and Quay is worth an unhurried wander, taking in the 15th-century Scaplen's Court, the Guildhall, and the working harbourside with its fishing boats and seafood stalls.
• Poole Museum, housed in a Victorian quayside warehouse, tells the story of the town's maritime and trading past across several floors, including finds from the Poole Logboat, one of the oldest boats found in Britain.
• Poole Park is a Victorian public park with a boating lake, miniature railway, tennis courts and a wildlife-friendly lagoon, popular with families and joggers alike.
• Tower Park brings together ten-pin bowling, an indoor waterpark at Splashdown, cinema and soft play, making it a reliable wet-weather option.
• Upton Country Park combines an 18th-century house and walled garden with woodland and shoreline walks along Holes Bay.
• Poole Harbour boat trips, whether a short City Cruises sightseeing loop or a longer charter, are the best way to appreciate the scale of the harbour and its islands.

Poole's cooking leans heavily on what comes out of the harbour and the bay beyond it, with oysters, crab, lobster and daily catches of bass and mackerel appearing on menus across the town, particularly along the quay where several restaurants and seafood shacks serve straight from the boats. The Guildhall Tavern and other long-established quayside restaurants have built reputations on this local seafood, while newer arrivals bring more contemporary, bistro-style cooking to the same raw materials.

For a more informal meal, the harbourside is lined with fish and chip shops and casual cafés, many with outdoor seating looking over the water towards Brownsea Island. Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs add a scattering of upmarket beach cafés and restaurants that trade on their views as much as their menus, popular for breakfast after an early swim.

Poole Farmers' Market, held regularly in the town centre, brings together Dorset producers selling cheese, cured meats, baked goods and seasonal vegetables, and is a good place to put together a picnic for the beach or Poole Park. A handful of traditional pubs around the Old Town and Hamworthy round out the picture, several with riverside or harbour-view gardens that make the most of Poole's setting on the water.

Poole itself has little space for tents and touring vans, but a short drive inland brings a good spread of well-established campsites set among Dorset's heathland, forest and farmland, all within easy reach of the harbour and beaches. Most combine grass and hardstanding touring pitches with camping fields and, increasingly, glamping options such as pods, yurts or safari tents for those without their own kit, and several have grown up around genuinely attractive settings rather than simply filling a field with hookups.

Lytchett Minster and the countryside around Wareham and Holton Heath are the main hubs, offering sites set in woodland or open parkland just a few miles from Poole's centre, with regular bus links into town for visitors without a car. Facilities at the larger sites typically run to heated pools, on-site shops, laundry and play areas, making them a practical option for families combining a beach holiday with a more relaxed, outdoor base, while smaller touring pitches suit those simply looking for a quiet spot to park up between exploring the coast and the Purbeck countryside.

Booking ahead is strongly advised for July and August, when the best pitches at the more popular sites go quickly, and many campsites operate a shorter season running from spring to early autumn, with some closing entirely over winter. Dogs are welcome at most, though it is worth checking individual site rules and any breed or number restrictions, and electric hook-up is available on the majority of touring pitches for those relying on it. Wild or informal camping is not permitted on the heathland and forest around Poole, both for conservation reasons and because of the fire risk on dry heath, so sticking to an established site is both the practical and the legal choice.