Dorset

Credit: Image by Roman Grac from Pixab

Credit: Image by Nigel Cohen from Pixa

Credit: Image by Roman Grac from Pixab

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About Dorset

Criss-crossed with sunken lanes, dotted with gentle hills and unspoilt villages, Dorset has so far escaped the brutality of a motorway. So the landscape of Thomas Hardy's novels has retained much of its lush, pastoral look. Then there’s Dorset’s incredible coastline, with its bevy of beaches which will be irresistible to walkers, runners and families alike. Dorset’s towns and villages have plenty to recommend them too: the historic market town of Dorchester, Poole and its fabulous harbour, sandy Weymouth with its Georgian architecture, and hilltop Shaftesbury, much loved by Thomas Hardy for its views. Our recommendations for the best places to stay in Dorset are scattered around this pretty county, and include welcoming pubs-with-rooms, country house hotels, chic seaside B&Bs, boutique hotels and properties that are ideal for family holidays.

Some of our Dorset Collections:

Three quarters of Dorset’s coastline is a World Heritage Site; some areas for their fossil bounty, and some stretches because they’re spectacularly beautiful. In fact over half the county is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. But if you're interested in archaeology you need to base yourself on the Jurassic Coast: in Lulworth Cove, Charmouth, Burton Bradstock or Lyme Regis. The Jurassic Coast Information Centre is in Lulworth Cove, which is also just around the headland from the Durdle Door, an incredible arch of Portland stone which has been eaten away by waves over the past 150 million years or so.

If you’re interested in enjoying some of the nicest beaches in the UK, our recommendations for the best places to stay in Dorset include the area around the Studland Peninsula, Mudeford beach on Christchurch Harbour, the beach at Durdle Door, Poole for Sandbanks Beach, and Chesil Beach. Dorset’s interior deserves attention too, and our recommendations include plenty of options if you're looking for a rural hideaway.

The Best Places to Stay in Dorset

For the View

The name makes it sound a bit old fashioned, but The Seaside Boarding House is anything but. This nine room hotel is the brainchild of the Groucho Club’s founders, and is decorated to a high style-point, in a clever mix of Edwardian marine chic and Cape Cod simplicity — expect vintage pieces laid next to marine salvage and Peter Blake prints. Rooms come in three sizes, and all boast something of a sea view of Lyme Bay. The bar and restaurant are unsurprisingly excellent, with a great all-day cocktail menu and more incredible views. This is a hotel geared up for relaxation, so make the most of it!!
The Christchurch Harbour Hotel & Spa is a stylish white building right on Christchurch Harbour, and easily one of the best places to stay in Dorset if you want to be right on the coast. Everything is designed to make the most of the views, from the rather glamorous bar to a choice of restaurants — including one outdoors. The decor is pale and chic with a slightly nautical vibe. There are 64 rooms and suites in a range of style and sizes. Our favourites are the sea view or garden rooms, which are freshly refurbished.
The Alexandra Hotel is a lovely property perched on the cliffs overlooking the harbour at Lyme Regis, and offering panoramic sea views from many spots. There are just 25 stylishly understated rooms, suites, and apartments, a restaurant with a gourmet reputation, an excellent spa and a sea-facing terrace bar. We love the large garden, which also offers grassy terraces with stunning sea views. There are a good number of rooms able to accommodate family configurations — and the family apartments sleep up to six.

For Historic Charm

Hidden behind a picturesque church, just off Wareham’s charming market square, the Priory Hotel is a family-run property in a building dating from the 16th century. Behind the wisteria-clad exterior are a collection of rooms and suites, decorated with classic luxury hotel style and a good number of antiques. There are more rooms in the Boat House, which sits right on the River Frome at the bottom of the hotel’s English country gardens. The hotel’s stone-vaulted dining room serves a very satisfying meal with a French twist, and, if you're looking for romance, make sure you book one of the rooms with a four-poster bed.
Evershot’s Acorn Inn is a historic charmer built in the 16th century from the local, honey-coloured stone. Inside there are just ten rooms, which still feature many of the original features: think exposed beams, oak panelling, flagstone floors and four-poster beds in the best ones. The restaurant is also highly regarded.

For a Country House Escape

Plumber Manor is a charmingly fading Jacobean manor house, which has been owned by the same family since it was built. It’s set in pretty gardens, just outside Sturminster Newton, in the heart of Thomas Hardy country. Today it’s run as an extremely homely and welcoming 16 room hotel, by three members of that same family, who look after guests like friends, helped by a few laconic labradors. The restaurant is highly regarded locally, and bustles at weekends.
Summer Lodge, near Evershot, is a Hardy-esque country house turned 24 room hotel. Outside are picturesque gardens and rolling countryside, and inside there’s a feeling of old fashioned luxury, with rooms featuring draped four poster beds, elegant antiques, and a variety of colour schemes ranging from country chintz to manor-house-regal. The restaurant is gourmet and there’s an indoor pool, a spa and tennis courts. Ideal for a romantic mini-break.

For A Beach Break

No 98 Boutique Hotel is a chic blue-and-white bolthole in a great location, with nine, comfortable, sea-facing rooms and smart modern bathrooms. Hearty breakfasts are served in a lovely cafe, and you’re a lovely stroll from a number of excellent restaurants. A hip choice with a relaxed atmosphere in popular Weymouth.
The Green House is just a block from Bournemouth beach, converted from a Grade II listed manor house set in a large, mature garden. The decor is contemporary, and the aim eco-friendly, with repaired and reimagined wooden furniture and solid oak and ash in the 32 high-ceilinged bedrooms. The bathrooms are huge, with eco-showers and dark slate, and the rooms also feature memorable touches, like Bose speakers. The restaurant is ambitious and award-winning.

For Families

The Captain's Club Hotel & Spa is a modern seaside hotel on the banks of the River Stour at Christchurch. There are just 17 self-catering rooms, suites, and family apartments, designed to accommodate between three and six guests, plus furry friends. All the rooms offer well set up kitchens and living space, and one of them even has its own cinema room! All of the rooms also have private balconies with wonderful water views. The hotel’s spa includes a good range of therapies, and despite the self-catering facilities there’s a very good restaurant on site.
The Ollerod is a charming, 13 room hotel, converted from a 13th century country house in Beaminster with centuries old inglenooks and stone-mullioned windows. Each of the guest rooms is uniquely decorated and laid out, with some excellent family-sized options, as well as romantic, four-poster-bed type rooms.

For Romantics

Shaftesbury’s Grosvenor Arms is a charming Georgian-built inn with 16 elegant rooms and suites done in a fresh, country-chic style. The restaurant is really first rate, and very popular with locals too. Expect odd, sloping roofs and exposed beams, but also feather pillows and Tassimo coffee machines. This is Hardy country, so it’s romance wherever you look.
The Duchess of Cornwall Inn is a very glamorous property in the middle of Poundbury, just outside Dorchester. Tall and pillared, with huge windows and elegant decor, this is a choice to impress. The 18th century framework has had all its highlights retained, and some new ones added, then decorated in muted duck egg, with antiques and well chosen artwork. The bar and restaurant serve simple, British fare.

For a Pub-with-rooms

The Castle Inn is a 16th century inn in West Lulworth on the Jurassic Coast, complete with a thatched roof and 12 individually designed rooms and suites. The pub part has been carefully restored and decorated, and offers a great menu of ales and hearty pub fare.
Part thatched and low ceilinged, the Museum Inn is an award-winning country pub in a picture-postcard village in rural north Dorset. Just the thing you crave after a muddy walk. Some of the eight rooms and suites are in the main building, and some in the converted stables, but all are plush and spacious. There’s also a large cottage, ideal for families or groups. The pub is known for its good ales and locally sourced food, and there’s also a 2 AA Rosette recommended restaurant in the conservatory extension.
The Stapleton Arms near Buckhorn Weston, is a reinvented English country pub, with boutique details, as well as lots of nice original features. There are just four rooms, all recently redesigned, and now fresh and welcoming as well as comfortable. The pub’s turned gourmet too, with great success.
The Lulworth Cove Inn is a freshly imagined historic inn, in a fantastic spot right in the thick of the Jurassic Coastal action. The exterior has been painted in nautical brights and inside the colours continue, so the rooms all feel bright and airy. The pub part is the perfect beach bar/pub hybrid, with more bright colours, exposed beams, a wooden floor and sea views.

For Great Value

The Bull Hotel in Bridport is an 18th century coaching inn with 14 individually decorated rooms which feature plenty of colour and patterned Cole & Son wallpapers. The Red Four-Poster room is the largest, and, as well as the impressive bed, it has a roll-top bath. The rooms in the more modern wing of the building are better for families.
The New Inn Cerne Abbas is a 16th century coaching inn in pretty Cerne Abbas, which is just inland from Dorchester. There are just ten rooms and suites, spread around the original inn, and in the converted stables building across the courtyard. Some of the rooms are romantically kitted out, with roll-top baths in the rooms, while some are more functional. The pub is proud of its craft ales, and the restaurant is all about local, seasonal produce.

For a B&B

Tudor Cottage is a pretty thatched cottage, turned two room B&B in Frampton, just outside Dorchester. Oil paintings adorn the walls, and the property oozes period character. Breakfast is delicious — as an ex-professional cook the owner provides wonderful home cooking. Relaxing and intimate.

Prefer a Private Apartment or Cottage?

If you'd prefer the privacy of a self-catering option then browse through the wide variety available online with our partner, Booking.com.

Travel Information

Bournemouth Airport, Southampton Airport, and Exeter Airport are Dorset’s international airports. Being on the coast, Dorset is also well served by ferries coming from Europe and the Channel Islands — most dock at Southampton and Poole. Alternatively South West trains run the service to Dorset from London, which leaves from Waterloo Station.
If you want to hire a car we recommend you visit our online partner, Rentalcars.
Dorset’s climate is generally mild and pleasant, but can be unpredictable, like the rest of the UK, so expect changeable weather of sunshine and showers whatever the season. Dorset is popular in summer, of course, when people are here for the beach. But it’s also beautiful in spring and autumn — if you don’t mind a chill in the air and possibly a shower or two — and you can still expect plenty of clear days. Winter is wonderful if you like things to be ‘bracing’.

Still not sure?

Refine your search to just the best places to stay in Lyme Regis, the best places to stay in Dorchester, the best places to stay in Bournemouth or the best places to stay in Weymouth
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The best hotels in Dorset

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The Eastbury Hotel & Spa

Sherborne (Sherborne)

A superb Georgian façade announces this West Country bolthole, steps from the Abbey in Sherborne. The elegant guest rooms are dressed in heritage furnishings, in keeping with the 18th-century property; book a luxury room for a four-poster bed or the three-bedroom cottage with hot tub.

Local exploring - Head into Sherborne for local exploring, where you can find boutique shopping, the historic Abbey and endless antique galleries
Romantic Break - Couples rate the well-appointed rooms at this heritage hotel.
Spa - Eastbury Spa by Amelia Rose and Caudalie is set in the walled garden & offers a hydrotherapy pool and wide range of treatments.
Great walks - Discover the beautiful Dorset countryside with a long walk; take the North Dorset Trailway for marked routes

from €259 for 1 room, 1 night including taxes & fees

The Bear of Burton

Christchurch (Christchurch)

A characterful pub with smartly renovated rooms set just outside coastal Christchurch. The ten rooms have a rustic chic feel featuring reclaimed wood, antique furniture, and the best boasting in-room copper bathtubs. Downstairs, the pub has a good selection of ales and ciders plus hearty cuisine.

Families - With its laid back feel, wide choice of activities nearby, and (of course) the beaches — this is perfact for a family break
Local exploring - Set just outside Christchurch the town's restaurants, shops, and attractions are easily accessible plus the coast is nearby
Romantic Break - With in-room copper bathtubs this is a romantic base for a couples' escape
Sights nearby - Visit historic Highcliffe Castle or explore Christchurch Castle and the Norman House

from €86 for 1 room, 1 night including taxes & fees