Things to do in Poole: the harbour, the Quay and Sandbanks

Poole is the other town. Bournemouth has the pier and the seven miles of sand; Poole has the harbour, the boats, the Old Town and a beach at Sandbanks that has held a Blue Flag for 39 years running. It is twenty minutes from Bournemouth and most visitors never go, which is their loss. This is what to do there, from the Quay outwards.

The Quay and the Old Town

Start on the Quay. Poole Harbour is often described as one of the largest natural harbours in the world, and the Quay is where the town meets it: fishing boats, the ferries to Brownsea, the RNLI's headquarters and college, and a row of pubs and restaurants with tables on the water. Behind it is the Old Town, a grid of Georgian streets and the older cottages that survived them, with the redeveloped Poole Museum at the bottom of the High Street telling the story of the port and its trade.

On Tuesday evenings through the summer the Quay fills with motorcycles for Bike Nights, which returned in April 2026, and in September the whole waterfront becomes the free Seafood & Sounds festival, two days of local catches, stalls and live bands that this year ran on 12 and 13 September.

Brownsea Island

The island in the middle of the harbour belongs to the National Trust and is one of the few places in southern England with red squirrels. It is also where Baden-Powell held the 1907 camp that started the Scout movement. Ferries run from Poole Quay through the season, roughly March to October (the Brownsea guide has the detail); take the first boat, walk the whole island and come back on the last one.

Sandbanks and the chain ferry

Sandbanks is the spit of land between the harbour and the sea, famous for the house prices and better known locally for the beach: wide, sheltered and Blue Flag every year since the scheme began, as we reported in six Blue Flags for 2026. Shore Road, the harbour side, is where families with small children go for the calm water. From the tip of the spit the chain ferry crosses to Studland and the Purbecks every twenty minutes; it went cashless this year, so pay online before you drive on. The number 50 bus from Bournemouth rides the ferry too, which makes Studland a bus trip.

Poole Park

Poole Park is the town's big Victorian park, wrapped around a saltwater lake with pedalos, a miniature railway, cafés and a cricket ground, and it holds a Green Flag Award for 2026 alongside Upton Country Park on the other side of Holes Bay, Poole Tourism reported in July. It is the place for a family afternoon that does not involve sand.

Lighthouse and the museum

Lighthouse, Poole's centre for the arts, is the largest arts centre outside London and the home of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with a concert hall, a theatre, a cinema and studios. The orchestra's season runs through the autumn and winter, and the theatre programme is worth a look before a weekend. Poole Museum on the Quay covers the port, the pottery and the harbour's wildlife and is free to enter.

The chines and Canford Cliffs

Between Poole and Bournemouth the cliff is cut by wooded chines that drop to the beach. Branksome Chine has the beach café and the promenade walk to Bournemouth; Canford Cliffs has the village of cafés above and a Blue Flag beach below; Compton Acres, the Italian and Japanese gardens on the cliff road, is the best formal garden on the coast.

Where to stay and how to get there

Poole is twelve minutes from Bournemouth by train and about half an hour by the m1 and m2 buses, so it works as a day out from a Bournemouth base. To stay in Poole itself, where to stay in Poole compares the Quay, Sandbanks and Ashley Cross, and Flexiestays lists serviced apartments in Poole alongside its own Bournemouth hotels. Our older Poole tourism guide has more on the harbour's history, and the Bournemouth Guide has every listing on a map.