Getting Around

On Foot

Women looking at map

Southampton is an accessible city for pedestrians, with the majority of it being flat, particularly around the city centre. Download the walking map and plan your walk around the city.

There are various suggested walking routes and maps available to download from My Journey Southampton. Here, you can also find details of the public rights of way and various walking groups that take place in and around the city. 

My Journey has teamed up with the Go Jauntly walking app to help you find inspiring local walking routes and challenges. Find out more and discover new walks here.

Download the Walking Map

Look out for the GO! Southampton Rangers who welcome visitors at Southampton Central railway station and from the shuttle busses that go from the cruise terminals. They are on hand to offer directions and hand out maps plus to answer any questions you have about the city.

By Bike

Two people cycling along a cycle path

Southampton is a bike-friendly city with plenty on offer for cyclists. Find out more about cycle routes, bike doctor repairs and servicing as well as bike training courses on the My Journey Southampton website.

My Journey is working with Love to Ride to help more people discover the benefits of cycling in and around Southampton. Love to Ride is a global web and app based platform that supports people to cycle through a range of rewards based challenges across the year. Click here to find out more.

Southampton City Council is committed to transforming the cycling experience in the city. In 2017, the council launched a ten year strategy which responds to calls for more cycleways, safer roads, less traffic and better awareness to support more people to cycle. The strategy has already delivered a number of significant improvements to cycling infrastructure across the city. Click here to find out more about ongoing projects and what’s coming up.

By E-scooter

Red e-scooters lined up in a storage area

E-scooters offer a convenient, accessible mode of transport, taking pressure off public transport whilst social distancing is still in place and giving people the option of leaving their cars behind for shorter journeys in the city.

Voi e-scooters will cost £1 to unlock and then £0.14 per minute of usage. Voi also offers 24-hour (at £5) and 30-day (at £55) subscriptions, allowing users to take an unlimited number of rides at a fixed rate. Find out more here and on the Voi Scooter website here.

By Bus

Bluestar blog 2

Travelling to and around Southampton by bus is a breeze. All towns and suburbs are connected to the city centre via the main bus operators:

Quayconnect- The Quayconnect bus service operates every 30 minutes (every 15 minutes during the evening commuter hours) between Southampton's Central railway station (South Side) and Red Funnel's ferry terminals at Town Quay via the WestQuay shopping centre and Asda/The Marlands. The journey time (Southampton Central <> Town Quay ferry terminals) is approximately 7 minutes.

Details of all bus services above can be found at the My Journey website, a one-stop-shop for travel needs. Other news on transport, road works and more can be found at Transport Southampton.

By Taxi

Taxi driver loading luggage into a taxi outside the RedJet terminal

There are taxi ranks located at Southampton Central railway station, Southampton Airport Parkway station, near Westquay Shopping Centre and the High Street.

Some local taxi companies include:

By Car

Southampton is very accessible by road, with major links in from the M3 and M27 motorways.

If you don’t have access to your own vehicle, there is a pay as you go motoring scheme with the Enterprise Car Club, allowing members to only pay for the time they need.

For visitors with disabilities, the Shopmobility scheme in Castle Way can provide battery-operated wheelchairs/scooters, or manual wheelchairs to anyone with limited mobility. Equally, a Shopmobility service operates from WestQuay Shopping Centre.

My Journey has partnered with Liftshare to help local people save money and do their bit for the environment. Liftshare is a free secure website where you can register your journey and search for other drivers making the same journey as you. Find out more and join for free here.

Car Parking

Southampton has 42 car parks, including surface car parks around the city centre and covered car parks within the city's main shopping area such as WestQuay shopping centre’s facility of 4,000 parking spaces, Western Esplanade's two car park areas and The Marlands shopping centre.

There may be height, weight or length of stay restrictions and differing parking charges.

The Southampton City Council Interactive City Parking map has detailed information on each of the car parks including postcode, opening times and charges as well as information about on-street parking across the city.

In addition to this, there is a multi-storey and plenty of surface car parks at Ocean Village Marina, owned by MDL.

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