Walks from the Hotel

Click Here to download in PDF format our map of Four Walks from the Riviera Hotel as described below (and click here for the text describing the walks):

Walk A – The Churchill

Stroll along Studland Road to the Suspension Bridge spanning the deep, dark

Chine from which the young Winston Churchill jumped to avoid being caught

by his cousins in a childhood game. Cross the bridge (which will swing if you

walk in step!) and turn right, following the rhododendron-lined walk around

the West Cliff to one of the best views on the South Coast. Take a peek at the

immaculate Argyll Bowling Greens before heading down the zig zag cliff path

through Alum Chine’s internationally famous Tropical Gardens. See Old Harry

Rocks through the palm trees, relax with a coffee or ice cream at Alum Chine’s

seaside cafés before ambling back along the Chine path and up the steps by

the Suspension Bridge, or taking the Alumhurst Road route with the cliff top

gardens on your left for more spectacular views

Walk B – The Promenade

The quickest route to Alum Chine’s Blue Flag Beach (it has been walked in two

minutes, but why rush!). At the bottom of the hill are the imaginative Children’s

Adventure Playground with an abandoned Pirate Ship, Swings and Slides, etc.,

and the Toddlers Paddling Pool – as well as Bournemouth’s sandiest beach.

Catch the colourful Land Train along the Promenade in summer, passing two

more deep green Chines (Middle and Durley) as you go. Get off at the first Pier,

wander inland by the Bourne Stream through the award-winning gardens and

pick up the number 70 Breezer bus in the square (Stand T) to come home.

Walk C – The Secret

Branksome Dene Chine Blue Flag Beach is just across the border in Poole.

Enjoy walking there via one of the two “secret” entrances marked on our map

(or go by car to the one on Pinewood Road) and then stroll back along the

Promenade to Alum Chine for a circular walk. Turn left out of the hotel doors

then right into Crosby Road. Cross over Alumhurst Road where you will see

Sandbourne Road on the left. Walk almost to the end of Sandbourne Road

where you will see a leafy pedestrian pathway on your right. Alternatively,

turn right at Alumhurst Road and walk along to Mountbatten where you turn

left and left again into Cassel Avenue. You will see the pathway on your left at

the curve of the road

Walk D – The Chine

Walk inland through the woods of Alum Chine (go down the steps of the

Suspension Bridge from Studland Road then turn left at the bottom) and

walk a mile or so through the wooded valley to its base. Turn Left onto the

pavement then right up Alum Chine Road to Westbourne Village with its Victorian

Arcade, fashionable boutiques, and coffee shops. Westbourne is a 15-to-20-minute

walk, alternatively, the number 70 Breezer bus will take you there and back.

While in Westbourne, why not take a stroll down Robert Louis Stevenson Avenue

to “Skerryvore”, which is the site of the house of Robert Louis Stevenson between

1885 and 1887. Whilst residing here he wrote Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The house was destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War in

1940, but it is now a quiet public garden with a commemorative statue of the author

PS :For the more energetic, turn right at Alum Chine beach and stride along the prom

to the famous Sandbanks and spectacular Poole Harbour