Enjoy a unique day out travelling on the only passenger hovercraft route in Europe and experiencing the fascinating history of hovercrafts at The Hovercraft Museum.
What do Princess Anne, the Sultan of Oman and James Bond have in common……..that’s right, you’ve guessed, hovercrafts! Now, I’m going to admit that this one is a little bit niche but it did make for a fun and unique day out. It’s a day of two halves.
The Hovercraft Museum is a fascinating visit if you have an interest in modern history or engineering. Combine it with a trip on a hovercraft to the Isle of Wight via the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service in Europe you have an experience you can’t get anywhere else in the UK. Plus there’s fish and chips and ice cream involved!
This guide on travelling by hovercraft to the Isle of Wight and visiting The Hovercraft Museum in Portsmouth will cover:
What to expect from the Hovercraft Museum
The Hovercraft Museum is based on the site of the old Royal Navy Interservice Hovercraft Trials Unit, or HMS Daedalus, in Lee-on-the-Solent near Portsmouth. The area has a rich maritime history and many of the hovercraft were built and operated locally including on the Isle of Wight. It’s a working museum and the 55 hovercraft in its collection are at various stages of restoration or preservation. The museum also includes several rare hovercraft such as the very first production hovercraft in the world and many that were used to develop hovercraft technology.
As a previously working hovercraft unit it is, not unexpectedly, right on the coast. There are spectacular views across to the Isle of Wight and you can walk along the seafront to various cafes and restaurants.
The site is both outside, open to the elements, and inside large hangers. You can get on board many of the hovercraft to look inside including the large car decks, passenger compartments and cockpits. There were knowledgeable volunteer guides dotted around who were able to tell us lots of interesting stories about the hovercrafts.
The centrepiece of the museum is “The Princess Anne”, the world’s largest commercial hovercraft. Hovercraft float on a bed of air which is contained by a ‘skirt’ which needs to be maintained to avoid leaks. A volunteer told us cheekily about how the hovercraft maintainers would have to inspect ‘Princess Anne’s’ skirts each evening after a day of crossing the channel.
And by the channel I do mean the channel to France – getting to France by hovercraft used to be quicker than any ferry that exists today. “The Princess Anne” served for over 33 years as a ferry between Dover and Calais in the 1970s, 80s and 90s and carried up to 60 cars and over 400 passengers. She still holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest car-carrying commercial channel crossing at 22 minutes in 1993. She was retired from service in 2000. The years since have taken its toll, as it has for many of the exhibits, but you can still go on board and see for yourself what it would have been like.
4 things to know before you visit The Hovercraft Museum:
- This is really a trip for a weekend day – the Hovercraft Museum is only open on Saturdays and Sundays and has a ‘brief closure’ over Winter.
- The museum and Gosport are connected by bus. If arriving by car, parking is pay and display just outside the museum but be prepared for a short walk if it’s busy.
- The website includes lots of information about accessibility including accessible parking.
- The café is really only set up for drinks and snacks so make alternative plans for lunch.
Extend your stay in Portsmouth
If you can extend your stay in Portsmouth then I there are plenty of 5 star rated things to do with a maritime theme:
- Portsmouth historic dockyard (this is worth an entire day or two in itself)
- The Mary Rose
- Old Portsmouth historical walking tour
- Spinnaker Tower for spectacular views across Portsmouth Harbour
Taking a flight on a hovercraft to the Isle of Wight
Despite plying the routes that many boats do today hovercrafts are described as ‘flying’ when in service, hovering on that bed of air, and they are flown by pilots. You get the best sense of this – the full hovercraft experience - by taking a ride in one and that’s where we went next, travelling over to Southsea and buying our tickets to ‘fly’ to the Isle of Wight via Hovertravel’s Portsmouth to Ryde ferry.
As a child I remember standing at Southsea getting covered in spray as the hovercrafts flew off. The hovercraft draw spectators on both sides of the Solent because they are a spectacular novelty. Unlike any boat the hovercraft start their journey on dry land, swooshing sideways into the sea, shooting up gallons of spray. The journey is smooth and the most bizarre feeling awaits at the other end when the hovercraft just flies straight onto the land.
It was this feature that made them well suited to the Isle of Wight where very low tides at Ryde meant traditional ferries had to dock at the end of a long pier. The hovercraft take people right up onto the land, next to the bus station making journeys easier.
Fish and chips on the seafront
Once on the Isle of Wight, deposited pretty much right on the esplanade, you are in a prime seafront position in the heart of Ryde. You can get a bus, train or taxi to another part of the Isle of Wight (turning this into more than a day trip if you’d like) or you can enjoy all that Ryde has to offer. For us this was fish and chips and an ice cream a few minute’s walk from the hovercraft before returning back later in the evening.
Extend your stay on the Isle of Wight
If you want to extend your trip to a weekend on the Isle of Wight then recommended places to stay local to Ryde include: