History of The Broads - Villages and Towns - Watersports and Boating on The Broads - Broads Boating Holidays - Maps & Transport Links

Watersports, Boating and The Norfolk Broads

The watersports of The Norfolk Broads are diverse and offer plenty of fun and relaxation to local boating enthusiasts and family holidaymakers alike. The waters offer a great place to cruise along or engage in a bit of dinghy sailing, canoeing, rowing or other activities.

Once people have been boating on the Norfolk Broads, they invariably go back for more. The Broads is comprised of more than a hundred and twenty five miles of waterways with a flourishing wildlife population. There are six rivers and more than forty broads or shallow lakes in the Norfolk area and as holiday makers sail along they will pass an array of windmills, country houses and some of the rarest plants and animals in the UK.

There are many different types of craft that go up and down the waterways, mainline rivers are, the Thurne and the Waverny along with a number of dykes, meres and lakes, for boaters to explore. There are boat hire places all along the Broads where you can hire anything from a simple canoe to a solar powered craft. People who haven’t been on a boating holiday before can get all of the information they need from the cruise base at Wroxham, the capital of the Broads.

If sailing gently down the river isn’t for you then you may want to have a go at kayaking or power boating. Really adventurous types might want to try jet skiing and most other water sports that you can think of. When you are boating in Norfolk there are plenty of great stopping off points where you can take some time to enjoy the historic towns and villages of Norfolk. The current economic crisis has meant that more British families have decided to holiday at home and the Broads tourist board has seen a resurgence in the number of families taking boating holidays.

When you go boating you can stop off to eat at one of the many towns and villages along the way, or disembark for a drink at one of the pretty country pubs. If you like English history then you’ll be fascinated by some of the older towns and villages in Norfolk, many of which have a history that predates the Domesday Book of 1066. If you prefer to spend the bulk of your holiday on land then why not find yourself a base and then hire a boat on a daily basis as and when you want to.

If you enjoy walking then you can moor up and explore some of the hundred and ninety miles of footpaths that weave their way around the area. Whether you want to enjoy a gentle stroll or an all day hike, walking is just one of the other activities that people enjoy when they take boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads. You can also disembark and hire a bike and get yourself a route map and go cycling around the area for a day or half a day.

The Broads has something for everyone and boating holidays may also involve other activities, including some of those mentioned above. Whether you like wind surfing or bird watching, boating on the Broads can introduce you to a wide range of activities that you may never have considered before.

Find local history, hire boats, country cottages and more with TheNorfolkBroads.info's Norfolk related information pages, holiday offers and web links.