Ideas for fossil/ Romans ruins/ interesting beaches/ geology holidays please

[Peaceanddoves]

So we love Weymouth, Charmouth, Lyme Regis, Whitby etc in the UK. We have teen and adult children. They all like fossil hunting, interesting geology etc
They like Roman Ruins and castles. We are now going part time so much more holiday to play with and days out for us with or without them.

Where would you go UK and abroad ? What would you put on your list? Looking for ideas. Dog friendly is a bonus but doesn’t have to be, but can be U.K. or abroad?

Pompeii and Herculanum and M Vesuvius done. Love Durdle Door and south coast and done but also love going back.

Pula in Croatia for the Roman amphitheatre and the surrounding Istrian countryside and coast for interesting old towns. The beaches tend to be small rocky coves rather than wide sandy beaches. It's very hot and crowded in July and August, but if you're able to be flexible then June and September are ideal.

Both Easyjet and Ryanair fly to Pula, as do a number of holiday companies.

Saint Romain en Gal (near Lyon), also south of France has Orange (Roman Theatre), Arles (Roman amphitheatre)

Anglesey is supposed to be good for fossils and there's a lot of castles in the area too. Caernarfon Castle is a world heritage site and well worth a visit. Also some interesting Roman history as they massacred the druids there. Depending on the direction you'd come from you could stop at Chester on the way.

Sicily. Ruins and volcano.

Isle of Wight. Guaranteed to find some dinosaur bones on the southern coast.

Have you seen the Holiday Geology guides?
DH is a geologist and always finds something to look at, but suggests the Lizard Penninsula for a holiday. We liked Anglesey for lots of reasons, but also you could do N Wales slate, the hydro electric mountain and some castle

Oh, and for Roman stuff, Vindolanda is absolutely amazing. Reading the letters romans wrote to each other - inviting them over to celebrate their birthday, asking for more socks or complaining about the roads makes you feel that its a very close connection

Kos.

First hospital, Roman baths, evidence of earthquakes and then a day trip to Turkey, knights templare castle, amphitheatre and the ruins of one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

South Wales. There's Caerleon and Caerwent for Roman stuff, fossils on the Severn foreshore and the beaches at Penarth/Lavernock/Llantwit Major, and plenty of castles all along the border round Monmouthshire.

And Kos has 'bubble beach ' where bubbles come out of the seabed.

I second Pula for abroad holiday. You have Roman ruins round every corner in Pula and you can hop on a bus down the coast and get a ferry over to Brijuni which is fantastic. It has a museum about Tito, secluded coves to swim in, Roman and Byzantine ruins all over the place and lots of dinosaur footprints. It has it all! You can hire bikes when you get there and pointless about for the day really easily.

Silchester is the site of a roman town. Between Reading and Basingstoke. I wouldn't travel hours to it but if you are in the area it's a lovely walk and has an atmospheric amphitheatre.

One that nobody ever thinks of - Morocco:
Roman ruins:

• the UNESCO site at Volubilis
• but also sites at Lixus, Sala Colonia, Chellah and Banasa

Neolithic and other ancient sites - Oued Beht Jebel Irhoud and the Tangier Peninsula (including some great rock art). Obviously every form of Morrish and Isamic art / architecture you could want. Wonderful mosques, souks and sveral fascinating Jewish quarters.

Lots of beaches but without a doubt Essouira is the best place to stay in an ancient Riad overlooking the sea in a walled settlement (and great silver jewellery place right across from the main gates if that is your thing).

The Sahara plus the mountains, but fossils - OMG - all around Erfoud and KemKem - and the fossils you can buy / see locally are to die for.

I can't recall the name of it now - it's a few years ago when I was there, but there is a hotel on the edge of the Sahara that has fossils set into glass fronted floors in the corridors, and bathrooms made with sinks and tiling that are slabs of fossils - you can spend hours in the bathroom just looking at them! If you are interested I will see if I can find the place for you.

We went to Pula last week - the amphitheatre was amazing and the other bits like the temple. Carthage in Tunisia is somewhere we went last year which was amazing.

in the UK, Fishbourne Roman Villa and Bignor Roman Villa both not too far from Chichester are worth a visit.

Colchester.

And, if you're passing, Littlecote roman mosaics are stunning

https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/caerleon-roman-baths

Bath not that far out either for the Roamn baths there and

Castles - well it's wales so quite a few.

https://ukfossils.co.uk/category/wales-south/

Hadrian's Wall - favourite sites would be Houseteads and Chesters Roman Fort. The while are is absolutely stunning with so many sites to visit along the wall.

It was the Palais du Desert in Erfoud (Morocco)

And I just thought - don't even get me started on Jordan, but that would tick all your boxes too.

Giant's Causeway in NI?

Volcano-spotting in Iceland?

Hadrians wall, you could do Northumberland coast, Bamburgh castle with it. Vindolanda has the best roman shoe collection in world.

The best ruins I went to was Pompeii. It's near Naples which is a really interesting city. And then there's coastal places to the south or east? You can get a bus up Vesuvius volcano, which is quite interesting.

Bit short on Roman remains and castles, but the geology of the American Midwest is fascinating. You can camp in some of the National Parks too, if that appeals.

Another vote for the Hadrian’s Wall area. Housesteads, Birdoswald, Chesters, Corbridge, Vindolanda and the smaller Bincester. The last two don’t allow dogs, so someone would have to do alternative walks if you take a dog.
Seaham coast and beaches is worth a visit, still a fair amount of sea glass. Hawthorn Dene steps to the beach there not for the faint hearted but doable.

Northumberland, Hadrian’s Wall, Roman Vindoland, great beaches and castles.

The Basque Country is a UNESCO World Geopark , Zumaia is a stunning place to see flyche formatIons: zumaia.eus/en/tourism/news/the-geopark-a-perfect-balance-between-coast-and-countryside