Bournemouth, GB

A seafood restaurant right on the sand by the pier, where the tables look straight out over the bay and the kitchen leans on the day's catch. It is the town's prime spot for fish with a view, equally good for a long breakfast or sunset dinner.

A dedicated seafood restaurant built around crab and lobster, with a long-held reputation for cooking the local catch simply and well. It is the sit-down, special-occasion fish choice away from the seafront bustle.

A small Southbourne restaurant doing ambitious modern British tasting menus that has earned a Michelin guide nod and a place in the Good Food Guide. It is the area's destination kitchen for a serious, multi-course dinner.

A characterful gastropub in leafy Westbourne with a reclaimed, lived-in interior and a menu built on seasonal produce and proper UK steaks. It is the relaxed neighbourhood choice for a long lunch or unhurried dinner.

An all-day cafe-bar-restaurant on Boscombe's seafront with a terrace hanging over the beach, good for coffee and brunch as much as a seafood dinner. The view does a lot of the work, but the kitchen holds its own across the day.

An independent Indian gastropub bringing bold, modern Indian cooking together with craft beer in a relaxed town-centre room. It is a livelier, more contemporary take than the standard curry house and good for a casual group dinner.

A grand all-day brasserie in the former offices of the local newspaper, with high ceilings, a long bar and an Art Deco feel. It is a handsome, buzzy room that works for breakfast, a business lunch or pre-theatre dinner near the centre.

A long-running independent cafe in Boscombe with a strong coffee program and a hearty, veg-leaning brunch menu that pulls a loyal local crowd. It is the neighbourhood antidote to the seafront chains.

A headland nature reserve at the eastern end of the bay, with a circular walk over heath and Iron Age earthworks to a coastguard lookout and big views to the Isle of Wight. It is the wildest walk close to town and one of the coast's best birdwatching spots.

A wooded ravine cutting down through the cliffs to the beach west of the centre, with a gently graded path through subtropical planting. It is a shaded, easy descent from the clifftop to the sand and a quieter way onto the beach.

A flat, fully paved promenade running about seven miles along the base of the cliffs from Hengistbury Head to Sandbanks. It is the easy, accessible spine of the coast, walkable or cyclable end to end with the sea on one side the whole way.

The quieter, leafier upper reach of the Bourne valley gardens, following the stream inland away from the seafront crowds through mature trees and a small heather garden. It is the locals' walk when the Lower Gardens are heaving.

An eccentric clifftop villa built by a Victorian hotelier and stuffed with the art and curios he collected from around the world, now a museum left much as the family kept it. The building, with its sea views and gilded interiors, is as much the draw as the collection.

The town aquarium beside the pier, with themed zones from an Amazon river to a walk-through shark tunnel, plus penguins and otters. It is compact, well-laid-out and the obvious move with kids when the weather turns.

The town's 1920s Art Deco theatre, still in its original elegant styling, hosting touring musicals, comedy, tribute acts and pantomime. It is the grand old room for a proper night out near the gardens.

An indoor activity centre out on Bournemouth Pier with climbing walls, a high ropes course and an aerial slide, plus the PierZip wire down to the beach outside. It is the active rainy-day answer for older kids and teens.

The town's big seafront events venue, hosting arena-scale concerts, comedy tours and large shows that the older theatres can't fit. It is where the touring big names land when they come to the south coast.

The Victorian pier at the foot of the town centre, the hinge between the gardens running down from the high street and the seven-mile run of sand. Walk to the end for the wide sweep back along the bay to the cliffs at either side.

A ribbon of Victorian pleasure gardens following the Bourne stream from the town centre right down to the pier, full of flowerbeds, a bandstand and an aviary. It is the green spine of the town and the natural walk from the shops to the sea.

Seven miles of clean golden sand backed by a promenade and rows of colourful beach huts, regularly rated among Britain's best. It is broad and gently shelving, which makes it unusually good for families and an easy all-day base.

A soaring Victorian Gothic church just up from the seafront whose churchyard holds the grave of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, buried with the heart of her husband the poet Shelley. The interior is far grander than the unassuming town around it suggests.

A series of themed private gardens on the slopes above Poole Harbour, including a celebrated Japanese garden, with viewpoints out over the water to the Purbeck hills. It is a calm, manicured contrast to the open beach and a good rainy-spell-recovery walk.

The quieter, more local pier east of the centre, fronting the surf-leaning Boscombe stretch of beach. It is the calmer alternative to the main pier and the start of an easy clifftop or promenade walk.