The Area

Welcome to Southampton, a vibrant, modern city which offers many attractions from quality shopping to a variety of outdoor activities. Whether you’re considering moving to the area or you’re already enjoying the quality of life that is on offer, this section provides some useful information and related links.

Southampton is the greenest city in the region, with a wealth of parks and open spaces - and beaches, beautiful countryside and England's newest national park all on the doorstep. Southampton is truly a great place to live and work.

Travelling
Southampton benefits from direct links with major cities throughout the UK and Europe, through its extensive road, rail, sea and air services.

Roads
The M27 and M3 motorways provide easy access to a number of areas including London, the Midlands and the West Country. Winchester, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Salisbury and the Isle of Wight are all within easy reach as well as the beautiful New Forest National Park.

Rail
Direct train services link Southampton with many parts of the UK. South West Trains operates between London Waterloo and Southampton Central. There are also stations at Southampton Airport Parkway, Romsey and Eastleigh. Convenient connections are available at London Waterloo with Eurostar services to and from Paris, Brussels and Lille.

South West Trains, Wessex, Southern and Virgin Trains operate regular services along the south coast with through trains to and from Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth in the west and Portsmouth, Brighton and Gatwick Airport in the east. Longer distance services provide direct links with Bath, Bristol, South Wales, the Midlands, the North and Scotland.

www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains

Air Travel
Southampton International Airport offers flights to a wide variety of destinations in the UK and Europe, with worldwide connections. There are up to four trains every hour to Southampton Central (a 7 minute journey) and to London Waterloo (a 66 minute journey), with fast rail links to many InterCity destinations.

BAA Southampton International Airport - www.southamptonairport.com

Sea Travel
A high-speed passenger ferry service is operated by Red Funnel to the Isle of Wight every half hour throughout the day and evening, together with a car ferry service which runs every hour. There is also a regular half-hourly ferry service, operated by White Horse Ferries, between Southampton and Hythe providing leisure and commuter links with the New Forest. Ferries depart from the Town Quay/Mayflower Park area of the city centre. A free City Link bus links ferries to trains.

www.redfunnel.co.uk

Useful Links
www.hants.gov.uk
www.southampton.gov.uk