Bournemouth is a large resort town on the south coast of England. The town adjoins Poole in the west and Christchurch in the east, and overlooks Poole Bay. The Isle of Wight is visible from some vantage points.
Bournemouth is a popular tourist destination on the South Coast of England because of the fine long (approximately 7 miles) beach that runs from Christchurch in the east to the border of Poole in the west, the wide range of accommodation and entertainment, the mild climate, and easy access to the New Forest, Jurassic Coast, Devon and the Dorset and Hampshire countryside. The stretch of beach belonging to Bournemouth does not run the length of Poole Bay (although Bournemouth and its council would very much like visitors to believe that it does), since it ends at the east at Hengistbury Head and at the long golden sand beaches of Poole in the west. This section of the English coast enjoys some of the warmest, driest and sunniest weather in Britain.
Bournemouth (and Poole, the town immediately to the west) have several chines (e.g. Branksome Chine, Alum Chine) that lead down to the beaches and form a very attractive feature of the area. Bournemouth Central Gardens are a separate major public park, leading for several miles down the valley of the River Bourne through the centre of the town to the sea (reaching the sea at the pier).
Bournemouth is located directly to the east of the "Jurassic Coast", a 95 mile section of beautiful and largely unspoilt coastline recently designated a World Heritage Site. Apart from the beauty of much of the coastline, the Jurassic Coast provides a complete geological record of the Jurassic period and a rich fossil record.
Just east of Bournemouth is the New Forest, designated a National Park in 2005. These popular tourist sites, as well as the Dorset countryside and the beach, have helped keep Bournemouth's tourism based economy alive through the second half of the 20th century when tourism in seaside towns generally declined.

The Russell-Cotes Museum is located just to the east of the Central Gardens near to the Pavilion and next to the Royal Bath Hotel. The museum includes many fine mostly 19th century paintings and the family collections acquired when travelling e.g in Japan and Russia. It was Sir Merton Russell Cotes, one of Bournemouth's most prominent Victorians, who successfully campaigned to have a promenade built; it runs continuously along the Bournemouth and Poole shoreline.