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Dorset

Dorset is a county on the south coast of , in the . Most of the county is agricultural with scattered historic villages and market towns with the Bournemouth-Poole-Christchurch conurbation in the county's south-eastern corner.
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dorsetforyou.gov.uk
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Photo: Skez, CC BY-SA 2.5.
Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Essential Destinations

Top destinations include Bournemouth and Poole.

Photo: NMOS332, CC BY-SA 2.5.
is a seaside resort town in the county of Dorset on the south coast of . is known for its popularity with pensioners and has many residential care homes due to its constant and warm weather.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of . is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its large natural harbour, history, the Lighthouse arts centre and Blue Flag beaches.

Photo: Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is the county town of Dorset. A market town with an undoubtedly long history, has connections to Thomas Hardy, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and Roman Britain, and today features a wide range of visitor attractions, independent retailers and eateries.

Destinations to Discover

Explore places such as Weymouth and Christchurch.

Photo: Caroline Granycome, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is a seaside resort town in Dorset, a county on the south coast of the , in . Visitors are attracted by its harbour and position, approximately halfway along the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site, important for its geology and landforms.

Photo: Ykraps, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a town in Dorset, famed for its millennium-old priory, from which the town derives its name.

Photo: matthewhartley369, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is a town in west Dorset, England, 25 miles west of and east of . Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the at the Dorset– border.

Photo: AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Portland is a town in Dorset, a county on the south coast of the , in . Portland is actually an island, even though it is linked to the mainland by Chesil Beach, as Chesil Beach is a shoal beach.

Photo: Andrewrabbott, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a small town in . A market town and civil parish in northwest Dorset, it's sited on the River Yeo on the edge of the Blackmore Vale.

Photo: muffinn, CC BY 2.0.
is a romantic and unforgettable old town in Dorset, UK. It lives within its earthen walls, with ramparts north, east and west and a river to the south.

Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, 20 miles west of Salisbury and 23 miles north-northeast of , near the border with .

Photo: MikeofDorset, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, 13 miles north-west of . It had a population of 10,355 at the 2021 census.

Photo: Traveler100, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a coastal town of 9,600 people in Dorset. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns. Town is a popular tourist resort, with many thousands of visitors coming to the town during the peak summer season, drawn by the bay's sandy beaches and other attractions.

Photo: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a town and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It lies on the B3095 and B3081 roads, approximately four miles south of the A303 trunk road and five miles northwest of .

Photo: BazViv, CC BY 3.0.
is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, 1+1⁄2 miles inland from the near the confluence of the and its tributary the Asker.

Photo: Bellminsterboy, CC BY-SA 4.0.
, also called just Wimborne, is a town of 16,000 people at the confluence of the River Stour and the River Allen, on the Dorset Heaths in Dorset, England.

Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0.
is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is located around 7+1⁄2 miles west southwest of and 1 mile inland from the coast.

Photo: Traveler100, CC BY-SA 4.0.
is a village in Dorset and the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The medieval castle, built by William the Conqueror, dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage.

Photo: Kevin Walsh, CC BY 2.0.
is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the , around 1+1⁄2 miles north-east of .

Photo: Matthew Hartley, CC BY-SA 2.0.
is a small harbour village in Dorset, , approximately 2 miles south of the centre of .

Dorset

Latitude of center
50.8025° or 50° 48′ 9″ north
Longitude of center
-2.3045° or 2° 18′ 16″ west
Population
770,000
Elevation
486 feet (148 metres)
Geo­Names ID
11609032
Wiki­data ID
Q23159
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.

Satellite Map

Discover Dorset from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
© Stadia Maps, Airbus DS, CNES, PlanetObserver, and Copernicus

In Other Languages

From Afrikaans to Yue Chinese—“Dorset” goes by many names.
  • Afrikaans: “Dorset”
  • Arabic: “دورست”
  • Aragonese: “Dorset”
  • Armenian: “Դորսեթ”
  • Armenian: “Դորսետ”
  • Asturian: “Dorset”
  • Azerbaijani: “Dorset”
  • Azerbaijani: “Dorsetşir”
  • Balinese: “Dorset”
  • Basque: “Dorset”
  • Belarusian: “Дорсет”
  • Belarusian: “Дорсэт”
  • Bengali: “ডরসেট”
  • Breton: “Dorset”
  • Bulgarian: “Дорсет”
  • Catalan: “Dorset”
  • Cebuano: “Dorset”
  • Central Kurdish: “دۆرسێت”
  • Chinese: “Dorset”
  • Chinese: “多塞特郡”
  • Chinese: “多實郡”
  • Cornish: “Dorset”
  • Czech: “Dorset”
  • Danish: “Dorset”
  • Dutch: “Dorset”
  • Esperanto: “Dorset”
  • Estonian: “Dorset”
  • Finnish: “Dorset”
  • French: “Dorset”
  • Galician: “Dorset”
  • Georgian: “დორსეტი”
  • German: “Dorset”
  • Gothic: “𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍄𐍃”
  • Greek: “Ντόρσετ”
  • Gujarati: “ડોરસેટ”
  • Hakka Chinese: “Dorset”
  • Hebrew: “דורסט”
  • Hindi: “डॉर्सेट”
  • Hungarian: “Dorset”
  • Icelandic: “Dorset”
  • Ido: “Dorset”
  • Indonesian: “Dorset”
  • Interlingua: “Dorset”
  • Irish: “Dorset”
  • Italian: “Dorset”
  • Japanese: “ドーセット”
  • Kannada: “ಡಾರ್ಸೆಟ್”
  • Korean: “도싯주”
  • Kurdish: “Dorset”
  • Ladin: “Dorset”
  • Latin: “Dorcestria”
  • Latvian: “Dorseta”
  • Lithuanian: “Dorsetas”
  • Low German: “Dorset”
  • Luxembourgish: “Grofschaft Dorset”
  • Macedonian: “Дорсет”
  • Malay: “Dorset”
  • Malayalam: “ഡോർസെറ്റ്”
  • Manipuri: “ꯗꯣꯔꯁꯦꯠ”
  • Manx: “Dorset”
  • Marathi: “डॉर्सेट”
  • Min Nan Chinese: “Dorset”
  • Mirandese: “Dorset”
  • Northern Frisian: “Dorset”
  • Norwegian Bokmål: “Dorset”
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: “Dorset”
  • Norwegian: “Dorset”
  • Occitan (post 1500): “Dorset”
  • Old English (ca. 450-1100): “Dorsæte”
  • Ossetian: “Дорсет”
  • Persian: “دورست (انگلستان)”
  • Persian: “دورست”
  • Polish: “Dorset”
  • Portuguese: “Dorset”
  • Quechua: “Dorset”
  • Romanian: “Dorset”
  • Russian: “Дорсет”
  • Scots: “Dorset”
  • Serbian: “Дорсет”
  • Serbo-Croatian: “Dorset”
  • Sicilian: “Dorset”
  • Slovak: “Dorset”
  • Slovenian: “Dorset”
  • Spanish: “Dorset”
  • Swedish: “Dorset”
  • Swedish: “Dorsetshire”
  • Tajik: “Дорсет”
  • Tamil: “டோர்செட்”
  • Tatar: “Дорсет”
  • Telugu: “డోర్ సెట్”
  • Thai: “ดอร์เซต”
  • Tornedalen Finnish: “Dorset”
  • Tornedalen Finnish: “Dorsetshire”
  • Turkish: “Dorset”
  • Turkish: “Törensel Dorset Kontluğu”
  • Ukrainian: “Дорсет”
  • Urdu: “ڈورسٹ”
  • Venetian: “Dorset”
  • Vietnamese: “Dorset”
  • Volapük: “Dorset”
  • Waray (Philippines): “Dorset”
  • Welsh: “Dorset”
  • Western Frisian: “Dorset”
  • Western Panjabi: “ڈورسٹ”
  • Wu Chinese: “多塞特郡”
  • Yiddish: “דארסעט”
  • Yue Chinese: “多實郡”

West Country: Must-Visit Destinations

Delve into Bristol, Stonehenge, Bath, and Plymouth.

Explore These Curated Destinations

Discover places selected for their distinct character and enduring appeal.
About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Dorset”. Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0.