Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - A perfect family day out

Last week my kids embarked on their first plane journey without me as they set off from Dublin with their Dad to visit the city where he was born - Portsmouth.

All their young lives they've heard about Portsmouth, done school projects on Portsmouth, been 'encouraged' to support Portsmouth FC, worn the kit, bought the t-shirt, but never visited. And so they were off. Just before leaving we were coincidentally offered some family tickets to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - a place earmarked already as a must see due to the iconic HMS Vistory being housed there. So we snapped them up and off they all went with instructions to report back to me.

Here's what they got up to...

The hightlights.
They all loved touring the huge ships - HMS Vistory - the oldest serving warship still in commission, and HMS Warrior 1860 - which was the largest warship in the world and is now fully restored and serving as a museum, monument and visitor attraction.

The Harbour Tour was also a clear winner:

And of course a trip the dockyard wouldn't be complete without a popping to the top of Spinnaker Tower.

Also included in the dockyard attractions are:

The Mary Rose museum
Action Stations - which is home to one of Europe's tallest indoor climbing walls
The National Museum of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy Submarine Museum

There are coffee shops, restaurants and picnic areas too.

Whether you are originally from Portsmouth or just visiting, the Dockyards are a fantastic day out - in fact there's so much to see and learn you may well need more than just one day.

Excitingly, this month there’s a "one-off chance to get out on the water for a bird’s eye view of The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series. You can get the chance to check out the sailing action with specially chartered boat tours from Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is part of Portsmouth Naval Base, which is playing host to the technical area and team base,  effectively the pit lanes of the premier racing circuit. The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series comes to town from Thursday 23^rd July and Sunday 26^th July."

For more check out Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 

Disclosure: We were provided with an annual family pass to the dockyards in order to review the attraction.