Portsmouth harbour…. Mary Rose or HMS victory for kids?

[Reallyimeanreally2022]

Flying visit to Portsmouth with two children 11 and 8

Never been to Portsmouth but thought the harbour looks brilliant

Both children love history and exploring

Which would you recommend? Or do I splurge and do both?

Many thanks

Ooo yes the submarine is good.

The Mary rose is great but for kids it’s not as fun as actually being on the victory

I loved the Mary-Rose museum. It's a proper museum.

The boats are great though. Tough choice.

@Peggytheredhen

I loved the Mary-Rose museum. It's a proper museum.

The boats are great though. Tough choice.

When you say the boats, is that the harbour tour? Is the tour a circular one or does it drop you off somewhere?

No, sorry, I meant the Victory or Warrior. (Ships!) To be honest, with 3.5 hours I'd probably just do the Mary-Rose as it's really interesting and interactive. But, the kids did love getting on the Victory and Warrior so either would make a good day out. I wouldn't try to do the harbour tour too.

PS the harbour tour is circular (although you can get off at the shops/restaurants) but you can a boat to the submarine bit of the museum in Gosport. I think this is a different ferry but I could be wrong.

They are both great but Mary Rose is amazing! I didn't go and see it for years as Blue Peter put me off (!) but it really is worth it. I would say only go for one though - unless your kids have longer attention spans than mine.

@Reallyimeanreally2022 sorry missed your follow up question. Mine did also like Victory, one more than the other but the one who was less keen is notoriously hard to please and probably was expecting it to sail off.

I wouldn’t try and book something else. We originally went as the last day of a holiday and ended up coming back later in the year with our annual ticket to see all the stuff we missed the first time as it was so much fun. I probably would have gone back a 3rd time but Covid happened.