Five actually quite fun things to do in Portsmouth.

Yes really! There are some!

First off apologies for the delay in actually posting a post, I really like napping, and it would appear procrastination does not discriminate against fun things like blogs.

So here goes, in no particular order;

Five fun activities to while away a day off here in Ptown! Perhaps for when you can’t afford to go further afield or if your Mum wants you home for tea.

One – Pacman at Clarence Parade Pier

Pacman until you can pacman no more.

The Clarence parade pier in Southsea boasts a crazy amount of pacman themed games, from the old school original, four player ‘Battle Royale’ to pacman basket ball and many many more.

My proposed activity for you bored portsmouth-ians is to find and play them ALL, multiple times if necessary.

Ensure to take plenty of pound coins as you will need them to indulge your vintage gaming desires, and by all means play the other stuff too- don’t limit yourself man. There’s all kinds of places to buy fun snacks too, so go nuts kids.

Two – Visit Portchester Castle 

Pay Portchester castle a visit.

This may seem fairly obvious to some, but it really is a very lovely place to go, whether it be for a picnic in the day or a starlit walk in the night. It’s free to just potter about, the only thing that requires simoleons is if you feel compelled to do the audio tour, or if you want a cheeky ice-cream from the van in the car park! (TIP; If he isn’t there, fear not! You can get some from the castle gift shop).

Take a friend or your dog or even just a book and relax a little. No matter what the weather is like, the view is always breathtaking, let’s face it I think we all know Portsmouth looks far nicer from afar than up close…

For fitness purposes it’s about 0.8 miles around the outside (I think), and ’tis quite a pleasant jog if you’re into that sorta thing. If not, The Cormorant pub is just outside and has a very lovely beer garden, and beer. (Tip; Parking can be a nightmare, but no-one EVER seems to park in the Cormorant car park, so go there for a beverage first and fret not about finding a space in the constantly full castle ones. You’re welcome)

Three- Pub Hopping

Daytime drink like there is no tomorrow.

There are SO many nice establishments in this wee city, I’ll recommend more in the future as I frequent them I expect.

For the sake of this post however, I’ll stick to the Gunwharf area. I personally suggest popping from old pub to older pub in Old Portsmouth. The Still and West, Spice Island and The Dolphin are all stumbling distance apart and suitably cosy and oldy-worldy enough to lose a day in.

Get the train into Portsmouth harbour and wander through Gunwharf, kick-starting your session by visiting All-Bar-One and fooling everyone into thinking you are merely sipping tea with one of their fun tea pot cocktails!

Please enjoy irresponsibly.

Four- Tennis at Southsea Tennis Club.

Play Tennis.

Healthy, fun and yet completely humiliating!

The best setting, in my humble opinion is at Southsea Tennis Club! (I realise now this post may as well be called five things to do in southsea, hmm, oh well). There always seems to be availability whenever I go on a weekday, admittedly it works out a little pricey, but take a student card or someone with one and it is all of a sudden only about £6 including racket and ball hire. So all you really need is decent shoes, a few hours and low expectations of your tennis skills! (I was sorely disappointed to find out I was no natural Sharapova out on the court).

The main benefit to this club is its tea room ‘Watkins and Faux’ www.watkinsandfaux.co.uk/.

Serving up delicious organic food and beverages, it makes for a nice finish to the activity and PLUS you don’t need to feel bad about trying the cake as you definitely earn it sweating it out on the court! And just look at this sweet little guy who joined us on the table outside.

Five. Blue Reef Aquarium

OTTERS.

Naturally if you don’t like otters all that much maybe skip this one. I however LOVE them, too much cute to be ignored, they sleep holding hands and
smooch each other for crying out loud!

Blue reef aquarium (in Southsea funnily enough) has about three resident otters for you to gaze upon and again on weekdays it’s pretty empty. Sadly the aquarium is not what it was but nonetheless there still are plenty of fishes and the like to have a gander at. It’s £10 for adult entry but once you are in you can go in as many times you like that day, so why not pop over to Watkins and Faux which is literally just
across the road and then go see the otters again?

Why not indeed.

Now go forth and frolic!