Nine award-winning beaches, a 250m pier zip wire and £3 cliff lifts, with checked 2026 prices. Plus what has closed: the air festival and Adventure Wonderland.

Bournemouth’s best days out are mostly outdoors and mostly free, which is not what the town’s reputation suggests. Seven miles of sand, two piers, a string of wooded chines and a headland at the end of it carry the summer. The paid attractions are good and there are not many of them, so it is worth knowing what each one actually costs before you get there.

Everything below was checked against the venue’s own website on 9 August 2026.

Three things to check before you plan

  • The Bournemouth Air Festival is not happening, and is not coming back. BCP Council’s Cabinet voted unanimously on 20 June 2025 to stop all further work on an air festival for 2026 onwards, after talks with a commercial operator failed. Late August in Bournemouth used to mean the seafront closed for the display. It no longer does.
  • Adventure Wonderland is closed. The theme park near Bournemouth Airport says on its own site that it is “closed for a restructure”, with no reopening date given. Do not drive to Hurn expecting it to be open.
  • The east cliff lift is out of action after a cliff slide, and the land train no longer runs west from Bournemouth Pier towards Alum Chine for the same reason. The west cliff lift, the Fisherman’s Walk lift and the eastbound land train to Boscombe are all running.

The beaches, which are the main event

Bournemouth’s coast collected six Blue Flags and nine Seaside Awards in 2026, announced by BCP Council on 15 May. The Blue Flags went to Sandbanks, Shore Road, Canford Cliffs, Durley Chine, Fisherman’s Walk and Highcliffe, and all six also hold a Seaside Award. Bournemouth, Boscombe and Avon Beach hold Seaside Awards without a Blue Flag. Sandbanks has now held a Blue Flag in every year the award has existed, 39 years running.

Avon Beach at Mudeford is the odd one out: the council says it lost its Blue Flag this year because of an administrative error, not a drop in standards.

Durley Chine and Fisherman’s Walk are the two Blue Flag beaches on the Bournemouth side, at opposite ends of the town. Durley sits below the West Cliff a short walk from the pier; Fisherman’s Walk is the Southbourne end, with its own cliff lift.

The piers

Bournemouth Pier and Boscombe Pier are both open seven days a week, 9am to 11pm, and walking out on either costs nothing.

On Bournemouth Pier, RockReef runs the indoor activity centre and the PierZip, which it describes as the world’s first pier-to-shore zip line: a 250-metre dual wire, so two people can race it, now in its twelfth year. The same building holds Clip ‘n Climb, the HighLine aerial course and the Pier Cave. Prices vary by activity and by season, so check before you book.

The two paid attractions worth the money

The Oceanarium, on the seafront beside the pier, opens at 10am and closes at 6pm with last entry an hour before. Booking online is the whole game here:

Oceanarium Bournemouth admission, from the venue's own price page
TicketOnline fromAt the gate from
Adult (16 to 59)£13.99£17.50
Senior (60+)£11.99£15.50
Child (3 to 15)£8.75£12.50
Family of four£32.99£39.99
Family of five£36.99£44.99
Carer with a disabled visitorFreeFree

Turning up unbooked as a family of four costs you £7 more. Under-threes go free, and the Oceanarium takes £2 off for Blue Light Card and Defence Discount Scheme holders.

The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum on East Cliff is the other one, and it is a genuinely unusual building: a late-Victorian seaside villa built for a hotelier, kept more or less as he left it, on the clifftop above the pier. Admission is £12.50 for an adult or senior, £6 for a child aged 5 to 17, free under 5, and £30 for a family of two adults and three children. Students and people on means-tested benefits pay £6. The café and café gallery are free to walk into. Between 25 June and 1 September 2026 the museum is running reduced admission under the Great British Summer Savings scheme, so check the current figure before you pay.

What a day out actually costs

Cost of a family day out in Bournemouth by attraction Horizontal bar chart of what a family pays at Bournemouth attractions in 2026. The beaches, both piers, the Lower Gardens and the Hengistbury Head visitor centre are free. A cliff lift for four people one way is £9. The Hengistbury Head land train for four people one way is £16. Russell-Cotes for two adults and three children is £30. The Oceanarium for a family of four is £32.99 booked online and £39.99 at the gate. The best of Bournemouth costs nothing. The rest costs under £40 a family. Prices checked against each venue's own site, 9 August 2026. Single visit, family group where one is offered. Beaches, piers, gardens Free Cliff lift, four people £9.00 Hengistbury land train, four £16.00 Russell-Cotes, family £30.00 Oceanarium, family, online £32.99 Oceanarium, family, at the gate £39.99 Booking the Oceanarium online rather than paying at the gate saves a family of four £7.00. Cliff lift and land train fares are one way. Russell-Cotes family is two adults and three children; Oceanarium family is a maximum of two adults.
The Hengistbury Head visitor centre is free with donations welcome, as are all nine award-winning beaches.

Hengistbury Head

The headland at the eastern end of the bay is the best walk in the borough and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The visitor centre is free, with donations welcome, and the land train runs the length of the reserve between the Hiker Café at Broadway, BH6 4EN, and Mudeford Spit.

It costs £4.95 a single, or £16 for a group of four, with under-twos and one carer accompanying a disabled visitor free. Card payment only, bought from the guard on board. It runs April to October, usually daily from 10am, weather permitting, with no winter service. Call 01202 123 800 to check whether it is running on the day.

It is also the oldest thing on this page. The first train ran on 1 April 1968, after Roger and Joyce Faris paid £750 for a six-month trial. The family ran it for 45 years; the council runs it now.

Getting up and down the cliff

Bournemouth has three Victorian cliff lifts and two of them are working. The west cliff lift connects the seafront to the Bournemouth International Centre and the Fisherman’s Walk lift links the Southbourne beach to a clifftop café and play area. The east cliff lift, which serves the Russell-Cotes, is out of action after a cliff slide.

Fares are card and contactless only: £3 a single journey, £9 for a group of four, £15.30 for seven days’ unlimited use, or £47.40 for a season pass valid until 28 September. Under-twos and one carer with a paying disabled user go free.

The land train along the promenade is the flat alternative. The eastbound service runs from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe with a drop-off at Toft Zig Zag, boarding next to Harry Ramsden’s, and you can ask the driver to stop at the east cliff lift. It runs daily from 10am, Easter to October, weather permitting. Pay on board by card.

Free, and better than it sounds

  • The Bournemouth Gardens. Lower, Central and Upper, running inland from the pier along the Bourne stream. The council runs a tree trail through them and a street food corner in the Lower Gardens.
  • Adventure golf. Smugglers Cove sits in the gardens, and Boscombe Chine Gardens has a café and its own mini golf. Both are paid, but small money.
  • Boscombe. The pier, the chine gardens and a beach with a Seaside Award, and a great deal quieter than the town-centre sand in August.
  • Alum Chine and Durley Chine. The wooded valleys cutting down to the beach on the western side, with the Blue Flag at Durley.
  • The clifftop path from the West Cliff to Alum Chine, which is the view most people picture when they picture Bournemouth.

Indoors, and when it rains

BH Live runs the two big venues: the Bournemouth International Centre on the seafront, which takes the arena-scale touring shows, and the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre in the gardens, which is the older and prettier of the two. Check what is on before you plan a wet afternoon around either.

Just over the boundary in Poole, Compton Acres is open, with its Italian Gardens, Japanese Garden, Heather Garden, Rock and Water Gardens and Wooded Valley on a site laid out from 1920. Check the current admission price on its own site before you go.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bournemouth beach free?

Yes. All of Bournemouth’s beaches are free to use, including the six that hold a Blue Flag. You pay only for parking, deckchairs and beach huts. Both piers are free to walk on and open 9am to 11pm every day.

Is the Bournemouth Air Festival still on?

No. BCP Council’s Cabinet voted unanimously on 20 June 2025 to stop all work on an air festival for 2026 and beyond, after failing to agree terms with a commercial operator. There is no scheduled return.

How much is Bournemouth Oceanarium?

From £13.99 for an adult and £8.75 for a child aged 3 to 15 when booked online, or £17.50 and £12.50 at the gate. A family of four is £32.99 online against £39.99 on the door.

How much is the Bournemouth cliff lift?

£3 for a single journey, £9 for a group of four, £15.30 for a seven-day pass or £47.40 for a season pass to 28 September. Card only. The east cliff lift is currently closed after a cliff slide.

What is there to do in Bournemouth when it rains?

The Oceanarium and the Russell-Cotes are the two indoor attractions on the seafront. RockReef on Bournemouth Pier is under cover. The Bournemouth International Centre and the Pavilion Theatre carry the touring shows.

Is Adventure Wonderland open?

No. The park says on its own website that it is closed for a restructure, with no reopening date announced.

Sources

Prices and opening hours change. Checked 9 August 2026; confirm with the venue before you travel. Getting here and parking are covered on our Bournemouth roadworks and travel page, and the train from London is on Bournemouth train times to London.