Isle of Wight Coast Path

Circumnavigating an island is always a rewarding experience and the path around the Isle of Wight's spectacular coastline is especially satisfying. The variety of the coastal scenery is amazing, with towering stark white cliffs, the spectacular chalk stacks of ‘The Needles', the multi-coloured sands of Alum Bay, wooded ‘chines', golden beaches, dramatic landslipped bluffs, sheltered undercliffs, tidal creeks, estuaries, mudflats and salt marsh.

Along the trail you'll find sleepy thatched villages, lively seaside resorts and bustling harbours. Other features of interest include a fossil forest; Appley Tower, built to celebrate the sailing of the First Fleet to Botany Bay in 1787; Yarmouth Castle, built by Henry VIII to defend the port from attacks by the French; Palmerston-era forts like the spectacularly sited Needles Old Battery, built in 1862 in response to the threat of a French invasion; St Catherine's Oratory and ‘Pepper Pot' lighthouse, built as an act of contrition by a wrecker who unwisely stole a quantity of religious wine from a local shipwreck in 1313; Quarr Abbey, the remains of the island's earliest Christian relics; and Osborne House which was built in the 1840's by Prince Albert and Thomas Cubitt as a summer retreat for the Royal Family. Following Albert's death, the desolate Queen Victoria spent much of her time here until her death in 1901. Since then, the house has remained virtually unaltered, offering a unique insight into Victoria's family life.