Best Dorset hotels 2023: Where to stay for luxury and sandy beaches

With the best intentions in the world, you might hope to make it to Bovington Tank Museum or Corfe Castle, but what you folks have really come to Dorset for is the beach.

Around Bournemouth and Sandbanks, picture soft sands and bling beach bars. On to Studland, it’s a wilder coastline, perfect for picnics in the dunes. Then you hit seafood territory, where the resort towns of Weymouth, Lulworth, West Bay and Lyme Regis lure weekenders with oyster shacks and pebbly coves.

The latter of those locations is also the setting for Wonka – a fictional biopic based on everyones favourite candyman, Willy Wonka, that’s due to be released in December 2023. The film will star big names such as Timothee Chalamet, Rowan Atkinson and Olivia Coleman, so you best get there before everyone is making a beeline for the coast.

Arguably though, all of these big names are eclipsed by the real star of Dorset though. We’re of course referring to the famous natural limestone arch that features on many a postcard in this region – Durdle Door. Situated right on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth, it’s a definite hotspot and somewhere you’re sure to want to visit on your stay.

Whether you’re a beach bod, a film fanatic, or simply just want to see what else the South West has to offer, we’ve rounded up the best places to stay at in Dorset so you’re never to far from the water.

Location: Studland

The Pig is a great destination by foodies

(The Pig on the Beach)

There are restaurants-with-rooms, and then there’s The Pig hotel. This one is the best in show, in an 1850s converted clifftop residence (it used to be an MP’s seaside escape), with pathways down to pretty Middle Beach and Knoll Beach, and lawn views to Old Harry Rocks, just a 30-minute ramble away. Turn your menu over to see a map of The Pig’s local food producers – no ingredient is sourced from more than 25 miles away – then be amazed by what the chefs can do with pork belly, radishes, and Dorset trout.

Price: Doubles from £260

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Location: Bournemouth

The perfect place for a swim

(The Nici)

This is what the seaside town has been waiting for: a five-star hotel with a pool scene and bling interiors befitting of Bournemouth’s Premier-League status. Miami is the hotel’s muse, which means tropical gardens, pink parasols, candy-striped loungers, cabanas, and a stunning 30m pool that gives SoBe a run for its money. Even if you can’t nab a room, book lunch on the sunny chequerboard tiled terrace where a Candy Floss cocktail comes with a swirl of the sweet stuff.

Location: Chesil Beach

The perfect choice if you’re looking for something a little more upmarket

(Seaside Boarding House)

Owned by the same people who run The Groucho in London, this place feels more like a private members’ club – maybe a genteel house party – than a beach B&B. There are only nine rooms, every one with a sea view, sometimes from the mahogany bed or the clawfoot bathtub if you’re lucky. Beaches don’t come much more photogenic than this stretch – so beautiful it was used as the location for British crime classic Broadchurch.

Price: Doubles from £245

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Location: Wareham

Wake up to the banks of Wareham River every morning

(The Priory)

Start your weekend in style and arrive to The Priory by water – it’s on the banks of the Wareham River, reachable by any one of the classic boat tours that leave from Poole Quay; affordable but unforgettable. Then settle in for a grown-up, gourmet getaway (no kids under 14 here), among wood-panelling, exposed beams and flagstone floors. Wareham itself is an ancient market town (Saturday morning is buzzing) and prime pint territory, where pub gardens roll down to the water’s edge and yachts drift by as if life were a painting.

Location: Near Weymouth

Fancy spotting sheep on your daily walk?

(Moonfleet Manor)

Yes, you’re a parent, but that doesn’t mean you’re resigned to a lifetime of wipe-clean holidays just yet. Which is why you’ll love historic Moonfleet Manor, one of five luxury family hotels in the UK, each of which gives grown-ups a country-house hotel experience, even if they have toddlers in tow. That means you can expect four-poster beds, grand salons for cream tea and manicured gardens, but suites also have bunkbeds, and dining spots provide games to distract kids and plastic cutlery to save you sweating over the antique crockery. Better yet, you’re right on the Southwest Coast Path here, of which you can walk a great chunk, or simply step out to stroke the sheep who keep hikers company.

Location: Lyme Regis

A cosy seaside retreat with charm

(Rock Point Inn / Booking.com)

You couldn’t be closer to the water in this old-school pub with rooms – the English Channel literally washes up under your table, visible from the glass-walled breakfast room that hangs over the sea. Owned by Cornish-cool St Austell Brewery, rooms have that hip, British beach-house vibe: raw linen cushions; worn-in velvet armchairs; traditional seaside oil paintings beside contemporary black-and-white photographs. The best room is at the top of the building in the eaves, with staggering sea views, though it is non-accessible owing to its atmospheric rope-banister stairwell.

Location: Isle of Portland

Fancy having dinner where Winston Churchill once did?

(The Penn Estate )

If you’re splurging your annual bonus, you’ll want The Penn Castle, which sleeps up to 20, and wows with a pool in the Orangery and dining room that once hosted Winston Churchill. If it’s a special week away, perhaps you’ll splash out on one of the contemporary ‘Clifftops’ houses that jut out of the hillside, making it feel as if you could throw skimmers all the way to France. Or if you’re saving your money for Dorset crab dinners, then it’s Cove Park for you: a collection of caravans, cottages and pods that give the same sea views as across The Penn Estate, but at an affordable rate. Win-win.

Price: Three-night stays at Cove Park from £291, self-catering

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