The sunset walk
A free, flat stroll above the beach with the sun setting west over Sandbanks and the Purbeck hills.
In July 1940 the Royal Engineers blew this pier up on purpose, so that no German landing craft could ever tie up to it. What you walk on today is the post-war rebuild, recast in concrete in a 1979-81 restoration, standing on the iron skeleton that engineer Eugenius Birch opened in 1880. It runs about 229 metres out into Poole Bay from the foot of the Lower Gardens, between the East Cliff and West Cliff, and it is the thing every first photograph of Bournemouth is taken of. Entry is free until at least 2029, the small summer toll having been suspended. The deck is completely flat and easy with a pushchair. At the sea end sit the RockReef indoor climbing centre and the Key West restaurant, plus PierZip, a 250-metre zip wire that drops you from the pier head onto the beach - a separate ticket at £30 a person, or £27 booked early online, with a 1.3 m minimum height. The amusement arcade at the landward end is thoroughly ordinary and worth no more than a glance. The best of it is the simplest: a free walk before sunset, the beach beneath you and the sun going down to the west over Sandbanks and the Purbeck hills. In July and August the boards fill with families through the afternoon and thin out in the evening, which is the finest hour for a stroll. In winter the hours can be cut short by bad weather and the wind out on the deck is sharper than you expect, though a clear January day has its own charm even with the walkway almost deserted. A practical note: a £9.6 million structural repair programme for the concrete piles and timber landings has been funded since 2023 but repeatedly delayed - as of summer 2026 the contract had still not been let - so expect scaffolding or closed sections whenever it does begin. The Bournemouth Observation Wheel, the beach and the Lower Gardens are all within 200 metres, so treat the pier as a natural starting point rather than a destination in itself. From the railway station it is about 1.5 miles, a 25- to 30-minute walk downhill through the town centre, or a short taxi ride.
A free, flat stroll above the beach with the sun setting west over Sandbanks and the Purbeck hills.
A 250-metre glide from the pier head down to the sand, separately ticketed with a 1.3 m height minimum.
The Observation Wheel, the Lower Gardens and the beach all sit within 200 metres, so start here.
Pier Approach, Bournemouth BH2 5AA
Just pass by. The pier itself is half an hour of walking and the arcade is not worth your time. Fold it into an evening on the beach and the Lower Gardens, and save the sunset hour for it.
Yes, the deck is entirely flat with no steps, and there are toilets and baby-changing facilities. PierZip, however, requires a 1.3 m height and 30 kg minimum, so the youngest will be spectators.