Bournemouth Pier

The basics

The pier sits in the middle of Bournemouth Beach’s golden sands and is roughly adjacent to the town center, ensuring it gets plenty of footfall from locals and tourists alike. If you visit in the busier summer months, there’s an entrance fee to pay unless you’ve booked a session at RockReef climbing center, the PierZip attraction, or a meal at the Key West Bar & Grill.

Guided tours don’t tend to enter the pier, although the landmark often features on self-guided scavenger hunt routes and it’s a major stop on the city’s hop-on hop-off bus.

Things to know before you go

• There is a modest fee for the pier from April until the end of October.

• The pier is flat and wheelchair-accessible.

• There are some small gaps between the wooden floor panels, so high heels are not advised.

• There are on-site restrooms, accessible restrooms, and baby-changing facilities.

• Free Wi-Fi is offered on the pier.

How to get there

If driving, there are a number of local car parks close by—the nearest is Bath Road North and South parking lots, around a 7-minute walk away. Otherwise, you can walk to the pier from the town center via Bournemouth Lower Gardens in around 10 minutes, or from the train station in about 25 minutes. The local Morebus service also stops at nearby Bournemouth Square.

When to get there

Bournemouth Pier is open daily year-round, from morning until late night. Occasionally, there may be closures due to bad weather conditions. Note that many of the attractions on Bournemouth Pier have different operating hours, so check ahead if there is something specific you want to visit.

Bournemouth Oceanarium

Right at the base of the pier—you can’t miss it—is Bournemouth Oceanarium, a family-friendly attraction that makes a great tag-on trip if visiting the pier. Here you can browse tanks filled with sharks, stingrays, turtles, piranhas, and clownfish, or even opt for a feeding experience or a penguin keeper experience.