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University of Southampton

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The seaside traits of Southampton...

Cadge

One of the aspects I'm particularly looking forward to about going to Southampton Uni was the fact I'd be living in a city by the sea.

This may sound wierd but I've lived my whole life in Dunstable (right next to Luton), so the nearest beach has always been more than an hour away, and Southend is a pretty **** beach tbh, so I'm looking forward to being near the sea for once in my life.

Does the city have any of the distinguishing characteristics of settlements by the sea? (REALLY good fish and chip shops, Aquariums, Seafood restaurants, etc) And also, where is the nearest DECENT beach?

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Reply 1

Honey_89

Well there is always massive cruise ships sailing in and out of there all the time so that kind of reminds you that your near the sea.

University of Southampton

Southampton

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Reply 2

A Stranger in Moscow

Southampton isn't really a seaside town as such but it's not far to Bournemouth which really, really is. There are regular and fairly cheap ferries to the IoW afaik which has some lovely beaches.

Reply 3

donks169

Not really, but Bournemouth is only an hour away by train, and it ROCKS!

Reply 4

Sockpirate

I've got to say... you're going to be sadly disappointed :frown:

you'll be better popping off the the Isle of White for a day if you want a beach.

Reply 5

Talya

there's no beaches in southampton.

Reply 6

MewMachine

Aye, no beaches. Bournemouth's not too far, and you've got Portsmouth nearby too, which has got Southsea and the like, but that's if you don't mind stoney beaches (they have a charm to them sandy ones don't)

Or just pop over to the IoW for a day. You'll enjoy it down here, Southampton is a nice city, and being by the sea makes me so happy.

Reply 7

Norfolkadam

18 years I've lived by the sea and now Im going to University in London. We should have swapped. I don't like the beach and I don't like all the crap that comes with it.

Reply 8

glow stick

Go to the isle of wight!

Reply 9

Vasteye

No beaches, but due to an interesting geographical oddity with the solent and isle of white there's two high tides a day! Great for constructing naval bases and cruise ships, but no beaches.

Like these guys say, it's not that far to bournemouth or pompey/hayling island

Reply 10

rosefan42

Southampton is NOT a beach town (has no beach :p:

) - but it does have some "typical" features of an English harbour town.
There's a waterfront by the harbour which, tbh, is pretty grim. There's a long-ish waterside walk (all concrete, with a lovely view of tower blocks on one side and the industry at Fawley on the other), with a few playgrounds and ice cream vans. You can get to the water there - it's muddy and not for swimming, though. Also, there's the cruise ships and IoW port which do give it a "by the sea" feel - not to mention place names like Ocean Village and Harbour Lights. Ocean Village has more of a seaside feel than the main harbour, as there's lots of little private yachts and sailing boats and so on. You can almost pretend that you're in a tiny rustic fishing village...well, almost :p:

.
I like the water front -after living in a landlocked country for 6 years, I loved the novelty of going to the waterfront for a "proper british cloudy day out, complete with grey seas, crappy playgrounds and toxic-looking orange ice lollies". :woo:

But then I'm just odd like that ahaha :biggrin:

There's lots of beaches relatively near by though, so ytou can get to the "proper" seaside for a day trip or even an afternoon EASILY. TIP: If you've got time, go to Lulworth - proper tiny fishing village with great fish n chips DONT GO TO THE ONE AT THE CAR PARK IT MAKES YOU THROW UP - and a short walk from Durdle Door beach (TIP: Go to St Oswald's Bay on the other side of Durdle Door - smaller, calmer and lovely clear water.
If it's sandy beaches you want, try Bournemouth - lovely seaside resort with a pier, helter skelter, arcacdes....oh, and a beach. But Westcliffe is on the same stretcg of sand and WAY less touristy and crammed packed.

Apart from the beach thing, Southampton is a pretty boring but nice city - there's Town with lots of shops, a few decent clubs, a few decent pubs which do gigs (The Brook in portswood is excellent), two big cinemas and one tiny lovable alternative-ish one, the huge Common right by Campus with three ponds, two playgrounds, lots of green and an amazing old graveyard. On camopus, there's a good local theatre with its own company, and in town there's a big one which gets lots of big West End musicals as well as regular ballets and operas. The actual campus is great too - lots of green, lots of water, lots of arty stone things...a good food place, too.

So yeah. My two cents. From a real, live, Southamptoner :p:

Reply 11

del1507

As mentioned already, no beach but Bournemouth is just down the road.

Southampton is also home to my favourite pub ever, the Hobbit.

Reply 12

.ACS.

There's no beach, but Bournemouth is really close by as has already been said, and the beach there is fantastic. Apart from that, Ocean Village has a really nice feel to it.

To be honest, Southampton is a port-town, so it's quite different from a beach-town.

Reply 13

makinghistory

I thought the same as you, I live in Plymouth which is right on the seaaa and has a really nice seafront and harbour and fish and chip shops and boats and bla bla all that lovely stuff so I was looking forward to Soton being similair. But nooo.... ugly ugly 'sea front'. Tres industrialised.

But defo check out Bournemouth as everybody has said. I worked there for 2 months this summer, nice placeee.

Reply 14

scaryhair

Try Portsmouth, it's got more in the way of fish and chip shops on the seafront etc. Plus it's not far away from Southampton :smile:

If you want beautiful sandy beaches, try West Wittering near Chichester.

Reply 15

I'm_Unsafe.

I don't care if there are no beaches, having lived most of my life as far away from the sea (in any direction) as you can get in the UK, it's gonna be nice to know I don't have a 2 hour trek just to see it.

Looking forward to some daytrips to Bournemouth/IoW. Pity I can't bring my car :frown:

Reply 16

~ Purple Rose ~

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rosefan42

The actual campus is great too - lots of green, lots of water, lots of arty stone things...a good food place, too.

And ducks

Southampton doesn't have a beach, but Bournemouth is really nice. Also, Lee-On-Solent is a nice place, but the beach is stony.

You can get to the Isle of Wight easily, and cruise ships come in regularly, plus there are a lot of boats (obviously!)

I'm going to the boat show on Friday :woo: