Countdown Begins to the Bournemouth Air Festival

The seafront's biggest weekend is coming into view. As late summer approaches, attention along the bay turns to the Bournemouth Air Festival, the free seafront air show that turns seven miles of beach and clifftop into one enormous grandstand.

The festival has been a fixture of the town's calendar for years, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors across its run. Display aircraft use the bay as a natural amphitheatre, which means the viewing is genuinely free and genuinely everywhere: on the sand, along the promenade, and from the clifftops that give the aerial picture its full sweep.

Planning pays

Veterans of festival weekends will tell you the difference between a great day and a stressful one is simple: come early, come by bus or on foot if you can, and pick your spot with shade and supplies in mind. Accommodation across the town books out around the festival, and seafront restaurants fill their terraces fast on display days.

Dates, display schedules and any evening programme are confirmed on the event listing as the festival approaches, and our festival guide covers the best viewing spots and the practicalities. For the rest of the summer's line-up, see what's on.