Visiting Portsmouth – An array of attractions
Visiting Portsmouth: An array of attractions
If you’re on the hunt for a UK break, it would be fair to say that Portsmouth doesn’t tend to come up on top of the searches too frequently. Instead, London dominates the top listings; it’s one of the most tourist friendly cities in the world, after all.
However, if you are serious about getting more from your UK trip, it’s time to broaden your horizons. Cities like Portsmouth have a wealth of attractions and contrary to popular belief, they do tend to appeal to the masses. Accommodation in such places is also much easier, and cheaper to come by.
Bearing this in mind, today’s guide will take a look at the top attractions Portsmouth has to offer, in a bid to highlight that there’s more to UK breaks than the capital city.
HMS Victory
By far and away one of the most popular attractions in Portsmouth comes in the form of HMS Victory. This is widely regarded as one of the most famous warships in the world, having initially overturned all the way back in 1545. What’s probably more incredible is the fact it took until 1982 before it was raised again.
The wooden ship has unsurprisingly undergone plenty of repairs and renovations to get it back to its former glory. Now, visitors can see everything from the cannonball holes that are still prevalent, right the way to the huge state room.
The Spinnaker Tower
Something that thrust Portsmouth to public attention was the Spinnaker Tower which opened back in 2005. This was regarded as one of the big projects of the city, for the simple reason that it happens to be the tallest tower which sits outside of London.
As the previous entry on our attractions list might have suggested, Portsmouth is something of a famous port city. This steered the design of the Spinnaker Tower; with the building largely comprised of steel and glass which are combined to make a sail shape.
The tower provides some of the most exquisite views possible across the city, which should hardly come as a surprise when one considers that you are almost 330ft up in the air.
The Nelson Trail
Keeping with the theme of port-based attractions, let’s now introduce the Nelson Trail. In one way, this can be described as a basic walk. In others, it’s a real jump back in time.
The Nelson Trail can be described as a wander through the old streets of the city. Of course, it’s not just any old walk, and actually replicates the route in which the Admiral Lord Nelson took in 1805 as he went to depart England. He walked this route, embarking on HMS Victory (can you see the link) before departing for the battle of Trafalgar. Unfortunately, as some of us might know, this was also the scene which caused his death.
As such, the Nelson Trail contains plenty of history. A lot of the buildings from the period still exist, and some people will visit each of the pubs which managed to survive through time.