Best things to do in Dorset

Dorset's Unmissable Treasures

Dorset’s landscape features the Jurassic Coast’s limestone arches and chalk stacks, alongside significant archaeological sites. Maiden Castle represents one of Europe's largest Iron Age hillforts, while the Cerne Abbas Giant remains a mysterious ancient hill figure. The region's military history spans from Henry VIII’s artillery forts at Portland and Sandsfoot to the modern collections at The Tank Museum. Natural highlights include the 18-mile Chesil Beach and the nesting mute swan colony at Abbotsbury Swannery, complemented by the preserved ruins of Tyneham ghost village.

Saffron Blaze / CC BY-SA 3.0

Durdle Door

Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England.

Bob Linsdell / CC BY 3.0

Old Harry Rocks

Old Harry Rocks are three chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, located at Handfast Point, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset,…

Linden Milner / CC BY-SA 2.0

Maiden Castle

Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hillfort 1.6 mi southwest of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset.

Nilfanion / CC BY-SA 4.0

Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, England, situated south of the village of Wool, is an early 17th-century hunting lodge erected…

John / CC BY 2.0

Abbotsbury Swannery

Abbotsbury Swannery is a colony of nesting mute swans near the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, England.

CC-BY-SA-3.0

Portland Castle

Portland Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, between 1539 and 1541.

William Woolnoth, early 19th-century… / Public domain

Sandsfoot Castle

Sandsfoot Castle, also known historically as Weymouth Castle, is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Weymouth, Dorset.

Tuuraan78 / CC BY 3.0

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…

Hohum / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England.

Marilyn Peddle / CC BY 2.0

Fiddleford Manor

A lovely small manor house from the 14th century with many later alterations.

Herbythyme / GFDL

St Catherine's Chapel

A 14th-century barrel-vaulted pilgrimage chapel built by the monks of Abbotsbury Abbey. Constructed entirely of local stone to withstand coastal weather, the building served as both a place of worship and a navigational beacon for mariners along the Jurassic Coast.