Things to Do in Southampton

The only number that matters on a port day is how many hours you have before the ship goes. So this page is arranged by that rather than by category: four plans against four clocks, each one ending somewhere specific. Every fare mentioned is compared on the day tours from Southampton listings.

What fits in the time you have

Two hours: the old town on foot

Enough for the Bargate, the High Street, Holyrood Church and the wall walk down to the Mayflower Memorial, and back. All of it free, all of it within fifteen minutes of Dock Gate 4, and none of it requiring you to book anything.

The guided version is the two-hour Titanic walk from Town Quay Pier at 10am or 2.30pm, which covers eleven stops and finishes with a pub discount. At From $21 it is the cheapest fare here and the one that fits a two-hour window without any margin for error.

Half a day: the walk plus one museum

Add SeaCity Museum and you have four hours well spent. The museum needs ninety minutes for the three galleries and about an hour if you only want the Titanic story, and it sits in the Civic Centre about ten minutes north of the Bargate.

If the weather is against you, reverse it: museum first, walls afterwards. Tudor House is the alternative museum and it is smaller, closer to the water and closed on Fridays. Both tickets re-admit you for a year, which is worth knowing if you sail from here again.

A full day in the city

Both museums, the whole wall circuit, the memorials, lunch on Oxford Street and time left over. That is a genuine day and almost nobody spends it, because with a full day in hand the road out of Southampton becomes the better proposition.

If you do stay, the two things to add are Southampton Common, a large open green a mile north of the centre, and the waterfront at Town Quay, which is where you actually see the working port rather than read about it.

A full day out of the city

Stonehenge is about forty miles west and Salisbury a little beyond it, and there is no direct bus. The private out-and-back day runs two and a half hours from From $289 and returns you to Southampton, which is the version that works when the ship sails the same evening.

If the cruise has ended, the whole shape changes: the coaches that end in London or at Heathrow put Stonehenge, Salisbury, Windsor or the Cotswolds into a transfer you were making anyway. Those run six to ten and a half hours and they are compared on the Southampton to London page.

A wet day

Roughly 120 days a year here see a millimetre or more of rain and the wettest stretch is October to January, so this is not a hypothetical. Both museums are indoors and together they will absorb three hours comfortably.

The walking tours run anyway and say so — one reviewer specifically praises a guide for walking out into the rain rather than cancelling. What the rain mostly costs you on the coach days is the photographs rather than the stops.

With children

Under-fives are free at both museums, and the 1:25 model of Titanic at SeaCity is the thing children actually remember. Tudor House has a garden, which helps.

Practicalities: one walking tour is described as stroller accessible and the other is flagged by a reviewer as unsuitable for anyone with mobility trouble, cobbles being cobbles. Four of the transfer listings state that infant seats are available — ask in writing, and confirm the day before.

An evening before you sail

If you are boarding tomorrow rather than leaving today, the shape of the day inverts and it is the better half of the deal. Boarding usually opens in the afternoon, so a morning walk and an afternoon museum fit without any pressure at all, and the Titanic walk runs at 10am for exactly that reason.

The one thing to sort first is the bag. There is no left-luggage office at the terminals, so either check into a hotel the night before or book a transfer that keeps the cases in the vehicle while you walk.

Where to eat

Oxford Street, near Town Quay, is the cluster closest to the Eastern Docks and it is where the Titanic crew pubs are — The Grapes and The White Star, both working pubs rather than exhibits. The Platform Tavern is on the walking route too.

From the Western Docks it is a long enough walk that you are better off eating once you are in the city centre. On a coach day the question does not arise: the Cotswolds tour includes a pub lunch in a fifteenth-century inn, and the others excluded food deliberately so you choose your own.

Frequently asked questions