Purbeck Guided or Independent Walking Holiday

Purbeck can be booked as a guided walking tour or as an independent, self-guided hiking holiday.

In both cases, Corfe Castle is the focal point of a series of 4 circular or semi-circular one-day trails of exceptional beauty and moderate difficulty, with an average of 11 miles per day.

Some long sections of our Purbeck trail are along the stunning South West Coast Path and inland grassy ridges that are included in our Jurassic Coast trail. There are a few steep ups and downs, especially on coastal paths, as well as longer easy sections. One day takes you through a very different landscape of fields, heath and woodland.

Purbeck is served by the main line railway station at Wareham, which is reached in only 2 hrs 20 minutes from London Waterloo.

Highlights of our Purbeck trail include:

• The majestic ruin of Corfe Castle
• Old Harry Rocks
• The beach resorts of Swanage and Studland
• Durlstone Country Park (Nature Reserve)
• The attractive Purbeck Stone villages of Kingston, Worth Matravers, Kimmeridge and Corfe Castle
• The historic Swanage steam railway
• Agglestone (rock), set in the middle of Godlingston Heath Nature Reserve.

In addition to the beauty of its villages and untamed landscape, especially its coastline, Purbeck is an area known for its traces of dinosaurs, whose footprints and fossilised bones have been found in several places, dating back over 60 million years.

If you have opted for a scheduled guided walking holiday, you will be led by an experienced and knowledgeable local guide on each day’s walk, who will be your tour leader.

You will be accommodated in one hotel, inn or B&B for the duration of your holiday, with transport provided as and when necessary to take you to the start of each day’s hike and back again in the late afternoon.

Our full Purbeck trail is a 6 night holiday - 4 days’ walking with one rest day in the middle. You can also do a short break of 3 nights - 2 days’ walking. Please see the scheduled dates below and check availability.

If you have chosen to go on our independent, self-guided walking holiday, you will be accommodated in a town or village, from where you can easily reach the start of each trail and return back to your B&B or hotel without requiring transport of your own.

On one or more days, depending on the location of your accommodation, you may choose to go on the historic Swanage Railway steam train to or from the trail – a journey of 20 minutes.

You will be given our Purbeck Trail Guide that includes detailed walking directions, and all other information that you might need.

You can choose your own dates, subject to the availability of accommodation, for between 2 nights (1 or 2 days’ walking) and 6 nights (4 days’ walking with one rest day in the middle). Please check availability (see below).

Occasionally we may propose accommodation with a standard and price halfway between A1 and A2.

We can sometimes offer family rooms and special prices for children, depending on the accommodation that is available at the time, but early booking is advisable. Please give us details of your requirements.

For our full range of holidays and how we operate, go to holidays 2008 and why footscape?.