Durdle Door at sunset

Getty Images/Moment RF

Dorset

Holiday hot spot Dorset offers a checklist of charms. Its shoreline is one of Britain’s best and boasts the Jurassic Coast – a World Heritage Site flecked with sea-carved bays, crumbly cliffs and beaches loaded with fossilised souvenirs. Swimming, kayaking and hiking here are memorable indeed. Inland, Thomas Hardy's lyrical landscape serves up vast Iron Age hill forts, rude chalk figures, fairy-tale castles and must-see stately homes. Then there are resorts alive with party animals, golden beaches flanked by millionaires' mansions, and sailing waters that have hosted Olympic events. Time then to add Dorset to your holiday list.

Best Things to Do

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Corfe Castle

    Corfe Castle

    Dorset

    The massive, shattered ruins of Corfe Castle loom so dramatically from the landscape it's like blundering into a film set. The defensive fragments tower…

  • Sunrise behind Durdle Door, on the Jurassic Coast.

    Durdle Door

    Dorset

    Durdle Door is the poster child of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. This immense, sea-fringed, 150-million-year-old Portland stone arch was created by a…

  • KINGSTON LACY, UK - SEPTEMBER 29, 2012: A view toward the country house at Kingston Lacy with landscaped gardens in Summer; Shutterstock ID 1033498075; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Kingston Lacy

    Dorset

    Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. It overflows with rich decor, most famously in the Spanish Room, which is…

  • Maiden Castle

    Maiden Castle

    Dorset

    Occupying a massive slab of horizon on the southern fringes of Dorchester, Maiden Castle is the largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain…

  • Tout Quarry

    Tout Quarry

    Dorset

    Portland's white limestone has been quarried for centuries and has been used in some of the world's finest buildings, such as the British Museum and St…

  • Cerne Giant

    Cerne Giant

    Dorset

    Rarely do you find such a nudge-nudge, wink-wink tourist attraction. Nude, full frontal and notoriously well endowed, this hillside chalk figure is…

  • Dorset County Museum

    Dorset County Museum

    Dorset

    The Thomas Hardy collection here is the world's largest, offering extraordinary insights into his creative process. You can see from text in Hardy's…

  • Abbotsbury Swannery

    Abbotsbury Swannery

    Dorset

    Every May some 600 free-flying swans choose to nest at this swannery, which shelters in the Fleet Lagoon, protected by the ridge of Chesil Beach…

View more attractions
  • placement: fullWidth
  • path: destinations/top
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "destination": "Dorset",
  "region": "The-United-Kingdom",
  "country": "England",
  "continent": "Europe"
}

Plan with a local

Articles

Latest stories from Dorset

Filter by interest:

Corfe Castle, Dorset, England; Shutterstock ID 1188633019; your: Alex Howard; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: Best things to do in Dorset

Activities

Discover the best things to do in Dorset, from finding fossils to coastal hikes

Jul 18, 2022 • 7 min read

Read more articles

in partnership with getyourguide

Book popular activities in Dorset

  • placement: fullWidth
  • path: destinations/bottom
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "destination": "Dorset",
  "region": "The-United-Kingdom",
  "country": "England",
  "continent": "Europe"
}