Day Trips from Lyndhurst

Lyndhurst makes a very good base for day trips because almost everywhere in the New Forest is within half an hour’s drive. Beaulieu is about a quarter of an hour away, the coast at Lymington under 20 minutes, and Southampton, Salisbury and Bournemouth are all well within an hour. Below are the trips we’d actually recommend, with honest driving times and a note on buses wherever there’s a usable one.

A word on those times. They’re rough guides for a clear road, worked out from Lyndhurst village centre. Forest roads are mostly 40mph with ponies and cattle wandering across, and the one-way system through Lyndhurst backs up on summer weekends, so add ten or fifteen minutes at busy times.

Day trips from Lyndhurst at a glance

Buses for day trips without a car

Two services matter. The New Forest Breezer 86 (run by morebus, formerly Bluestar 6) runs all year between Southampton and Lymington through Totton, Ashurst, Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst. In autumn 2026 it ran roughly hourly through the middle of the day from Monday to Saturday, with bigger gaps early and late, and about every two hours on Sundays. At the time of writing, single fares on these buses are capped at £3. Check the current timetable on the morebus website, because a missed bus can mean a long wait.

In summer the open-top New Forest Tour runs three hop-on, hop-off routes on one ticket, and two of them start in Lyndhurst. The Green route goes to Brockenhurst, Lymington, Beaulieu, Exbury Gardens and Hythe. The Red route goes to Burley, Ringwood and Fordingbridge. The Blue route starts in Lymington and runs through Brockenhurst and Burley to New Milton, Barton-on-Sea and Milford-on-Sea. In 2026 it ran from 4 July to 13 September, and it carries up to three bikes free. Dates for 2027 hadn’t been published when we wrote this. Our car-free weekend plan and getting here page have more on travelling without a car.

Beaulieu, Buckler’s Hard and Exbury Gardens

These three sit close together south-east of Lyndhurst, beyond the open heath around Beaulieu Road, and two of them fit comfortably into one day.

Beaulieu and the National Motor Museum

Beaulieu is the big paid day out on this side of the Forest. One ticket covers the National Motor Museum, Palace House and its gardens, the ruins of Beaulieu Abbey and Little Beaulieu, plus unlimited rides on the monorail. Car fans could spend all day in the museum alone, and the house and abbey keep everyone else happy. At the time of writing (autumn 2026), adult tickets are £31.50 on the day or £28.35 booked online, and children aged 4 to 16 are £18.50 (£16.65 online). If you come back within six days you get in free, except on big event days. It’s open every day from 10am except Christmas Day. Dogs on leads are welcome in the grounds but not in most buildings.

Beaulieu village, just outside the gates, is small and pretty and sits beside the mill pond. From 21 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, Palace House puts on Alice’s Christmas Wonderland, which seems only right, given that the real Alice Liddell is buried in Lyndhurst.

Buckler’s Hard

A couple of miles downriver from Beaulieu, Buckler’s Hard is a single wide street of 18th-century cottages running down to the Beaulieu River, where warships for Nelson’s fleet were built. The village itself is free to walk into, and you pay for parking. The museum tells the shipbuilding story and has reconstructed cottage rooms. In 2026 it cost £6.25 for adults and £4.45 for children aged 4 to 16. The river cruise ran from late March to mid-September in 2026. Winter hours are 10am to 4.30pm. The Captain’s Table café closes for good at the end of 1 November 2026, so check the Buckler’s Hard website for where to eat after that.

Exbury Gardens

Exbury is about 25 minutes from Lyndhurst, beyond Beaulieu, and its woodland garden of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias is at its best from late April to May. Autumn colour is very good too. A narrow-gauge steam railway runs through the garden. In 2026 the gardens opened daily until 31 October, from 10am to 5.30pm, and autumn tickets booked online were £14.50 for adults and £6.50 for children, with the train extra. That’s the end of the regular season, so check exbury.co.uk for winter events and the spring reopening date. Dogs on short leads are welcome.

Lymington and the coast

Twenty minutes south down the A337 through Brockenhurst, Lymington is a Georgian market town with a cobbled street down to its quay, plenty of independent shops and a proper Saturday market in the High Street. The St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery (open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm) is worth an hour. At the time of writing it’s showing the painter Sven Berlin until 16 January 2027. The open-air Sea Water Baths date from 1833 and open through the summer; check the dates before you go. Wightlink car ferries cross from Lymington to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight if you fancy a bigger day.

West of the town, the Lymington to Keyhaven Nature Reserve follows the sea wall for about four miles of saltmarsh and lagoons, with views across to the Isle of Wight and excellent winter birdwatching (more on our wildlife watching page). At the Keyhaven end, Hurst Castle sits at the tip of a long shingle spit. Check English Heritage before you go, as it can close in bad weather. The Breezer 86 bus gets you to Lymington in about 35 minutes.

Burley, Brockenhurst and the Ornamental Drives

Burley

Burley is 15 to 20 minutes west, through some of the loveliest open Forest anywhere. It’s a village of ponies wandering the streets, tea rooms and gift shops, and a lot of witchcraft-themed souvenirs, which owe something to Sybil Leek, a self-styled white witch who lived here in the 1950s. Smugglers liked it too: a hidden cellar found during building work at the Queen’s Head pub turned up old pistols and coins. Just west of the village is Castle Hill, the remains of an Iron Age hillfort. New Forest Cycling (formerly Forest Leisure Cycling) at The Cross hires bikes if you want to explore the gravel tracks. In summer the New Forest Tour’s Red route stops in Burley.

Brockenhurst

Brockenhurst is ten minutes south and the easiest trip of all, with a mainline railway station, a good selection of cafés and pubs, and ponies that wander the streets and stand in the ford. The open lawns at Balmer Lawn and Butts Lawn are good for a picnic, and the nearest gravel cycle track is only about 400 metres from the station. You can walk there from Lyndhurst too: see our Lyndhurst to Brockenhurst walk and get the bus back.

The Rhinefield and Bolderwood Ornamental Drives

These two drives are the Forest’s showpiece roads and make a short trip on their own. Head west from Lyndhurst on the A35 for about 3 miles. Turn left for the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, which runs south towards Brockenhurst past the Blackwater car park (the start of the Tall Trees Trail among giant redwoods). Turn right for the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive, which runs north past the Knightwood Oak, the largest oak in the Forest at 7.4 metres round, to Bolderwood itself. Our Knightwood Oak walk starts there. All the Forestry England car parks along the drives charge, from £1.50 an hour, payable through RingGo (Bolderwood also has a card machine), not cash. The drives are narrow in places and you’ll meet cyclists, so take them slowly.

Southampton, Salisbury and Bournemouth

Southampton

Southampton is about 25 minutes east by car, or 50 minutes on the Breezer 86. The SeaCity Museum in the Civic Centre tells the city’s Titanic story with interactive displays and objects from the ship, and it’s a good rainy-day choice for older children. In the old town, Tudor House and Garden is the city’s oldest museum. When we checked, both opened 10am to 4.30pm (11am to 4pm on Sundays), with Tudor House closed on Wednesdays. The medieval town walls are free to walk, and Westquay is there for the shops.

Salisbury

Salisbury is around 35 to 45 minutes north by car, via Cadnam, a short hop on the M27 and the A36. The cathedral has the tallest spire in Britain and one of the four surviving original 1215 copies of Magna Carta, and the Cathedral Close around it is one of the finest in England. Ticket prices and tower tour times change, so check the cathedral’s website before you go. There’s no direct bus. Without a car, take the Breezer 86 to Southampton and catch a train from there.

Bournemouth

For a proper sandy beach, Bournemouth is about 35 to 45 minutes west via Cadnam, the A31 and the A338, with miles of sand, a pier and a cliff-top promenade. Summer weekend traffic into Bournemouth can be slow, so leave early. There’s no direct bus from Lyndhurst; the easiest public transport route is the train from Brockenhurst. If you’d rather stay in the Forest, Lymington and Keyhaven give you the sea without the crowds.

If you’d rather stay put, our one day in Lyndhurst itinerary and the main things to do in Lyndhurst page cover the village itself.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Beaulieu from Lyndhurst?

About 7 miles, or 15 to 20 minutes by car. In summer the New Forest Tour Green route links the two.

Can you get from Lyndhurst to Lymington by bus?

Yes. The Breezer 86 runs all year between Southampton and Lymington via Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, roughly hourly in the daytime from Monday to Saturday and about every two hours on Sundays, and takes about 35 minutes.

Is Exbury Gardens open in winter?

Not for normal visits. In 2026 the regular season ran until 31 October. Check Exbury’s website for any winter events and the spring reopening date.

What is the best day trip from Lyndhurst for families?

Beaulieu, for the motor museum, monorail and grounds. On a budget, Brockenhurst’s lawns and the Ornamental Drives cost no more than the parking.