UK Series: Isle of Wight

24 hours in the Isle of Wight to kick off my summer!

To start off an unforgettable summer, despite the fact that travelling outside the country still isn’t an option for me, I thought of great ways to spend the most of it. I have listed a few things to do and places to visit around the UK. Actually, going to the Isle of Wight was only a last minute decision since our initial plans got postponed, but it turned out to be a great one!

The Isle of Wight is an island off the south coast of England. It’s known for its beaches and seafront promenades. It’s best travelled when you have your own vehicle to reach those places where the local transport can’t get to. But of course, you can still go around the island with prebooked group tours or like what I and a friend did, a do it yourself tour using the local transport, knowing you can only make and stick to the places where the local transport passes by.

We set off from Portsmouth Harbour, on a catamaran crossing to the Isle of Wight, particularly at Ryde Pier. The view from the pierhead was already breathtaking. We walked to the town and stayed to have some snacks, some churros to give us a boost of glucose to start off our trip, as we were a few minutes early before we could check in to our hotel.

After checking in to our hotel, we travelled by bus to our first stop, Sandown. Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight. The first thing that caught my attention was the Sandown Pier and the vast, sandy beach. It was fun walking around the sandy beaches. It made me want to go for a swim!

Our next stop was Shanklin. It’s another seaside resort and civil parish on the southeast of the Isle of Wight. We got off the bus in the town centre, walking our way to the seaside. The quaint village was so pretty!

Once we reached the beach, I gasped at how beautiful it was! This was my favourite stop from the whole trip. We totally enjoyed walking by the seaside, visiting cute beaches like the Small Hope Beach with its colourful huts and the Clock Tower Beach with its picturesque views. There are also a few more things to do in Shanklin like the miniature gold courses and, having one of the best fish and chips in the whole island they say, which we obviously had to try!

We walked our way to the Shanklin Chine to finish off our first day. It is one of the major attractions in Shanklin. The Shanklin Chine is a wooded coastal ravine with a heritage centre, a restaurant, footpaths and walkways for the visitors to enjoy and it even has a waterfalls. Being there was a healing moment for me!

The next day was all about exploring Ryde as it was where our hotel was and because we had to leave by midday. Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the northeast coast of the Isle of Wight. It has a lovely harbour and sandy beach. To cap off our trip, we had to have some Kelly’s ice cream. I loved the Clotted Cream and Raspberry Ripple!