Bournemouth Pier is the fixed point of the seafront, the place most visitors walk out to at least once. People have been strolling over the water here since Victorian times, and there is more packed onto and around it now than at almost any point in its history.
The essentials
- The pier runs out from the centre of the seafront, right beside the main beach.
- Walking the deck is the simplest pleasure, though some activities carry a charge.
- The indoor climbing centre and the pier-to-shore zip line are the headline attractions.
- It is a flat, easy outing that suits families and older visitors alike.
A pier with a long history
The iron pier you see today dates from the early 1880s, and it replaced a run of earlier wooden structures that the sea and the shipworm kept wrecking. During the Second World War a section was deliberately breached to stop it being used in an invasion, then repaired again afterwards. That mix of Victorian ambition and wartime patching is part of why the pier feels so bound up with the town. Read a little of its story and the walk out changes: you are following a promenade that Bournemouth has fought to keep for well over a century.
Walking the deck and the views
The best thing about the pier costs nothing but the time it takes. Walk to the far end and turn around, and you get the classic view of Bournemouth: the tiered gardens, the wooded cliffs and the long sweep of sand curving away east and west. Look east and you can pick out Boscombe Pier and, on a clear day, the Isle of Wight; look west and the Purbeck hills close off the bay. Anglers line the rails at the seaward end, and the light in the early evening is worth timing a walk for.
Activities on the pier
At the land end, the pier building holds an indoor activity centre with climbing walls and a high ropes course, the sort of place that keeps older children busy for an hour or two. The signature attraction is the zip line that launches from the top of the pier and carries you back over the water towards the beach, billed as the first of its kind to run from a British pier to the shore. There is usually an adventure golf option here as well. All of these are paid activities and can have height or age limits, so check what is running and what it costs before you build your day around them.
Families and access
The flat deck is one of the easier seaside walks in town, with none of the steps or slopes that the clifftop paths demand. Pushchairs and wheelchairs manage it comfortably, and the promenade on both sides is level too. If you are planning a wider day out with children, the pier pairs naturally with the beach and the nearby gardens; our guide to Bournemouth with kids sets out how to string those together without too much walking.
What is nearby
The pier lands you right in the middle of the action. Step off it and Bournemouth beach opens out on either side, patrolled in the summer season and backed by kiosks, deckchairs and ice cream. The seafront aquarium sits just to the west of the pier entrance, and the gardens run back up into the town centre from there, so you can easily fold the pier into a longer afternoon rather than treating it as a stop on its own.
Plan the rest of your day
The pier is a fine anchor for a seafront outing, but it is only one part of the coast. Browse the full list of things to do in the guide to see what else sits within an easy walk, from the beaches to the museums on the cliffs above.