Southampton, England (United Kingdom)
Southampton is located around an hour or so drive from London along the English coast. Most people today know it for its very busy cruise port with people going elsewhere on trips but the city is one that is well worth visiting as it has a lot of history and attractions. Southampton is also a short drive from other attractions you can visit post cruise or while you are in the area. The city has around 250,000 people and has plenty of hotels and places to eat including the best Fish and Chips we have ever had. We have only been to Southampton once on a back to back cruise that went to France and Norway. We had the opportunity to visit the city before the cruise and during the turnaround day between our short France cruise and the Norway cruise. Here is what we found in Southampton!
Getting to Southampton and Transportation
Like all over Europe there are many ways to get to Southampton. Southampton has a small airport that has flights to different places around Europe but none direct to North America. London has the closest airports with long haul flights and where the majority of people come in to visit Southampton. We flew into London Heathrow on British Airways direct from Houston. From London to Southampton there are plenty of options. You can take a train from London down to Southampton. You also could take a private transfer or a tour that takes you to Windsor Castle on the way there. Those can be somewhat expensive though as the UK is relatively expensive in general. We decided to take the more affordable route and the easiest from Heathrow and go by the National Express Bus. It is similar to Greyhound busses as its the National Bus service and we find it very reliable. The buses have nice seats and they are relatively fancy inside. Its a little over an hour drive through the English countryside from Heathrow at the main bus terminal with a few stops along the way. Getting around Southampton we used Uber a lot to visit the different attractions and to get to our cruise. They do have taxis as well. On the way back we took a cruise excursion that visited nearby Stonehenge that dropped us off at Heathrow.
Country Information
The United Kingdom and especially England is one of the most well-known countries in the world. It has a very long and interesting history from the monarchy, literature, famous landmarks, colonialism, The BBC, James Bond and so much else that England is known for. AS you would expect English is the language spoken but its not quite like the English spoken in the US. As some would say its “Proper English”. Some differences are potato chips are crisps in the UK and French Fries are chips. The currency is the Pound Sterling and it is worth more than a US Dollar but that amount of difference varies. The US Dollar is not accepted anywhere except the airport and the change will be in Pounds. The UK is a relatively expensive place to visit with the exchange rate. Like most European countries the public transportation is very good so you will not have trouble getting around. Safety wise the UK is generally pretty safe but crime does happen. Pick pocketing at tourist areas is a major concern. Its not really an issue in Southampton from what I found.
Attractions in Southampton
Quite a few people just use Southampton as a place to get on their cruises and go elsewhere in Europe. It’s a shame as there is a lot to do there and so much history including a lot that is important to people from The States. We had three days in Southampton and the surrounding areas. We had the day we flew in from London, the day we switched cruises (from the 2 day to 7 day cruise) and the day we left the area and started heading home. We didn’t know a lot about Southampton before we got there other than it is where the Titanic sailed from but we quickly learned how important Southampton has been to World History!
SeaCity Museum
Our first stop after we checked into our hotel was to visit the SeaCity Museum. Being one of the closest ports to London the Sea has and still plays a major role in Southampton’s economy. The museum has a large exhibit on the Titanic as many of the crew on the Titanic were from Southampton. The exhibit goes over the people on the Titanic and gives a human aspect of the disaster. It goes over the ship and have some rare artifacts recovered from the Titanic. It also has part of the Grand Staircase of the Sister Ship Olympic which is amazing to see as it is very similar to the Titanic’s decorations. The museum has interactive part such as a Titanic sailing simulator where you maneuver the ship out of the Southampton harbor. The Titanic is just one part of the history of Southampton. The museum talks about all the immigration throughout the years and tourism that has come through the city. The city was very important during WWII as it was the main factory for the Supermarine Spitfire (one of the main British Fighters of WWII that helped win The Battle of Britain). The city was heavily bombed by the Germans to destroy the factory. The museum ends in more modern and happier times going over the age of tourism and cruising. The museum is really worth visiting and is a good starting point to get started on the history of the city. Nearby the museum is a large park that has memorials to the Engineers of the Titanic and near that is a small memorial to the band that played as the ship was sinking to calm people. It was very sunny and nice day that is somewhat rare for England so everyone was out and about. In travel sometimes you get lucky and have perfect weather like we did in England and later in Norway. Quickly after our walk we headed to our next stop for the day.
Solent Sky Museum
The region Southampton is located in is called The Solent and aviation has been a very important part of the history of Southampton. The city has a great aviation museum that has some very rare planes. As you might expect they have a Supermarine Spitfire and a large exhibit on the manufacturing about this famous and historic plane from WWII. They have a large flying boat that was used as an airliner and a Supermarine aircraft that won The Schneider Trophy Air Race in 1929 that could fly up to 400 mph is speed which was outstanding for that time. They have many other planes to see as well. They have a great exhibit about The Battle of Britain and how Southampton was heavily bombed to destroy the Spitfire factory. The people of Southampton ended up building the planes where ever they could. Its a great museum to see and the last museum we saw on our first visit to Southampton.
Mayflower Monument and The Westgate Exhibits
After our short cruise over to France we had a port day as we transitioned to our 7 day Norway. All we had to do was go to the dining room and get our new Royal Caribbean key cards and once most people had disembarked, we were able to leave the port and explore the Old Town of Southampton. We had a special pass that let us back on the ship at any time. As we were walking from the port we stopped by a large obelisk and it was a monument celebrating where the Mayflower set sail to the “New World”. It gives a lot good information about the beginning of their journey. On our way back to the ship we went to exit the city walls that are still standing an there was another exhibit in a very old home that went over the Mayflower and their history. It was a small but very nice exhibit. It is there because the Pilgrims walked through the West Gate on the way to their new home.
Tudor House and Garden Musuem
A short walk from the entrance into old town is one of the oldest homes in Southampton and for sure the oldest museum. The site has around 800 years of history through multiple periods of time such as the Norman, Tudor and Victorian times. It is a beautiful building, and the staff are very friendly like most people in Southampton are. The tour starts with a show that is set as ghosts from the past welcoming you as guests. It is a very clever way to tell the long history of the building and gave me pleasant memories of the Haunted Mansion at Disney! It told the story of how a man saved the home from being demolished and made it the museum it is today. If you have an audio tour the ghost tell you more stories as you go through the home. Each room tells of the time period it represents. In the back there is a wonderful and peaceful garden where you can walk from the Tudor era home to the Norman Era home where you can see more exhibits. One of my favorites is showing the types of food eaten in each time period including the Modern. The modern meal comparable to the other time periods was a burger and fries (chips in the UK). We really enjoyed our visit to the home, and it gives you a really good idea of what it was like to live during those times in the UK.
Medieval Merchant's House
Not too far from the Tudor House is another building from long ago with more stories to tell. English Heritage runs this small museum and they run many other great sites in England like Stonehenge. This museum is a restored 1300s Merchant’s business and home. The family lived in the building and ran their business in the bustling port city. You can see what life was like in a more wealthy mansion at the Tudor House and the little more modest Merchant’s house. There are several rooms to tour and its worth going to visit in Old Town Southampton.
Bargate and the Main Shopping Street
As we walked around the old town area we visited the Bargate that is a piece of the city walls that surrounded Southampton. Its an ornate gate with many sculptures. Just beyond the gate entrance just as I imagine it was long ago is the shopping street of Southampton. There are many different types of shops and restaurants but one in particular made me step in. At the time of my visit there was a store that reminded me of a great chain in the Houston Area called Hastings that had books, records/music, unique games and toys. This store was nearly the same and we got some great Sherlock Homes Escape Room books! In Europe you can find really cool games like that are a little rarer at stores in the US. After walking through the shopping district, it was time for our last stop before heading back to the ship.
Duke of Wellington, Titanic Pier and Isle of Wight
Located in a building from the 1200s is the Duke of Wellington Pub. Its a very small restaurant with a small bar, a few seats inside and a couple tables outside. When we went in they were not sure if they had enough food left to sell to us. They were able to make one Fish and Chips plate and we bought a local beer. It was the freshest and best Fish and Chips I have had! It is really nice to visit a small restaurant in a very historic building. After this nice lunch we headed back to the ship and left for Norway. While sailing out of Southampton we sailed pass the White Star Line Pier that still is used today. It was the last piece of land Titanic ported at before heading to New York. While we were at dinner a few hours later and when the ship left we passed by the small Isle of Wight. While we did not visit the island I could see castles and beaches on the coast. I also saw hovercrafts heading over to the Island from mainland England. It looks like a beautiful place to visit and maybe we’ll head there someday!
After the Cruise Excursion
Southampton is a great place to go elsewhere in England. There are many day trip opportunities before you head back to London from Southampton. You could go to Windsor and visit the nice little city that is home to Windsor Castle that is home to the British Monarch. You get to tour the public areas of the very large castle. It’s also where many of the monarchs are buried. Its a great tour to take. We have been there before as the pictures below show but that was on another tour from London.
Another great tour is to see a wonder of the ancient world. Stonehenge is thousands of years old being built long before the time of Christ. It was built over the span of many years and greatly changed over the years. The stones were brought from places as far away as Scotland (the smaller blue stones). It was a huge accomplishment for the people of the time. It’s around an hour drive through beautiful countryside on the way to Stonehenge. We took this tour as our way of getting from Southampton back to Heathrow Airport in a way that we could see more. We had been to Stonehenge but we wanted to visit the nice museum there that we didn’t have time to visit on our last trip there. On our way we drove through the New Forest National Park. It’s actually a very old forest that is full of wildlife and things like free roaming horses and sheep. We also passed by many thatched roof homes. They are not allowed to put a traditional roof on the homes that have a thatch roof to keep that part of history alive. It’s very expensive to replace the roof as a master craftsman needs to do the replacement. They have interesting sculptures of animals on top of these homes. We passed by Salisbury (no the American Salisbury Steak is not from there) and its large cathedral before we made it to Stonehenge.
In Stonehenge we headed straight to the shuttle bus to head out to the site from the visitor’s center. Stonehenge is a as you can imagine a very popular place to visit and is full of visitors most days. The parking and visitors center is fairly far from the actual site. Once you get to the site there is a trail around it where you can see The Heel Stone that is outside of the main circle and is important during the solstice and you get to see information about ancient mounds and sites you can see surrounding Stonehenge. After seeing this amazing site we headed back before the shuttle bus became crowded again. The museum at the visitor’s center has videos and a complete story of Stonehenge. Through scientific study they show what they have found about the evolution of Stonehenge over the years as it looked very different when it was first built and did not have the stones we see today. It’s a very well-done museum that explains the history and talks about the people that made Stonehenge. It also shows the possible purposes of Stonehenge. Outside is a full sized depiction on how the very large stones were moved and a replica of what their homes would have looked like. They have a gift shop and a nice little cafe that serves a wide variety of items. After a snack we got on the bus and headed to Heathrow.
On the way back our tour wasn’t completely done as we drove past Windsor and got to see the Royal Ascot Racetrack, “The Long Walk” that leads to Windsor Castle and where most recently Queen Elizabeth II’s procession before her burial. We also passed by a very important site to World History and an interesting site. We passed by where the Magna Carta was signed that guaranteed more freedoms and the beginning of more modern law. The other site was a one acre plot of land that was given to the US by the British to honor JFK. So that area is technically US soil. After passing through the beautiful countryside we headed back to Heathrow and our journey to Southampton was over.
Conclusion and Other Tours
Many people visit Southampton to get on cruises to visit other areas of Europe and miss the city itself. There are so much history and attractions you are missing out on if you skip spending here are also a lot of other at least a little time in Southampton. This is especially with there being so much history important to the US. There are also a lot of other things and day trips available such as museums and places to visit in nearby Portsmouth and day trips to Bath that has an amazingly preserved Roman Bathhouse that you can tour. We toured it on a trip out of London on a previous trip. While heading on a cruise or if you want to see a different area of England head to Southampton and explore a bit. You will not regret it!
If you are Interested in this trip:
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