Rainy Day Activities
A grey sky over Swanage Bay doesn't have to mean a day stuck indoors at your accommodation.
Purbeck has been keeping visitors busy on wet days for generations, from cosy museums and theatre to a farm barn built for muddy boots and a spa with sea views through the rain-streaked glass. Here's where the locals head when the forecast turns.
Whatever the Weather
Museums & Heritage
Swanage's story is best told indoors, and there's more of it undercover than you might expect.
- Swanage Museum and Heritage Centre - a compact, free-to-enter museum in the town centre tracing Swanage's maritime and quarrying past; open seasonally.
- Durlston Castle - the Victorian castle at Durlston Country Park is as much a shelter as a viewpoint, with an art gallery, gift shop, café and a spiral staircase up to the Belvedere room, plus exhibits on the Jurassic Coast just beyond the glass.
- Swanage Railway - the steam trains run in all weathers, and the covered, heated carriages make for a genuinely cosy way to see the Purbeck countryside on the way to Corfe Castle. Break the journey at Norden station for its indoor clay mining museum.
Families Welcome
Keeping the Kids Entertained
For younger visitors, a wet day is the perfect excuse for somewhere with a soft play mat instead of a beach towel.
- The Salt Pig Farm (formerly Putlake Adventure Farm), Langton Matravers - just outside Swanage, its indoor barn is built for rainy days, with slides, tunnels and a ball pit for under-10s, plus an on-site café for the grown-ups.
- The Mowlem Theatre and Cinema - Swanage's own cinema and live venue shows the latest family films on the big screen, with an upstairs bar looking out over the bay for anyone old enough to make the most of it.
Warm Up & Unwind
Relax in Purbeck
Sometimes the best response to a wet day is to lean into it, with steam instead of sightseeing.
- Burlington Health Spa, at the Grand Hotel - an indoor heated plunge pool, jacuzzi and sauna, complimentary for hotel guests and open to day visitors for a fee.
- Swanage Bay Sauna - a heated sauna right opposite the beach, with sea views included and the option to brave a cold dip in between.
Worth the Drive
The Wider Isle of Purbeck & Beyond
If the rain sets in for the day, a handful of the region's biggest indoor attractions are within easy reach along the south coast.
- The Tank Museum, Bovington (around 30 minutes by car) - one of the best rainy-day days out in Dorset, full stop: six vast indoor exhibition halls of tanks and military history, built for exactly this kind of weather.
- Splashdown Poole, Tower Park - an indoor water park with flumes and a wave pool, reached via the Sandbanks chain ferry for a shorter run than the road route suggests.
- Oceanarium, Bournemouth seafront - sharks, rays and rainforest creatures under one roof, whatever's happening outside.
- Poole Museum - free, indoor, and packed with Poole Harbour's history, a short walk from the quay.
- Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester - Jurassic Coast fossils and dinosaur finds indoors, alongside the county's Thomas Hardy collection.
