Jane's Midlife Journey

Bournemouth Bus Rally is an annual celebration of all things bus which takes place in Kings Park, Boscombe on the outskirts of Bournemouth. There are approximately 50 vehicles in attendance for visitors to admire, plus heritage rides around Bournemouth and stalls selling mainly bus related products.

How to get to Bournemouth Bus Rally

Kings Park is 2 miles north east of Bournemouth along the A338.

By Bus

There are several buses which stop nearby: Buses No 22 and X3 stop at Kings Park. Buses 1a/1b/1c and m2 stop at the Sovereign Centre. This is a slightly further walk, but these services are far more frequent.

The nearest train station is Pokesdown, around a 15 minute walk away. Turn left out of the station and left into Clarence Park Road and most of the walk will be through the park.

In addition, the organisers run a feeder bus service (X55) from Bournemouth Station. This is likely to be on a heritage bus, so much more fun than the dull old m2…

Parking

There is some free parking in Kings Park and on surrounding roads. Plus paid parking in Kings Park Car Park. Parking costs £1.50 for one hour. Further details can be found here.

Times

The rally takes place on a summer Sunday and runs from 10 am until 4 pm.

• In 2026, the event took place on 5 July.
• In 2027, the date will be 4 July. This event will celebrate 125 years of Bournemouth transport.

Price

The rally is advertised as free to enter. Souvenir programmes cost £5 and you are very strongly encouraged to buy one. In theory, you can take a heritage ride without a programme, although when I attempted to do so, I was informed that this wasn’t the case and denied boarding.

Buses

Basically, it’s a load of buses in a field. Some old, some less old. There were some small ones too.

Heritage Rides

Theoretically, free heritage bus rides around Bournemouth are laid on throughout the day. In practice, I found boarded without a programme problematic. There is no prior information about what routes are operating and when. For this, you also need to purchase a programme. I thought this was rather strange for transport nerds. Aren’t they really into timetables and such like?

Unable to ride on a bus, I had to make do with wandering around the field looking at the old buses and taking some photos of said old buses. Then I went home again. On my bike. Which is a lot less polluting than riding round Bournemouth for no particular reason on an old bus spouting huge clouds of diesel into the environment. Until it breaks down.

Stalls

There is a small collection of stalls selling model buses, bus paraphernalia etc.

Bournemouth Bus Rally for Children

One year, I heard the following conversation between a child and his father at the rally:

• Child: “Can’t we do something fun?”
• Dad: “We’re not here to have fun, we’re here to look at buses!”

If your child is into looking at buses, obviously it will be a lot of fun. Otherwise, there was a toy stall (selling mainly buses), a bouncy castle and an ice cream van. Oh, and a rather sinister mascot…

• Updated July 2026

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.

For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth with young children, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth with Babies and Toddlers here.