Isle of Wight without a car - good places to stay?

[Lemursandions]

Hi eveyone

looking to take my 2 DC (11 and 8) to IoW for a short break, but won’t have a car unfortunately.

can anyone recommend a good place to stay at all? Ideally where we could easily access some buses or maybe taxis?

Thanks!

Newport and Ryde are the biggest towns and so are the best equipped. They both have nice parts and Newport is excellent for accessing other parts of the Island but they aren't as pretty as some of the other places.
Ryde has some good seafront attractions for children (bowling alley, swimming pool, canoe lake, paddling pool, playgrounds) and the beach is large and sandy.

Newport doesn't have a beach - just shops. Ryde has a huge flat beach (though you'll need binoculars to keep track of your kids if they venture out). There's a pool, arcade, trampolines and small fairground on the waterfront. There's a small cinema.
People like Shanklin too - I highly recommend the Marlborough Hotel. Walk to beach and town and the old part is full of thatched buildings. You'll have to take a bus there, but once there can find things to do, and walk to Sandown (I wouldn't stay there) for the pier and miniature golf.

Thanks both

How are you getting there? If you’re going via train to Portsmouth and the passenger ferry, then you can hop straight on the train which goes down the coast from Ryde as far as Shanklin. With children and luggage, we’ve found staying along that line to be the best option.
Buses around the island are good to get around once you’re there, but it’s easier if you can get to where you’re staying without a bus if possible.

The buses are pretty good and there are hop on hop off buses but worth checking the dates because some of them won't be running until May: www.islandbuses.info/days-out-bus

I reckon your best bet is to stay on the east side of the island since there's a fair amount between Ryde, Shanklin and Sandown that you can get to fairly easily.

How many days and what do you want to do?
You could stay somehere like Tapnell Farm which has lots to do on site then use busses to go to a couple of places west Wight like the Needles.
Cowes is straight off the passenger ferry and well connected with buses to other places via newport and a taxi rank
BUT taxis Will get really expensive as though distances aren’t long but roads are slow and they aren’t very easy to book.
I’d just pick somehere nice for a few days with a nearby beach (Colwell, Ventnor, bembridge) and plan to stay close it’s Amy be one bus trip.