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.

Bit short on Roman remains and castles

😂😂😂

Also Brading Roman villa and Carisbroke Castle on the Isle of Wight where Charles 1 was incarcerated before execution are both marvellous. Agree about the fossils. Yaverland and Compton beach are two of the best for these. Here in the sScottish Borders you are not far from Hadrians Wall and we also have Dere St. which is the best preserved Roman Rd in the UK, I believe, and has beautiful empty walks. Geology - Hutton’s unconformity. Numerous castles. Etc.

Bolca near Verona in Italy is the largest fossil park in the world. It's also very natural and beautiful (just on the margin of the Italian Alps) with underground tunnels and a fantastic fossil museum.

Northumberland! Loads of Roman stuff along the wall (Hadrian's) Vindolanda is great as @CMOTDibbler says above. Also Housesteads and others. Plus a whole coastline full of castles and gorgeous sandy beaches.

And you can drive up to Shropshire and visit Wroxeter, where there's a fabulous Roman site, which for my money is far better than Caerleon or Caerwent.
Aust and Beachley used to be great for fossils, along with Ogmore and Southerndown further west. Plenty of castles both sides of the border.

Agree Northumberland/Hadrians wall. Also Kent coast - Canterbury, Reculver, Richborough, Dover - Yorkshire - York, Whitby, Flamborough Head, Lincoln- or Suffolk - Colchester, Sutton Hoo and the coast.

Sicily, more specifically Agrigento. Massive ruins that look like the acropolis. We got the train from Palermo-which was also fascinating in other ways.

Crete- Knossos. The site itself but the museum in Heraklion was fascinating too

Walton-On-The-Naze- specifically for shark tooth hunting along the beach (possibly more suited to younger children though rather than adults.)

Someone mentioned Colchester which isn't that far from Walton. If you go to Colchester castle, pay extra for the tour which includes seeing the foundations, roof and other back room areas you can't normally access. (well it was interesting 25yrs ago when I went there).

Many thanks for all of these - wow! Great have skim read them aloud to DH and got some great ideas. Hotel near the Sahara sound good if you have a name and everything you have mentioned also - we done Fishbourne a few times and Chepworth Roman villa and we live near Bath so the actual Roman Baths gets done at least once a year!

Cirencester is possibly local to you too. Iirc Exeter has Roman ruins and Chester.

We liked Chedworth Roman villa and Housesteads fort along Hadrian's wall.

Watchet on the North Somerset coast is good for fossils

Northern Cyprus. No idea about fossils, but for castles there's the Lusignan trio of St Hilarion, Buffavento and Kantara, plus Venetian seaforts like Famagusta and Kyrenia. Roman ruins absolutely everywhere, and great beaches, especially the six miles of white sand along the panhandle.

Not to mention the magnificent Pont du Gard.

I agree with lots of posters about Northumberland - Housesteads, Vindolanda, Chesters, Hadrian's Wall, Corbridge, even Wallsend! And Arbeia in South Shields.

We had a lovely dog friendly, fossily holiday at Quantock Cottages in Somerset. Best dog friendly accommodation I’ve ever stayed in and the local beach had lots of fossils.

Also in this area ogmor, I came in to say Caerloen, a fantastic village and go to the priory for beautiful food.

Why don't you sign up to actually work on an archaeological dig. There are organisations that run training weeks and sometimes community based sites that take inexperienced volunteers.

You've mentioned Whitby but have you ventured further north to Runswick Bay, Staithes etc for fossils? Could tie it in with Hadrians wall to cover the Roman element.

If you went to Fishbourne, what about Bignor villa nearby, the Weald and Downland museum and Chichester?

There are also prehistoric shark's teeth to be found on the beach at Bracklesham which is in this same area.
And I'd class West Wittering as an interesting beach with the sand dunes.

Just want to be able to find this again!!
Recently went to Tarragona Spain great Roman ruins also wonderful medieval cathedral!

I added the name a couple of posts later when I found it - Palais du Sahara. It's in Erfoud. But if you go, do prepared to be "fossiled out". My friend and I were trying to figure out how you get an eight foot high orthoceras home.

The answer is that you ship it - but that was in the days when you could afford the shipping. I really wanted one of these too, but just couldn't run to importing it as well....
https://www.fossilserfoudmorocco.com/sinks.html

We loved Alcudia and Pollenca, there is a fantastic site near the old town Alcudia and some interesting sites in Pollenca.

And Verona itself has a Roman gateway, obviously the huge amphitheatre in use for opera, and some very interesting medieval remains and museum as well. You can get to Modena and Parma by train easily for extra castles and art!

Not Roman remains, but we’ve been to Turkey three times (Fethiye, Bodrum and Dalyan) - there are plenty of ancient cities, and the stunning, if somewhat reconstructed Ephesus!

If your tastes in geology and history are broad then various bits of Ireland would be good- the karst landscape of the Burren in Co Clare, which also has the Aillwee caves; Fernanagh/Cavan have some similar sites and the Marble Arch caves.

There are raths all over Ireland and a lot of megalithic tombs. The Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange is the most famous but there are plenty of others.