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.

If the situation is stable, Jordan. Petra obviously, but also Jerash. There's an amazing main street with the ruins of three civilisations including Roman built one on top of the other.

Edit: sadly currently FCDO advise against all travel to Jordan. Keeping this here anyway because it's an amazing place and I hope things improve so you can visit someday.

For fossils (no Romans though), Drumheller in Canada. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumheller combine it with a trip to the Rockies for amazing scenery, geology and hot springs.

The Algarve has a Geopark now, with lots of interesting sites, and really good hiking routes: geoparquealgarvensis.pt/en/

I found Athens to be amazing for ruins/historical attractions. There are literally Roman and Ancient Greek archaeological sites on every street, some massive and famous but others very low key but equally as fascinating. Many of the tube stations have museums of stuff that they found in the excavation because it is just EVERYWHERE! Also great food if you get just a tiny bit off the beaten track, and a lovely cafe-culture vibe. I was only there for a flying visit but would really love to go back for longer.

Augusta Raurica in Switzerland and in this country, Ravenglass in the western Lakes, are sites I've particularly enjoyed, along with Bath of course. Also the Mithraeum in the City of London.

For Ravenglass, you can stay at the beautiful Eskdale NT campsite and approach by the steam train!

Spain has loads of both castles and Roman ruins.

Theer are loads of Roman ruins in Turkey. Antalya, in particular, is renowned for them (and a very nice part of Turkey to visit too). Half the Greek cities ended up Roman at some point too. For something totally unique, but harder to get to, Gobleki Tepe is consdiered to be revolutionary in the world of archaeology. It's still the subject of much sepculation as to exactly what was there and why, but it represents some of the, if not the, oldest organised religious art work in the world. A neolithic site, it shows that the communities that supported it generated enough wealth from agriculture to support artisans - a move away from everyone "surviving" to a society with surplus that supported those who did not hunt or farm etc.

There are other interesting sites in the area both old and "new" (i.e not 10,000 or so years old!).

Slightly aside but OMG I had not realised Jordan is now on the no-travel list. SIgh, thank God I misspent my youth squandering all my cash on trips to amazing places. I was talking to someone about Ethiopia the other day and discovered that is also not advised for travel any longer. When they say that the world is getting smaller, I don't think it was supposed to mean you can't actually visit half of it.

Oh no! I was hoping to visit Ethiopia in the next few years 😢

I think Jordan must be recent because of Gaza and Israel. A few years ago areas near the Syrian border were not advised for travel but otherwise it was considered ok.

I am a Roman remains enthusiast also! I don't know if you have been, but in September I'm going to the Ostia Antica site and Rome itself. Will be staying in Ostia Lido by the sea and taking the 15 min train trip to Antica, and day trips to Rome central. Will be away for 8 days, so will be packing it in!

Ostia Antica is not on the usual list for Roman stuff in Italy, and it looks amazing, and not rammed with tourists either (except for me of course!). First time to Rome, so that should be good also.

But maybe you have already been to Rome.

I can give a shout out to Merida in Spain also, and Ephesus, and Arles and Nimes, and Pula and Segovia, and Pont du Gard, so many places, so little time!

Sounds great! Also the villa at Tivoli and the harbour at Portus near the airport would be on my hit list for next visit to Rome. Baia and villas at Stabia and Oplontis when next near Naples

@LIZS Good shout about Portus, it's right beside us in Ostia Lido. A bit awkward to get to though except by taxi, but I might take the airport bus and uber from there. 😊So many things to see, I don't want to overwhelm myself and take nothing in! Tivoli on the list too as is Castel Gandolfo.

I agree with many of these.
North Wales and Cheshire/Chester would be good lots of castles and history. Caernarfon, Conwy, the stone science museum on Anglesey and looking for fossils there, the Roman Chester ...

I was at Ostia Antica- the main museum site earlier this month. It's very interesting and amazing how much is still standing of what was built 2000 years ago. I believe there are other sections by the port etc that you pay into separately.

Yes, Jordan is recent. I’d been hoping to take the family there for exactly this sort of holiday as I’ve been out there on field trips / with work in the past, and it’s wonderful. Was planning Jerash, Petra, and down to Wadi Rum for wonderful Star Wars desert, rocky outcrops and fancy camping.

Crete has loads outside of Knossos, we stayed in Chania (excellent new archeological museum) and went to aptera roman ruins, a monastery with old olive presses, a huge not that old but impressive ottoman fort near Aptera. Then a walk through the Irini gorge (massive dolomite geology). There are tons more ancient things to see and Crete has excellent interesting geology too.

I agree re Fishbourne and Bignor. Chichester itself is a great place to explore for traces of the Romans - mosaic fragment in the Cathedral, city walls and classic Roman street lay out plus the Cogidubnus stone on north street. Combine with a trip to the IoW for the coloured sand at Alum Bay plus Roman villa at Brading, Carisbrook castle and you'll see the forts in the Solent from the ferry to Ryde. Finally time in Portsmouth - Henry VIII fort in SOuthsea, Mary Rose and Victory and Historic Dockyard. Also Portchester castle - medieval keep and Roman walls.

North West Highlands geopark.
https://nwhgeopark.com/

Also Kilve on the north Somerset coast.

Ooh, it is not often that others have said they've been! I'm really looking forward to spending the entire day there. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I'm hoping I will...

Silly question - are there facilities there like ahem.... toilets and coffee, I hope so or I'll never make it through the day!

I’m a geologist and don’t know some of these. The Blue John caves in Derbyshire are very good plus the Edges.

There is a small Roman museum in Canterbury that I enjoyed exploring. They have a mosaic floor discovered when the building was bombed in ww2.

Rhodes is very cool. A couple of days in Rhodes town to explore the castle and the Knights Templar stuff there and then down to Lindos for the stunning beach/acropolis. Kos is meh in comparison IMO.

Agrigento in Sicily is very cool, the temples are just enormous. Pamukkale in Turkey is really beautiful - just get to the travertine terraces before the hordes arrive! Split in Croatia is wonderful for the Diocletian's palace, super view from the Bell Tower too - we combined it with Bol (Brac island).

Jordan is obviously amazing, Petra more so than Jerash of course. But if you like ruins other than just Roman then I would really recommend Dalyan for the Lycian tombs, there is also the Roman ruins you can also walk on to called Kaunos. First you pay a lady to row you across the river and then you can buy the most delicious fresh pomegranate juice from older ladies as you walk between the tombs - I found it magical.

I've been to a number of sites in the UK and none is a patch on any of the ones I've listed here IMO. There are some great castles around though, especially in Wales - although if you haven't visited Old Wardour aka the Robinhood Prince of Thieves castle then I'd definitely recommend that one.

We went to skipton this year and enjoyed stump cross caverns, Malham cove and Brimham rocks. There are other caves and geological features around, too.

I agree Ostia Antica is fab. Much prefer it to Pompeii. Yes there are toilets and cafes xx

I am putting these all together in a word document - thanks we are just back from the seaside !! I’m catching up - superb ideas here thanks everyone!

If you go to Pompeii again OP (or for the first time for others), go on a trip (can be by mainline train) down to Paestum which has a wonderful trio of Greek temples etc.

There's one in London under a building (for a day out) that you can visit for free that i keep seeing on one of those "things to do in London for free" and whilst I realise not everyone is close to londonnfor it to be affordable ( I am in Kent so an hour away) . I think its under a car park ....

Isle of Wight also has a really cool glass blowing factory and makes sand art but that was 20 years ago I went xx