During the last years, I traveled to quite some places in the United Kingdom, which I likely wouldn’t normally have visited with high priority. The rationale behind that were the UK tour dates of the musical Rock of Ages. One of these cities is Portsmouth, a very interesting place in Southern England, which I visited in June 2022. This Pictured Story is about the Gunwharf Quays, a very nice recreational and shopping district right next to the ferry harbor. The area also features the Spinnaker Tower, an observation tower I will introduce to you in a separate post.
Gunwharf Quays – Location & Access
The Gunwharf Quays are located right at the shore of Portsmouth, in the harbor area. For the musical shows, I stayed at the rather central Premier Inn Portsmouth City Centre and walked from there. However, the most straight-forward way is to take a train to Portsmouth Harbour station, which is perfect to connect to the ferry services. Next to the station, there is also the Hard Interchange, which is a major bus station.
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Visiting the area is free. You may, however, spend money for shopping, drinking, dining and having fun. The outlet mall is open 10:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 20:00 Saturday and 11:00 to 17:00 Sundays.
The order of the major size pictures roughly follow the (not really straight) order how I visited the Quays. As you see, it is a lovely place on a sunny day on the English South Coast. The outlet mall is built around a large plaza. It partially comes with two levels of shopping and dining, a minor part is just on the ground floor. The other Gunwharf Quays are typically on ground level. The shopping area is really nicely designed and has open air as well as covered areas. In some pictures, you may already spot Spinnaker Tower, which is the key architectural element of the area, due to its size and stunning design.
The shoreline area is of course majorly used for bars and restaurants. There are also some scattered sculptures, which lead to a very entertaining and versatile visit. It is also nice to explore life in the rather small marina. The Southern edge of the area comes wiith a channel-alike area, where you can maneuver radio controlled ships and watch some more naval architecture. Of course, there are more shops and dining options. I really enjoyed exploring that part of Portsmouth.
