Travel Itinerary : Isle of Wight-England

The Isle of Wight (IoW) is a quick escape for an awesome three day getaway from the hustle of London city.

There are multiple entries to the island. We took the one through Portsmouth. Here I’ll take you through an itinerary for a memorable experience in just 3 days. Expect to see the toy island train, scenic beauty, pets on the beach and caring locals in this beautiful diamond shaped island.

So, here’s my three days IoW itinerary. Just shout out in the comments box for any clarifications.

What to see in IoW in three days: North to South( N->E->S->W)

Day 1- Reach Shanklin (Island train from Ryde to Shanklin), Marine bike ride, food & drinks.

Day 2- Sunrise, Freshwater, gelatos, Needles, Ryde, great food & drinks

Day 3- Sunrise, beaches, zoo, shopping

And then a chance to pick up something you missed at Shanklin.

And then home or ……maybe…….. somewhere else :-)

Day 1- Arrive at Ryde and then transit to East where most of the hotels and homestays are located.

Board any train from London Bridge/Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour and then hop into the water ferry to Ryde ( North of Isle of Wight). The water ferry takes about 20 mins.

Tip- You can expect the travellers getting down at Portsmouth harbour rushing towards the Pier to get into the queue for the ferry.

Upon reaching Ryde, charge yourself up to hop onto the classic train running on this island. The doors are still opened by the train staff on the stations and it carries the charm of old train whistles. This train runs North to East and you get all the stops — Lake, Sandown, Shanklin.

You can choose to stay either in Sandown/Shanklin or Ventnor. Shanklin is 20 mins from Ryde. I would recommend staying at Shanklin given it is the intersection of Shanklin Chine & White cliffs. You need to walk on Shanklin streets and if your stay is via Old Shanklin town, it will be an amazing walk rather than taking a bus.

Hotel Cliffton offers a great view although they don’t allow guests accompanied by kids under 10 years. Be mindful there are a lot of hotels & homestays that don’t allow guests accompanied by kids below 12 years to stay. I know it’s strange but it is what it is. The Roysons came to our rescue at the last minute.

Depending on the overall journey time, here are a few things I’d recommend you to do on Day 1 in Shanklin:

• Coastal Walk towards Shanklin Chine
• Must grab a cup of coffee from Blueberry Cafe before sunset as it closes by 5pm.
• Rent a bike & go for a ride alongside the sea.
• Dino themed park for kids & adults.
• Instagrammer favourite spots for capturing moments
• Sit back and enjoy drinks looking over sunset on the White Cliffs
• Unwind yourself with board games @ home stay for a perfect ending to your day 1.

Day 2 — Needles Tour

We started the day early by watching the sunrise from Blueberry cafe for the serenity. Afterwards, we headed back for breakfast at the Roysons. The breakfast was great and you could sneak peek into their kitchen to catch up with hosts/kids.

Oh, you must go to Needles (west) via south in an open bus. We had taken the regular bus from Shanklin to Freshwater as we missed the direct open bus from Sandown to Needles. The views throughout the ride were breathtaking and one would trade off the crowded bus for it. There were a couple of places you could explore if you’re fond of — St. Catherine lighthouse, Isle of Wight Pearl. It may not be feasible to visit them on the way back from Needles as the bus takes west to east via north while returning.

While there were a lot of sightseeing opportunities along the way, we usually prefer to pick up one or two sightseeing places and try to fully explore it. This allows us to buffer up some energy to play with our son and keep the holiday easy.

Freshwater was mesmerising and offered some water sports. There was a hill horse riding stable along the coast which definitely looked appealing. Perhaps, we parked it for our next visit. The Ginger ice cream from the local stores is a must try.

All the open buses pass by Freshwater. I’d recommend grabbing a seat on the upper deck, savouring your favourite gelato and enjoy the area of outstanding natural beauty. There were these two old ladies perhaps in their sixties sitting next to me sipping their coffee, munching from their picnic bag, how on earth will I not be craving for it :-)

The bus approximately took thirty minutes to reach Needles from Freshwater. Upon reaching, enjoy the crowd, games, music & incredible food. There were a bunch of games for the little ones too. Expect a long queue for the cable ride down to the pebble beach to view Needles. You can buy tickets for return (to & fro ) or only one side. I’d recommend taking stairs while coming up to the starting point. There is a buggy parking to drop off all at the owner’s responsibility.

The views were breathtaking from the cable car and down at the beach. Pause & pose for a mesmerising background of Needles and speed boats. Enjoy with the little one to play with pebbles in the water.

You could spend 3–4 hours there and then head back to Shanklin. Enjoy the mesmerising ride in the open bus amidst an area of outstanding natural beauty with views of Roman Villa, Carisbrooke castle. The ride lets you magically fall in love with the place.

And now it’s time to sit back and enjoy the dinner. Thai food is one of the cuisines we enjoy and headed straight to Black Cat. The food was finger-licking good and satisfied our taste buds.

Day 3 — Isle of Wight Zoo

Okay, by now I was connected a lot better with the island through the warmth of our hosts and memories being made. At the breakfast table, our little boy got a surprise Easter present. You guessed it right, it was a jar of egg chocolates from the hosts as a token of the celebration. In no time, the boy was jumping with a sugar rush and eagerly waited to visit the animals in the zoo.

After a long coastal walk, we arrived at the zoo! Treating ourselves with the marshmallow cappuccino, we bought the tickets for the zoo walk. There was a lot of liveliness inside the zoo as volunteers had hosted kids activities alongside for the festival. The walk started on time .The instructor was friendly and my son loved all animal feeding sessions(8–10) of the Madagascar animals and big cats. The photo shows my son wanting to watch the lion forever.

We had to lure the little one to gelato on the other side of the road to get out of the zoo. It was time to walk back along the coast to sit by the beach and enjoy some beer/gelato to call it a holiday!

And yes, this was our brief first getaway after relocating to London. Goodbye and hope you enjoyed our travel tales.