Durdle Door

Durdle Door

Video from our visit to Durdle Door

Durdle Door is located in Dorset, England.  It is the most famous natural arch in England.  It has been featured in movies, television shows, music videos, and on YouTube.  You can see it on Nanny McPhee or in "The Power of the Doctor" episode of Dr. Who from 2021.  I was very excited to see this famous arch in person!

We visited Durdle Door in late November of 2024.  We had been to Stonehenge and other sites earlier in the day, and I knew that we wouldn't make it to Durdle Door before dark, and that the parking lot closes at dusk, so I had planned ahead and reserved an Airbnb that was only about half an hour from the arch.  We visited it first thing in the morning.  The Airbnb that we stayed at is here:

Airbnb in Dorset

To visit Durdle Door, you can either park in the Durdle Door parking area (from 8 am till dusk), or you can park at Lulworth Cove parking area, which is about a one mile walk to reach the arch.  When we visited first thing in the morning in November, we were almost the first people there.  There is plenty of parking, but I've read that during the summer it does fill up and can't be reserved.  We arrived at Durdle Door before 8 am and the gate was closed, but we went around the buildings to the right of the gate and were able to drive to the parking lot before it officially opened at 8 am.  Others had already done the same.

There are clear signs leading you to Durdle Door parking lot.  You can enter Durdle Door into your google maps and it will take you right to the parking lot.

view as you enter the parking lot

This is where you pay for parking.  It costs ten euro for four hours, or twenty euros for the full day.

The beginning of the trail

From the parking lot to the arch is under half a mile.  The green dot above is the beginning of the trail, and the red dot is where I remembered to turn off my tracker.  Although short, it is steep stairs that you'll be climbing down.  On the day we visited, they were muddy and slippery, so plan accordingly.  

The very beginning of the trail is flat

This caution sign is posted before you begin the steep ascent.

Sorry it's blurry - I was in a hurry to get down there and snapped this photo while walking!  It says: Danger: Rockfalls, Keep Clear of Cliffs

You can begin to see Durdle Door appearing over the horizon

If you know it's there, you can clearly see the arch opening

view from the trail of the cove on the other side of Durdle Door.  There is a platform where you can take photos of the beautiful beach below.  This is Man 'o War Cove.

View of Man o' War Cove

The waves were pretty strong the day we were there!  These protruding rocks are in Man o' War Cove, just to the left of Durdle Door

The winding trail through the tops of the mountain

Man o' War Cove

view of Durdle Door from the trail

I tried to get as many photos of Durdle Door from as many angles as I could.

The steps leading down to the beach, as taken from the trail

My five year old grandson handled the steps just fine

The furthest cliff that you can see has the Bat's Hole arch in it - not really visible in this photo, but I took other closer photos.  That farthest heading is Bat's Head.  You can read more about Bat's Hole here:  Bat's Hole

I continued to take photos as I headed down the stairs

You can see both arches in this photo if you look very closely -- Durdle Door on the left and a very tiny Bat's Hole on the right

The end of our walk down the stairs was pretty muddy and a bit slippery

The sand on the beach is not soft and fine - it is coarse and grainy and full of small rocks - in fact, it is mostly just like small rocks

This is a better view of Bat's Hole in Bat's Head.  We tried to get closer to it, but we were worried about the waves pulling us out to sea.

Our family walking along the beach

Tiny view of Bat's Hole

There were many small caves or openings in the cliff walls down on the beach

one of the caves on the beach

Bat's Hole

view of Durdle Door from the beach

We tried to wade through the water to get to Bat's Hole, but gave up because of the strong waves.

The waves coming in over my feet

view back at Durdle Door - you can't see the opening anymore unless you know right what you're looking for.

The opening comes in to view as I walked along the beach

A child had left his Spiderman toy on this post along the stairs

He was just enjoying his view of the arch

People above on the trail enjoying the view of the arch

As the sun came up the colors of the arch changed

This is near the platform where you can take photos of the view of Man of War Cove

Our hike back to the parking lot

On nice summer days the beach is full of people, many swimming underneath and around the arch.  I was very disappointed to learn after we left that another arch was nearby -- Stair Hole Arch.  It was only a 30 minute walk or 7 minute drive away from Durdle Door!  I guess I'll have to go back to Durdle Door some day!  It would be worth the trip!  If you are in this area of England, do not miss coming to visit this arch.