"Pretty little island" a Isle of Wight Travel Page by JBourne

Shanklin is a pretty and well placed town. There are several good restaurants, lots of picture-worthy scenery, and it's a good place to stay in for visiting the rest of the island.

We've stayed here a couple of times now and there's a mixture of B&Bs and Edwardian seaside hotels. Most seem to be of reasonable quality, and are staffed by middle aged couples from places like Dudley.

Shanklin is a safe environment for a family holiday, and had great coast walks along to Sandown one way (bit busier with a pier and arcades, not so upmarket), or Ventor the other (beautiful bay but run-down town).

There's a little train that runs from Ryde directly to Shanklin, which is cheap and convenient for getting back to the bigger town.

There are several ferry routes to the Isle of Wight. This pic shows two ferries on the Lymington to Yarmouth route, with the QE2 passing in the background.

I've only every got the Fastcat passengers ferries over, and they take less than 15 mins to go from Portsmouth to Ryde.

In parts, this side of the island - facing the mainland - has 180 degree views of the Solent with all manner of boats bobbing about to lie around and watch for hours. On a sunny day this is incredibly relaxing.