Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The complex is managed by the National Museum of the Royal Navy and is part of HM Naval Base Portsmouth. Although the Historic Dockyard is promoted as a single visitor attraction, each of the museums and historic ships within the complex have individual admission charges and you have the option of buying a Three Attraction Ticket, the Ultimate Explorer Ticket (for entry to the entire complex) or paying to visit just one single attraction. The Ultimate Explorer Ticket is the best value ticket.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy also manages several other attractions in the Portsmouth area that lie outside the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. These are the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, both these attractions are located in Gosport, on the other side of Portsmouth Harbour. The Ultimate Explorer Ticket also lets you visit these attractions and even includes a harbour tour connecting the Historic Dockyard with the Gosport attractions.

What to see at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a large complex that comprises a number of major attractions including historic naval ships from Tudor times up till the 20th century.

Depending on what type of ticket you have, you can visit just one of these attractions, three attractions or all of them. There is a lot to see here and you will need several days to visit all the attractions properly.

Action Stations

Action Stations is a commando experience that includes the 40m- (131ft)-long Ocean Warrior assault course, an 8.4m- (27ft)-tall climbing wall and a ropes course. It is primarily an activity geared towards families with children.

Action Stations is only open during weekends and school holidays.

HMS Victory

HMS Victory is the Royal Navy’s best-known warship was under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson off Cape Trafalgar in 1805 and it has been restored to its original splendour to commemorate the 2005 bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Visitors to HMS Victory can also visit the Victory Gallery in the National Museum of the Royal Navy, which is located adjacent to the ship. This exhibit tells the story of the ship beyond its role at the Battle of Trafalgar and includes important artefacts and a short film.

HMS Warrior 1860

When it was launched in 1860, HMS Warrior was the most advanced warship ever built and at the time she was the world’s first armour-plated iron-hulled warship.

The 40-gun steam-powered frigate was restored during the 1980s and she has been based in Portsmouth as a museum ship since 1987.

It has now been restored to its original glory to show what it would have been like to sail aboard her.

Mary Rose Museum

Henry VIII’s favourite warship was built between 1510 and 1511 and saw action in the First, Second and Third French Wars before being sunk in 1545 during the Battle of the Solent.

The Mary Rose lay in its watery grave for hundreds of years before being found by divers and raised in front of a TV audience in 1982. The remains of the Mary Rose are housed in a £35 million museum building that features over 1200 items taken from the wreck and the museum’s Bonaventure Gallery has hands-on exhibits that give you an idea of life aboard the Mary Rose in Tudor England.

A visit to the Mary Rose Museum also includes the Mary Rose 1545 Experience, which allows you to re-live the final moments prior to her sinking during the Battle of the Solent in July 1545.

HMS M33

HMS M33 is an M29-class monitor that is the last remaining vessel to be involved in the Gallipoli landings during the First World War. She was launched in 1915 and was involved primarily in the Mediterranean and also in Russia. After the war, she was used for a number of minor roles within the Royal Navy and was eventually restored and opened to the public as a museum ship.

National Museum of the Royal Navy

The National Museum of the Royal Navy (formerly the Royal Naval Museum) is an excellent museum that recounts 800 years of naval history with much of the museum focusing on Horatio Nelson, HMS Victory and the Battle of Trafalgar.

The museum is housed in a series of Grade I-listed buildings adjacent to HMS Victory and HMS M33. The No. 11 Storehouse building features exhibition galleries recounting the Age of Sail and the No. 10 Storehouse has exhibits about the role of the Royal Navy during the 20th and 21st centuries. It also includes galleries dedicated to HMS Victory and Horatio Nelson plus the Hear My Story gallery, which tells the stories of the ordinary people who have played a part in the Royal Navy.

Boathouse 4

Boathouse 4 is one of the newer buildings in the Historic Dockyard precinct, having been built during the Second World War. The building is home to the International Boatbuilding College Portsmouth and also includes exhibition spaces that include hands-on activities.

Visitors to Boathouse 4 can see boats undergoing restoration on the ground floor and the first-floor exhibition space includes a display about the role of small boats in the Royal Navy.

All visitors, including visitors with a single-attraction ticket, have access to Boathouse 4.

Harbour tours

Visitors with an Ultimate Explorer ticket can go on a 45-minute harbour tour, which lets you see many of the fortifications that have been built during Portsmouth’s 1,200 years as a naval port.

Visiting the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is a large complex on the harbourfront just a few minutes walk north of Portsmouth Harbour railway station.

At £24, the cost to visit a single attraction is very expensive; however, the £34 three-attraction ticket and the £39 Ultimate Explorer ticket are a much better deal and these tickets allow you to spread your visit over several days. The Ultimate Explorer ticket gives you access to all the attractions at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (plus the Explosion Museum and the Submarine Museum in Gosport) and gives you 12 months to visit these attractions, which means that it is definitely the best deal if you want to explore the site properly.

Only visitors with an Ultimate Explorer ticket are able to go on the harbour tours that operate from the Dockyard. These tours are dependent on weather conditions and may not operate every day.

The Dockyard complex includes several cafes and restaurants as well as picnic areas and several gift shops. There are also several places to eat and drink, including a couple of nice pubs, immediately outside the Dockyard area.

There is a lot to see at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and we recommend that you allow several days to see everything properly as you’ll need to allow around an hour to visit each of the attractions and it would be exhausting to try to see all of them in a day. The recommended visit times for individual attractions are:

• Action Stations – one hour
• HMS Victory – one hour
• HMS Warrior 1860 – one hour
• Mary Rose Museum – two hours
• HMS M33 – one hour
• National Museum of the Royal Navy – two hours
• Boathouse 4 – 1–2 hours
• Harbour tour – 45 minutes