Photo: Chensiyuan (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Things to do in Swanage
The best holidays are planned around great days out. Here's what's on the doorstep in Swanage, from big-ticket attractions to rainy-day savers.
🎟️ This weekend near Swanage
Events from
Skiddle
Fri 13 Nov · 19:30
Comedy At The Fishermans Haunt
The Fishermans Haunt, Christchurch · 13.5 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 19:30
National Dance Company Wales presents Blue | Glas
Pavillion Dance South West, Bournemouth · 8.3 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 20:00
Feel Free Friday
Canvas, Bournemouth · 8.3 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Fri 13 Nov · 12:00
Poole Audio Tour: Bridges, Beacons, and Baden-Powell
Poole Methodist Church, Poole · 7.5 mi
Tickets on Skiddle ↗
Aquariums
8.2 mi from Swanage
Oceanarium
The Oceanarium is a tropical aquarium on Bournemouth's seafront, home to sharks, a loggerhead turtle, otters, jellyfish, clownfish and a colony of Humboldt penguins. You can walk t...
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Museums & Galleries
0.1 mi from Swanage
Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre
Swanage Museum & Heritage Centre tells the story of Swanage and the wider Purbeck area, from the Victorian stone trade that built the town through to its transformation into a seas...
1 mi from Swanage
Durlston Castle
Durlston Castle stands within Durlston Country Park, a 1.13 square-kilometre (280-acre) country park and nature reserve stretching along the coastline south of Swanage, on the Isle... — Wikipedia
1.9 mi from Swanage
Langton Matravers Museum of the Stone Industry
Museum in Langton Matravers, Dorset, England, UK
3.5 mi from Swanage
Museum, Fossils & Local Finds
This small museum at the Square and Compass pub showcases over 60 years of fossil and archaeological collecting from the Purbeck area. You'll see marine reptile fossils such as Ich...
5.1 mi from Swanage
Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum
The Purbeck Mining Museum tells the story of Purbeck Ball Clay mining and its narrow gauge railways, housed in the last underground mine building that worked in Purbeck. You can st...
6.5 mi from Swanage
Blue Pool
The Blue Pool is a nature reserve and tearooms set within the 300-acre Furzebrook Estate near Wareham on the Isle of Purbeck. Once a 17th-century clay pit, it filled with rainwater...
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7.1 mi from Swanage
Museum of Jurassic Marine Life
The Museum of Jurassic Marine Life, home to The Etches Collection, is a modern museum showcasing amazing fossils of the marine life that lived in Jurassic Dorset's seas 157 million...
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7.3 mi from Swanage
Poole Museum
Poole Museum is a maritime museum, gallery and cultural centre, situated on the Lower High Street in the Old Town area of Poole, Dorset, and is owned by Bournemouth, Christchurch a... — Wikipedia
7.3 mi from Swanage
Scaplens Court Museum
15th century Grade I listed house in Poole, Dorset, England, UK, used as a museum
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8.4 mi from Swanage
Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
The Russell-Cotes Museum is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East... — Wikipedia
8.5 mi from Swanage
Wareham Town Museum
Wareham Town Museum tells the story of the Wareham area of Dorset in southern England from prehistoric times to the present day, with a special exhibition on Lawrence of Arabia, wh... — Wikipedia
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9.3 mi from Swanage
Tyneham
Tyneham is a ghost village abandoned in 1943 and former civil parish, now in the parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the Dorset district, in the south of Dorset, England, near Lulwo... — Wikipedia
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9.5 mi from Swanage
Museum Of Design In Plastics
The Museum of Design in Plastics sits on the first floor of the Arts University Bournemouth library, reached by lift, and houses a specialist collection tracing plastics design fro...
Theme Parks
0.1 mi from Swanage
Santa-Fe Fun Park
Santa-Fe Fun Park is a family-run amusement park set on the marina in Swanage, Dorset, offering rides, arcade games and two adventure golf courses — the pirate-themed Shipwreck Isl...
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4.9 mi from Swanage
Dorset Adventure Park
Dorset Adventure Park is an outdoor activity park set across 18 acres of woodland near Corfe Castle, built around two lakes. You can take on the inflatable waterpark with its float...
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17.4 mi from Swanage
Go Ape Moors Valley
Go Ape Moors Valley sits within Moors Valley Country Park in St. Leonards and St. Ives, Dorset, near Bournemouth and the New Forest. You can take on the original Treetop Challenge...
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17.7 mi from Swanage
The Needles Landmark Attraction
The Needles Landmark Attraction sits at Totland on the Isle of Wight, overlooking the famous Needles Rocks and Lighthouse. You can ride the iconic chairlift down to Alum Bay, take...
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21.4 mi from Swanage
Sandworld
Sandworld is a sand sculpture festival set in Lodmoor Park in Weymouth, Dorset, where internationally renowned artists carve giant sculptures from sand and water alone, with new de...
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28.4 mi from Swanage
Blackgang Chine Theme Park
Blackgang Chine is the UK's oldest theme park, set on the Isle of Wight and combining storytelling with rides across themed areas including Pirate Cove, Fairyland, Cowboy Town and...
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29.4 mi from Swanage
Paultons Park
Paultons Park is a large family theme park set within 140 acres of parkland on the edge of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire. There's plenty to do, from rollercoasters and...
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Water Parks
21.5 mi from Swanage
New Forest Water Park
New Forest Water Park, in Hyde near Fordingbridge, is a family-friendly water park offering wakeboarding on a cable system, an inflatable Aqua Park obstacle course, and kayak or pa...
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Zoos & Wildlife
12.8 mi from Swanage
Monkey World
Monkey World is an Ape Rescue Centre in East Stoke, Dorset, where you can meet primates rescued from the illegal wildlife trade or from abuse and neglect, now living in natural fam...
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17.7 mi from Swanage
Liberty's Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre
Liberty's Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre is an outdoor attraction in the New Forest, near Bournemouth, Dorset, built around its birds of prey and reptiles. The star resident is Lib...
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21 mi from Swanage
Fancy's Family Farm
Royal Air Force Portland or more simply RAF Portland is a former Royal Air Force and ROTOR radar station on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. Located close to the Verne Citade... — Wikipedia
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21.3 mi from Swanage
Sealife Centre
SEA LIFE Weymouth is a large aquarium spread over five acres, home to over 2,500 creatures across themed zones including Seal Harbour and Penguin Island, where you can see Europe's...
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27.8 mi from Swanage
The New Forest Wildlife Park
The New Forest Wildlife Park at Denny Lodge is a family-friendly zoo and wildlife attraction where you can walk through Wallaby Wood, meet friendly deer in a walk-through encounter...
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Where to stay near Swanage
Places to stay within easy reach of these days out.
More around Swanage
Itineraries
- A weekend in Bournemouth: an accessible itinerary · 2 days
- A weekend in Bournemouth with the kids · 2 days
- A weekend in Bournemouth · 2 days
Haunted Britain
Plan it day by day
Create a free account and hit "Save to my trip" on anything below — then assign each one to a day of your holiday so the whole week is sorted before you pack. And if you haven't booked yet, see our guide to holidays in Swanage for the best places to stay.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best things to do in Swanage?
The list below shows attractions nearby with distances from Swanage.
What can we do in Swanage when it rains?
Museums, galleries and aquariums are your friends — filter the list below by category and keep a couple in reserve for wet days.
More ways to explore
Not booked yet? See the best places to stay in Swanage.