Pre- Cruise New Forest Advice

[Scottishclover]

Looking for some advice from Hampshire locals or anyone else with experience of the New Forest.

 

Pre -cruise we are looking to avoid London and have decided to get a cheap flight from Edinburgh to Bournemouth and spend a few days in the New Forest. 

Hoping someone will be able to answer these questions:

 

1) I have been looking at staying in Lymington. Would this be a good base? 

2) Also wondering what the public transport is like in the area and how easy it would be to get to Southampton on the morning of the cruise? 

3) We are keen hikers so would love some recommendations on good trails/routes in the New Forest? We plan to do a lot of hiking on our Arctic Circle Cruise so will have all the gear anyway.

4) Bringing our adult daughters with us who love a trendy/ cool cafe. Do any spring to mind in the area?

 

If anyone has any other suggestions for a pre-cruise stay fairly close to Southampton, I’d be open to  ideas.

Thanks.

 

 

 

[John Bull]

Lymington is very close to, but not "in" the New Forest.

It's not a bad option - it's a buzzing yachties town, plenty of pubs, restaurants, shops etc, and an easy ferry service across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Various options from Lymington to the New Forest ............

 

- the half-hourly train for a 10-minute ride to Brockenhurst, So choose a base handy to Lymington town or quay stations. Plenty of hiking & biking options from Brockenhurst.

 

- the New Forest Tour https://www.morebus.co.uk/about-NFT

Three hop-on routes. Two of them with stops in Lymington, the "blue" route is poor (though it's a quick option for travel to Brockenhurst  - see the arrows on the route map). the "green" route is much better territory and you can switch to the "red" route at Lyndhurst

 

- rent a car. Whereas the tour buses are restricted to he more-major routes you need a car for the little lanes & ornamental drives.

 

An excellent website https://www.thenewforest.co.uk/

 

Good hiking territory should be around places like Brockenhurst, Hatchet Pond & Godshill,, but we're not hikers. All are on the New Forest Tour routes.

The "red" route drives the main road between Rhinefield and Bolderwood but I don't think there's a stop. Hiking both from Brockenhurst would total about 15 miles, but perhaps rent bikes at Brockenhurst station.

 

As per my recent posts on https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2969572-bournemouth-or-winchester-or-somewhere-else/#comment-66296325 I rate Brockenhurst as the best base, though it's quite expensive, and only 10 mins by train from Lymington.

 

Travel to Southampton is super-easy. Frequent direct trains from Brockenhurst to Southampton Central - preceded by that 10-minute train ride from Lymington if you base yourselves there.

 

Sorry, I can't help your daughters unless you substitute " trendy/cool cafes"  with "quaint/charming tea rooms" 😃

 

 

JB 🙂

Edited October 20, 2023 by John Bull

[Scottishclover]

I can’t thank you enough for all your insights. Really looking forward to exploring this part of the world.

[Harters]

If this was me, I'd regard the best transport option as renting a car, from the airport. Total flexibility for getting around the Forest. 

 

Would a flight to Southampton, rather than Bournemouth, be a bit more convenient. Rent the car from/to there and then a shortish taxi ride to the port.

[KforKitty]

We’ve stayed just outside Lymington several times and it is an excellent base to visit the New Forest.  I love Beaulieu and Butler’s Hard.  Beaulieu is good for cafes and I particularly like the one in the garden centre.  
 

I would second the suggestion of flying into Southampton and picking up a hire car there.

 

Catherine

 

[Harters]

On a warm day, there's not much finer than lunch sat outside the Master Builders House at Bucklers Hard. I spent a very pleasant  hour or so there a few years back when I'd taken myself off for a solitary break for a few days, staying in Bournemouth (on that trip). Lovely views down to the river.

[Scottishclover]

16 hours ago, Harters said:

If this was me, I'd regard the best transport option as renting a car, from the airport. Total flexibility for getting around the Forest. 

 

Would a flight to Southampton, rather than Bournemouth, be a bit more convenient. Rent the car from/to there and then a shortish taxi ride to the port.

Yes, I agree a flight to Southampton would be more convenient but around £600 more expensive one way for the 4 of us. We’re talking Ryanair vs Loganair here. I would rather use the saving to do an amazing excursion on our cruise. Unfortunately we don’t have money to burn and it’s in our nature to do certain things on the cheap😂

[Harters]

£600 is a significant amount. Fully understand why Bournemouth. 

[sleepingcat]

On 10/19/2023 at 1:31 PM, Scottishclover said:

3) We are keen hikers so would love some recommendations on good trails/routes in the New Forest? We plan to do a lot of hiking on our Arctic Circle Cruise so will have all the gear anyway.

Brockenhurst will be good base for walking, you just walk direct out of the village in any direction straight in to the forest. 

 

We had our own bikes with us there (as we were in our motorhome), and cycling was also good.  and we did the day trip to Lymington on the train.  Getting into Southampton is really easy by train. all recommended. 

[Scottishclover]

Thank you to everyone for their help and suggestions. It will help to make my planning a bit easier.