This weekend (13 to 15 Nov) · All of Dorset
Open all year
The smallest of Studland's beaches, popular with locals and visitors, with sheltered water that suits paddleboarders and kayakers. There's a swimming-only zone in summer, good rock-pooling at low tide and Joe's Café, which isn't run by the National Trust. Park at South Beach car park, which has toilets nearby, and walk through the village. Dogs are welcome all year, with restrictions in the summer months.
Open all year
A sand and shingle cove just east of Durdle Door on the Lulworth Estate, with aquamarine water and calm seas for gentle swimming and paddling. The final descent is steep and not suitable for people with disabilities, so wear trainers or walking boots. Refreshment kiosks, souvenirs and toilets are in the car park area, and dogs are allowed.
Open all year
A Blue Flag sandy beach with wide views along the coast, a car park right beside it, a beach shop and a popular restaurant. RNLI lifeguards are on duty from late May to early September, 10am to 6pm. The beach can be reached by ramp, and a beach wheelchair is available from the beach office from May to September. Dogs aren't allowed on the main beach from 1 May to 30 September.
Open all year
A hands-on aviation museum with many interactive exhibits, where you can sit in most of the aircraft cockpits and see the English Electric Lightning and the Westland Wessex helicopter up close. It suits families, children and young people, and the shop of aviation gifts and memorabilia can be visited without entering the museum. It's open daily all year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with last admission 40 minutes before closing.
Open all year
A clifftop Local Nature Reserve of broadleaf woodland, grassland, ponds and sea cliffs between Highcliffe Castle and Friar's Cliff, and a stopping-off point for migrating birds and insects. Look out for nuthatches, woodpeckers, white admiral butterflies and fungi, or rest on the clifftop benches with views to the Isle of Wight and Hengistbury Head. Most paths are flat, and an unmanned information centre has an interactive display for children.
Open all year
A museum and art gallery in Dorchester covering 250 million years of Dorset's history, geology and art. Visitors can see Jurassic Coast fossils, Iron Age finds from Maiden Castle, a recreation of Thomas Hardy's study, and works by sculptor Elisabeth Frink. The Victorian hall features a Roman mosaic floor visitors can stand on and a Learning Centre offers activities for children.
Open all year
A quiet pebble and shingle beach below flower-covered cliffs, with clear water that's safe for bathing and views across Weymouth Bay to Portland. Steep ancient tracks lead down from the National Trust car park at the top of the cliff, and there are no toilets. Dogs are welcome; use a short lead near sheep and nesting birds. The X54 bus stops at Kit Lane, about 3 miles away.
Open all year
A 25-acre heathland and woodland nature reserve set around a lake, with paths to explore and the UK's longest rope bridge to try. Families can follow the Trail of Enchanted Doors to a play area with swings and climbing frames, then visit the tearooms, gift shop and plant centre.
Open all year
A pebble barrier beach running 28km from Portland to West Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast and the reason Portland is joined to the mainland. At the Portland end, Chesil Cove is a popular place to sit on the beach, swim, dive and even surf, and anglers come all along it. The Chesil Beach Centre, beside the Fleet Lagoon, has a boardwalk giving easy access onto the beach.
Open all year
A tropical aquarium on Bournemouth's seafront, home to thousands of creatures. Walk through the underwater tunnel with sharks and Carrie the loggerhead turtle, then see a crocodile, otters, jellyfish, clownfish and a colony of Humboldt penguins on the outdoor Penguin Beach. There are daily talks and feeding experiences, an outdoor terrace and a play area, and the indoor displays make it a good choice whatever the weather.
Open all year
A chain ferry crossing between Sandbanks and the Isle of Purbeck in around four minutes, offering coastal views along the way. It provides a quick link to nearby National Trust sites such as Studland Bay and Corfe Castle, running seven days a week with no need to pre-book. Foot passengers, cyclists, motorcyclists and cars can all travel, with foot passengers going free from Studland to Sandbanks.
Open all year
Kingston Lacy is a 17th century Italian-style country house with formal gardens and parkland. Visitors can view paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck and Titian, and see one of the UK's largest private collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts. The estate also includes woodland walks, a Japanese garden and Badbury Rings.
Open all year
A Blue Flag sandy beach in Mudeford, just east of Mudeford Quay, where Christchurch Bay begins and stretches towards Highcliffe. There's a café, a shop, the Noisy Lobster seafood restaurant and beach huts, plus showers, toilets and watersports hire and lessons in front of the car park. There is level access from Avon Beach car park to the promenade and beach. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach from 1 May to 30 September.
Open all year
A 3.8 mile round walk from Studland village out to Old Harry Rocks, dramatic chalk sea stacks on the Isle of Purbeck coast. The route climbs Ballard Down, giving views over Poole Harbour and Swanage Bay.
Open all year
A 14th-century hilltop chapel above Abbotsbury, built by monks as a place of pilgrimage and retreat. Visitors can climb up for views of the abbey ruins and explore the chapel's nooks and crannies, including the 'wishing holes' where local women once prayed to St Catherine for a husband. The local parish still holds occasional services there.
Open all year
Part of Studland Bay's four miles of golden sand, with views of Old Harry Rocks, Knoll Beach is where you'll find the National Trust café, shop and a large car park. Beach wheelchairs and an all-terrain electric wheelchair are free to borrow, and there's a Changing Places toilet. The Purbeck Breezer 50 bus and the Sandbanks chain ferry make it easy to arrive without a car. From May to September dogs must be on a short lead.
Open all year
A family-run water garden on the edge of Chickerell, built on former clay pits and home to a National Plant Collection of water lilies. Grass paths wind through eight ponds, wetland planting and woodland, with a Monet-inspired bridge and a tropical house. There is a nature trail for children and a small museum on local history.
Open all year
An activity venue in Blandford Forum offering laser tag, archery, and axe and knife throwing. It caters for birthday parties, stag and hen groups, team building days and family sessions during school holidays.
Open all year
An aquarium and adventure park in Weymouth with over 2,000 sea creatures, including otters, rescued sea turtles and a colony of fairy penguins. Attractions include the Ocean Tunnel coral reef display, the Caribbean Cove adventure play area with a galleon and lookout point, and an outdoor Splash Zone pool during summer.
Open all year
Guided sea kayaking, stand up paddleboarding and coasteering trips based in Castletown, Portland, with easy access into Portland Harbour. Trips explore the fleet lagoon, Chesil Beach and hidden coves and caves. Suitable for individuals, groups and families, with no experience required and double kayaks available for children as young as five.
Open all year
An outdoor adventure park within Moors Valley Country Park offering high ropes, zip lines, all-terrain Segways and a multi-level nets playground. Experiences range from a gentle introduction for younger children to a longer treetop challenge with Tarzan swings for older kids and adults. Suitable for adventurers aged four to one hundred and four.
Open all year
A single wood-fired sauna for up to eight on the left as you enter Lulworth Cove. Book a 65-minute communal or private session, or a private guided ritual, and cool off in the sea, where pebbles, shingle and sand slope away; swim shoes help. Changing, lockers and a hot spring-water shower are at Lulworth Lodge, two minutes' walk away. The sauna is reached by a sea ladder, so it isn't easy for everyone. Guests must be 16 or over.
Open all year
The Etches Collection is a modern museum in Kimmeridge showing fossils of the marine life of Jurassic Dorset, and the story of life and death in the Kimmeridgian seas 157 million years ago, in the age of the dinosaurs. A Jurassic giant known as Big Sara can be seen at set viewing times. The museum is open every day apart from over Christmas, there is no need to book, and one ticket lets you return free for a year.
Open all year
This museum on the Isle of Portland recreates the wartime dockyard from which US troops embarked for the D-Day landings in 1944. Visitors can handle original WW2 artefacts and weapons, climb inside military vehicles, or read information panels while taking in the dockyard setting. It suits all the family, and visitors are encouraged to dress in 1940s attire.