Home / Guided Walks and Tours / Guided Walks

Guided Walks

Southampton is a compact city which can easily be explored on foot.

Guided Walks

Southampton Tourist Guides Association offers a programme of guided walks, lasting approximately 90 minutes. From being a point of contact between England and the Norman kings' lands in France, by the end of the 14th century Southampton had to be defended against attack from across the sea. Walk around the Walls and hear stories of the people who lived and loved, worked and fought in the medieval town, and from then to the present day. The town has more medieval vaults than anywhere else in England - come inside some of them and feel the atmosphere of the past.

Please go to the southern (High Street) side of the Bargate, near to the entrance to the Bargate Shopping Centre, where there is a sign showing the meeting point for the walks. When there is a Market at the Bargate, there are likely to be stalls by the meeting point sign and, in that situation,the Guide will be by the railings of the Bargate near the steps leading up to the door of the Bargate.

All year

Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays at 10.30am - Guided Walk around the Western Walls of the Old Town.

Summer:

June - Sunday, Monday, Wednesday: 10.30am. Western Walls walk.

July - Daily 10.30am. Western Walls walk.

August - Daily 10.30am. Western Walls walk.

2.30pm (August afternoons, ONLY)

Mondays to Fridays (each day) A walk around the Eastern side of the Old Town including a visit to St Julien's Chapel which is not normally open to the public.

Saturdays. Titanic Trail. This walk takes about one and three quarters of an hour and visits places associated with the story of Titanic as it affected Southampton. The walk starts at the Bargate, goes down through part of the Old Town then out towards the Eastern Docks area then returns to the Old Town.

Sundays: Jane Austen's Southampton. Jane lived in Southampton between 1806 and 1809. The walk looks at Southampton as it would have been during her time here.

September - Daily 10.30am. Western Walls walk.

The Guide will be wearing a badge to show that he or she is a fully qualified Blue Badge or Green Badge Guide. The walks are free, save that groups of more than 8 people must, please, book a private tour (for which there is a charge) by contacting the Booking Secretary between 9am and 5pm on 023 8057 1858.

Educational tours can be tailored to the National Curriculum. Popular themes include Settlements, Tudors and Stuarts, World War II and the Blitz. Please telephone the Booking Secretary for more details.

Private themed walks, including Southampton's connections to the Titanic tragedy, and talks by members of the Southampton Tourist Guides Association, on a variety of subjects, can be arranged for groups, schools or other organisations. Please contact the Booking Secretary for details. Southampton Tourist Guides for coach parties in Southampton can also be arranged.

Special note: In some places, access to the town walls and ancient monuments is by steep stairways that may cause difficulty for anyone with disabilities. If anyone feels that they will, or may, have any difficulty, please speak to the Guide at the Bargate before the start of a walk so that the Guide is aware of the position.

For general information regarding guided walks (apart from enquiring about, or booking, private walks or talks) please contact a Tourist Information Assistant on 023 8083 3333

Parks

There are also regular Park Walks and Events There are also January to June Events in the park that are currently taking place.

Southampton Old (Victorian) Cemetery Walks

Opened in 1846 on the south western part of Southampton Common, the 'Old Cemetery' was one of the earliest municipal (local authority) cemeteries in England. It still has all the original buildings and, as well as being a place of historic interest, it has a wide variety of trees and wildlife.

Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery (FoSOC) arrange guided walks in the cemetery on a variety of themes as well as a monthly wildlife walk. Their website contains a great deal of information, dates and times for guided walks together with contact details.