What to do on a rainy day when you're camping on the Island

In short: nowhere on the Island is more than about half an hour's drive from a good indoor day out. The best for a wet day are Dinosaur Isle in Sandown, Amazon World near Newchurch, Brading Roman Villa, Osborne's state rooms, the museums at Arreton Barns and the leisure-centre pools. If you'd rather not leave the site, 9 of the campsites we list have an indoor pool, and 18 have a bar, restaurant or clubhouse.

Indoor days out

The Island is small, and the main road through the middle (Newport to Sandown, via Arreton) passes several of the indoor attractions, so wherever you're camping you can usually be somewhere dry within half an hour. Here are the ones that work best for campers, roughly west to east.

• Dimbola Museum, Freshwater Bay. The former home of the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, now a photography museum and gallery with a tearoom. A good hour or two if you're camping in the West Wight.
• Fort Victoria, near Yarmouth. The old fort by the shore houses a planetarium and a large model railway. Their opening days vary, so check before you drive over.
• Tapnell Farm Park, near Yarmouth. Mostly an outdoor farm park, but it has indoor barns and soft play, so it copes with a shower better than most. See campsites near Tapnell Farm.
• Carisbrooke Castle Museum. The castle itself is mostly outdoors, but the museum inside is dry and the walls are worth the walk between showers. Campsites near Carisbrooke.
• Arreton Barns. The Shipwreck Centre and maritime museum, a glass studio and craft shops sit together in one small village, with a pub next door.
• Amazon World, near Newchurch. Much of the zoo is under cover in a walk-through rainforest house, and there's a large soft play. One of the easiest wet days with young children. Campsites near Amazon World.
• Osborne, East Cowes. Queen Victoria's seaside home. The state rooms and family rooms take a couple of hours on their own; the grounds can wait for the sun. Campsites near Osborne.
• Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Havenstreet. The Train Story museum at Havenstreet station is indoors, and the carriages are dry. Trains run on set days from spring to autumn, plus some dates in December, so check the timetable. Campsites near the steam railway.
• Brading Roman Villa. The mosaics are inside a covered building over the excavated villa, with a café. Campsites near the villa.
• Dinosaur Isle, Sandown. A purpose-built museum full of the Island's own fossils and full-size models. It's all indoors, and it gives children something to look for on the beach once the rain stops. Campsites near Dinosaur Isle.

Opening days change with the season, and several of these are only open on certain days in winter. Check each one's own website the evening before, not on the morning you set off.

Swimming, bowling and the cinema

A swim is the classic wet-day answer, and you don't need to be staying at a holiday park to get one. The Island has public indoor pools at The Heights in Sandown, Medina Leisure Centre in Newport, Waterside in Ryde and the West Wight Sports Centre in Freshwater. Public swim sessions are timetabled around lessons and clubs, so look up the times first.

Ryde has the most to do under one roof: a tenpin bowling alley, the Commodore cinema and the Waterside pool are all in the town. Newport has a Cineworld, and Shanklin Theatre puts on shows through the year. Sandown pier has amusements under cover, and Shanklin seafront has indoor crazy golf, both good for a short dry hour.

Campsites with indoor pools and clubhouses

If the forecast looks unsettled, the simplest plan is to stay somewhere you don't have to leave. We list 9 campsites with an indoor pool. Most are the big holiday parks, which also have a bar, an entertainment hall and a games room, so a rainy afternoon takes care of itself.

• Lower Hyde and Landguard in Shanklin both have indoor and outdoor pools, and Shanklin's indoor attractions are close by.
• Nodes Point at St Helens has an indoor pool with water slides; swim sessions are pre-booked.
• Whitecliff Bay near Bembridge has indoor and outdoor pools; the outdoor one is seasonal.
• Thorness Bay near Cowes has an indoor pool with a slide.
• The Bay at Colwell has an indoor pool on the West Wight coast.
• The Lakes at Rookley, open all year, books its indoor pool in sessions.
• The Orchards at Newbridge keeps its indoor pool open all season. The pools are for guests only.
• For couples, the shepherd's hut at Kingates Farm near Whitwell comes with private sessions in a heated indoor pool.

See all of them on the indoor pool page, or browse holiday parks for the sites with entertainment and a clubhouse.

Keeping the tent dry

A wet day is much easier to enjoy if you come back to a dry tent. Most of it is decided when you pitch.

• Pitch on the high side. Avoid the dip at the bottom of a field and any patch of grass greener than the rest. Much of the north and centre of the Island is on clay, which drains slowly, so standing water collects quickly in the low corners.
• Keep the groundsheet inside the flysheet. If a footprint or groundsheet sticks out past the edge of the tent, it catches rain and channels it underneath you. Tuck it in.
• Tension it properly. A slack flysheet touching the inner tent lets water through. Peg every guy line, and tighten them again after the first shower, because wet fabric stretches.
• Ventilate. Most of the "leak" people find in the morning is condensation. Open the vents even when it's raining.
• Put up a tarp. A cheap tarp over the door or a gazebo gives you somewhere to take off wet boots and cook out of the rain.
• Pack it wet, dry it at home. If you leave in the rain, roll the tent loosely and put it up in the garden or hang it in the garage within a day or two, before mildew starts.

When to swap the tent for a roof

If the forecast for your week is grim, think about glamping instead. Shepherd's huts, cabins, pods and many yurts have a solid roof and often a wood burner, and some sites have just one or two units that are easy to book at short notice outside the school holidays. There are 44 glamping sites on our glamping page.

And remember that a showery day on the Island is rarely wet from start to finish. Weather comes in off the sea and often clears through within hours, so keep a beach or a short walk up your sleeve for the afternoon. Our guides to camping with kids and what to pack have more ideas.