• For up to the minute information on what to do in Southampton, visit the city's Events & What's On [21] calendar.
• Visit the one of the many Theatres.
  • The Mayflower [22] is the largest theatre in southern England, offering blockbusting West End musicals as well as ballet and operatic productions.
  • The Nuffield Theatre [23], based on the university campus, hosts performances from Shakespeare to contemporary drama.
  • the Turner Sims Concert Hall [24] features internationally-renowned classical and jazz artists.
  • Southampton Guildhall offers a multipurpose venue.
  • The Jongleurs Comedy Club near Bargate hosts top comedians from across the country.
  • Odeon at Leisureworld
  • Cineworld Cinema at Ocean Village has a wide choice of films.
  • The Harbour Lights Picture House overlooking the Ocean Village Marina, which shows independent and European films.
• Take a walk on Southampton Common - 326 acres of grass and woodland, including an Urban Wildlife Centre, paddling pool, play area and fishing lake. Very busy during summer months, and a popular afternoon hang out for students.
• Walk the walls - follow the signposted original course of the historic town walls, gatehouses and towers, which are amongst the most complete in England. Around half of the original one mile circuit still survives, including the famous Bargate.
• Watch a football match - Southampton FC [25] plays at the new St Marys Stadium. The derby matches with neighbouring Portsmouth have plenty of fire.
• Take a ride on the Hythe Ferry [26] from Town Quay to Hythe Pier, viewing the shipping in the docks.
• There are a large number of sailing schools based in and around Southampton, particularly on The Hamble. Most if not all offer courses based around the Royal Yachting Association's certificates. A start sailing weekend costs in the region of GBP £200 for two nights and two days sailing.
• Visit the one of the Art Galleries
  • City Art Gallery contains some 3,500 works of art covering six centuries.
  • Millais Gallery contains the work of up and coming artists and designers.
  • The Bargate Monument Gallery - The Bargate has been refurbished and given a new lease of life as a contemporary art gallery and home to the arts organisation A Space.
  • The John Hansard Gallery was created in 1980 at the University of Southampton to combine the University's fine art and special photographic collection. Widely regarded as one of the best places in the country to see contemporary visual art, the gallery also hosts seminars, talks and workshops.
• Visit one of the city's many Museums.
  • The Museum of Archaeology [27] - Home to one of the most outstanding archaeology collections in England and traces the history of the city from its origins as a Roman town to the age of empire under Victoria. The building - God's House Tower - is in itself noteworthy as the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England.
  • The Maritime Museum [28] - The Museum houses a series of special exhibits on the great liners will help you discover the history of the docks.
  • Medieval Merchants House [29] - One of the earliest surviving merchant's houses in England. It has been restored to its mid-14th century appearance and replica furnishings provide an insight into medieval life.
  • Tudor House Museum and Garden [30] - Built in 1495 for Sir John Dawtry, the Controller of Customs in Southampton. Currently closed for restoration but apparently guided tours can be arranged.
  • Solent Sky (Hall of Aviation) [31] - Located near Ocean Village, the museum is dedicated to telling the incredible story of aviation in the Solent area.
• Have a drink in one of the city's excellent pubs. The city centre features two pubs dating from Tudor times, the Red Lion in High Street in particular is steeped in history.

• The Bargate - a medieval gatehouse sat slap bang in the middle of the shopping centre. The top floor is now a Heritage Visitor Centre
• The Central Parks - established in the 19th century and listed Grade II on English Heritage's [19] Register of Historic Parks, they benefited in 2001 from a £4.5m Heritage Lottery grant
• The yearly Southampton Boat Show [20]

By plane

Southampton is serviced by Southampton International Airport [2], located a short distance outside the city in Eastleigh. It is a relatively small airport, and only flies to the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The alternative is to use one of the London airports and travel on to Southampton by rail, car or bus. The most convenient are:

• Heathrow Airport [3] is about 60 miles drive from Southampton via the M4 (westbound), M25 (anti-clockwise) and the M3 (southbound). There is a RailAir [4] coach service to Woking station, where mainline trains to Southampton can be boarded.

• Gatwick Airport [www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/gatwick/] is about 80 miles drive from Southampton via the M23 (northbound), M25 (clockwise) and M3 (southbound) motorways. There is an hourly through train service to Southampton from a rail station in the airport terminal complex, taking just under two hours.

By train

South West Trains [5] run regular (at least one an hour) services to Southampton from London Waterloo via Winchester and Basingstoke as well as from Portsmouth and further east along the south coast. Many of these trains continue beyond Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth via the New Forest.

Southern Railway [6] run services via a longer and slower route from London Victoria, but have the advantage of serving London Gatwick airport on the way. CrossCountry [7] run longer distance services from the north of England via Birmingham and Reading.

First Great Western [8] runs services from Cardiff, Bristol and Bath via Salisbury.

Megatrain [9] is a new budget ticket option available up to four times a day on South West Trains' services between London and Southampton. If booked some time in advance, tickets can be as cheap as £1 one way, but they are more restricted than the regular tickets, and can only be purchased online via the Megatrain website or by phone.

Train times can be found on National Rail [10] or by calling 08457 48 49 50 from anywhere in the UK.

By car

The M3 links Southampton with the M25 and London. The M27 leads west towards Bournemouth and the West Country, and east along the coast towards Brighton and the rest of the south of England.

Car parking is relatively easy with many pay and display places in the city centre. There are a number of free 2hr car parks too, and if you stray a little further away you can find free parking on the streets.

During the period of the Boat Show there is a Park and Ride scheme operating from Junction 1 of the M271 motorway with frequent buses to the show entrance.

There is also a Park and Ride for ticket holders to Southampton Football Club matches. This is easily found and well signposted from Junction 8 of the M27. For more information on either of the Park and Ride schemes see National Park and Ride Directory [11]

By bus

Megabus [12] run a twice daily bus service from London Victoria Coach Station to Southampton from £3-£5 for the cost of a single ticket

National Express [13] also run a regular coach service direct to Southampton from London Victoria Coach Station. Ticket prices are less than £20 for a scheduled return.

By boat

Southampton is a busy port city, and as such has numerous sea links to countries across the world, however the port is mainly used for freight (particularly containers) and cruises. There are no international ferry services, however regular vehicle and passenger ferries operate to Isle Of Wight and the village of Hythe across the water.

On foot

Southampton City Centre is fairly spread out along a North-South axis, however it is easily possible to walk from the popular Bedford Place student area on the Northern fringe of the central area to the waterfront, much of the route being pedestrianised.

By bike

Southampton has a few dedicated cycle routes; they are not particularly well linked but cyclists should not have a problem navigating the city centre. The city centre itself is mostly flat; Hampshire tends to undulate. Southampton cycle map is at [14]

By bus

Southampton has a good network of bus services, with principal services operating every ten minutes during the day. Most of the services radiate out from the city centre but there are also some cross-city routes.

Uni-link [15]

Solent Blue Line [16]

First [17]

Wilts & Dorset [18]

Southampton sells itself as the shopping capital of the South Coast and the West Quay shopping centre does nothing to dispel you of that opinion. John Lewis and Marks And Spencer are the major draws, but there are 97 other shops happy to separate you from your hard-earned.

The Bargate shopping centre appeals to a younger clientele than West Quay, providing fashion retailers, computer game stores, Pijin BMX shop and an excellent milkshake shop.

The Mall (formerly Marlands) is an even more generic shopping centre, if such a thing were possible, although the rent is lower than West Quay and hence the retailers are a little less salubrious.

For more generic shopping, Above Bar Street is the main pedestrial thoroughfare joining the shopping centres to each other therefore has even more retailers, large and small, just don't expect to be surprised that the same stores as are on most British high streets have made this their home.

The more discerning shopper can head towards East Street which is the home of 'Speciality Shopping' (it even says so on the street sign) but even this has very little to surpise a shopper on the hunt for a more interesting shopping experience.

Just don't confuse it with East Street Shopping Centre which is apparently the first shopping centre in Southampton, although it has been left behind by the developments on Above Bar Street and is now tucked away too far from the madding crowd and is looking more than a little tired (and also fast becoming the haunt of teenage groups from the nearby estate).

Above Bar Street is also the home of the German Market which runs in December, and the area around the Bargate has the Farmer's Market on the second Saturday of each month.

Southampton's planners have indicated that they don't want to encourage out-of-town shopping, but that hasn't stopped Eastleigh developing Hedge End Retail Park with its collection of typical out-of-town shops at junction 7 of the M27.

There are two main areas for eating out in Southampton; the first is Oxford Street (towards Ocean Village) and the second is around Bedford Place (just North of the city).

Oxford Street has a selection of higher class (and therefore more expensive) restaurants. Recommended are the White Star (English/Traditional), Kutis (Indian), Poppadom Express (Indian) and Pilgrim House (Chinese).

The choice in Bedford Place is rather more varied; ranging from Moroccan and Mexican at the Southern end of the road through student style curry houses and a chinese to some late night kebab and chip shops. In terms of value for money the Pride Of India is one of best Indians in the city, but most of the restaurants are good value, if not exactly awe-inspiring taste-wise.

Walking distance from Bedford Place is the area of town that used to be known as Hungry Hill; Commercial Road where the existence of the Mayflower Theatre has meant a thriving trade for various restaurants in pre- and post-theatre eating. Again the choice is varied although generally the quality to cost ratio is not as high as it might otherwise be; although Buon Gusto (Italian) and Cafe Pattaya (Thai) are particularly recommended.

There are obviously the usual range of fast food chains spread throughout the city; formerly Burger King and McDonalds faced each other across the Bargate like petulant children with the gate itself acting like a peace-making mother, but McDonalds gave up the fight and fled to the West Quay shopping centre.

As is to be expected of a large port with two universities, there are a lot of places to drink in Southampton.

Portswood is the drinking area of choice for students at the University, so keep away from places like The Hobbit, Clowns and Jesters ("Jesters"), The Gordon Arms and The Mitre if you want to avoid students. While The Hobbit can be studenty, it is definitely worth a look as it is a quirky pub with a massive beer garden and live music every night of the week. Kolebka is a relaxed Jazz bar with live music every Friday night.

The Polygon is a nice area near the city centre with some good new bars, including the Lizard Lounge.

The Marina area has a good (albeit expensive) selection of seafront bars.

The Red Lion in High Street dates back to Tudor times and is a must-see. It's usually fairly quiet as well. For those looking for something more lively, The Platform Tavern nearby on the waterfront is an excellent bet as it features live jazz and blues music and a superb selection of local real ales.

The Angel located next to one of the central parks is an excellent 'local' type pub in the city centre featuring a free drinks quiz and friendly landlord. The Royal Oak nearby is also an excellent pub featuring regular live music, karaoke and quiz nights as well as drinks promotions, it is also very friendly although it can be a bit studenty.

The city centre also has the usual spattering of chain pubs, including Slug & Lettuce, two Wetherspoon's, Walkabout, Bar Risa and Que Pasa.

Outside of the city centre are the usual local pubs, some of which are excellent and others which are best avoided. The Park Inn in Shirley and the Wellington Arms and Waterloo Arms in Freemantle all have an excellent range of real ales while the Richmond Inn in Portswood is a great traditional pub with a vintage till and real ales. Nearby and next to St Denys railway station are two more excellent pubs, the Junction Inn and South Western Arms.

There is a useful directory of the local pubs and bars at [34] which includes maps to find the pub and a few featured pubs as well.