Top 5 places to visit in Hampshire for the long weekend

Readily accessible from any of the Home Counties, from the west and from the Midlands, Hampshire makes an ideal destination for a break with your caravan for the long weekend – and there is so much to see and do, you’ll probably be only too glad it’s a long weekend.

If it’s your first outing of the year, though, don’t forget to check that your touring caravan insurance is fully up to date.

  • Forest or beach?

Do you want the shady glades of a woodland caravan site or do you want one close to the beach? Do you want to clamber over the rocks on the seashore or walk through the shady forest?

Pitch up at Harrow Wood Farm Caravan Park, just five miles outside the charming town of Christchurch, and you can have the best of both worlds – bracing coastal walks around nearby Hengistbury Head and a caravan site within the verdant National Park of the New Forest.

  • Hayling Island

Fancy a trip on a narrow-gauge railway? Hop on the one at Hayling Seaside, and you’ll be able to alight right in the heart of all the thrills and spills of Funland Amusement Park – there’s plenty there to keep the whole family active the whole of the day.

If you want to stay with your caravan on Hayling Island, why not check out Fishery Creek Touring Park – it’s right on the water’s edge and is large enough to accommodate scores of touring caravans even on a busy Bank Holiday weekend.

  • Selsey Bill

That’s the place, not the local character, and might give you a quieter time than its neighbour, Hayling Island, just across the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. While Selsey is actually classed as Sussex, it borders Hampshire and is well worth a visit.

There’s naturally a maritime theme, with the RNLI Selsey Lifeboat Station and Museum, but also the chance to follow trails through the Medmerry Nature Reserve, right at the tip of the peninsula.

Seal Bay Resort at Selsey has a variety of pitches for touring caravans – from fully-serviced, hard standing pitches, to standard grass pitches. Plus, their prices are all inclusive with use of indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and entry to their entertainment venues.

  • National Motor Museum

The largest motor museum in the country is in the grounds of the medieval Beaulieu Abbey, which has been in the Montagu family since 1538. There is not only the motor museum and the beautiful surrounding gardens, but the estate also stretches to the hamlet of Bucklers Hard, where Nelson’s ships were built using New Forest oak.

You can pitch your caravan just a few miles from the Beaulieu estate at Roundhill Caravan and Camping Site – a spacious park on the mixed heathland and forest of the New Forest National Park between Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst and Beaulieu. The 500 pitches give you plenty of varied and diverse spots from which to choose.

  • Southampton

If you want to combine a little retail therapy with your weekend caravanning, Southampton’s Westquay shopping mall is going to be a major attraction. The port city is also a gateway to the Isle of Wight – via the Red Funnel ferry service – which is also worth a daytrip.

At the end of a busy day, you can make the short three-mile drive along the M27 motorway, to find a peaceful and relaxing retreat at Sunnydale Farm Camping and Caravan Site.