Travel
Road
The county is served by the M3 motorway, linking the M25 to the M27 and Southampton and the A3/A3(M) linking the M25 to the A27/M27 Portsmouth. The M3 gives access to the A303 to the West Country, and also to the A34 to the Midlands. This makes locations close to the M3/A34/A303 link triangle popular for central/southern England distribution points.
| Location | Distance in km | Distance in miles | Time |
| Southampton Central to London | 129 km | 80 miles | 1hr 30mins |
| Basingstoke to Central London | 82km | 51 miles | 1hr |
| Winchester to Birmingham | 193km | 120 miles | 2hrs |
| Portsmouth to Paris | 7hrs (including 1hr tunnel) | ||
| Farnborough to Brussels | 4 hrs 30 mins |
Table showing distances by road to various destinations from Hampshire
Rail
Fast rail-links connect Hampshire to Brussels, Lille and Paris via London Waterloo. Heathrow and Gatwick are within easy reach. Travel by train from Hampshire locations to various destinations
| Location from | Time Taken |
| Southampton to London (fast train) | 1 hr 05 mins |
| Portsmouth to London (fast train) | 1 hr 40 mins |
| Andover to London (Fast train) | 1 hr. 10 mins |
| Farnborough to Paris | 4 hrs. 45 mins |
| Winchester to Brussels | 5 hrs. 25 mins |
Air
Southampton Airport is the leading 'Fast Track' airport for Central Southern England. Over 11 airlines serve around 40 destinations at Southampton, including among others, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, the Channel Islands, Leeds, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Manchester, Belfast and Glasgow and some 1.5 million passengers pass through the airport a year.
Sea Ports
The county is the south coast’s premier entry and exit point for cargo and passenger shipping and a gateway to the rest of the UK and Northern Europe. Goods movement by land and sea is easy through fast road and rail links and the international ports of Southampton and Portsmouth.
The port of Southampton is one of the country’s busiest and most successful deep-water ports, Southampton is a natural choice for a wide range of customers and trades, with facilities to handle virtually any type of cargo. Its natural deep water harbour and unique double tide allows unrestricted access for the world’s largest vessels.
Southampton is the UK’s leading vehicle-handling port, and has long been the UK’s principal cruise port, handling in excess of 200 cruise calls and well over half a million passengers in 2004. It is also a major handler of liquid and dry bulks and containers, and almost half of the UK’s containerised trade with the whole of the Far East is handled at this port. Over 24 million tonnes of oil and petroleum-related products are handled at the oil refineries of Esso, at Fawley, and BP, at Hamble, each year.
The Portsmouth Port
Portsmouth is the UK’s second busiest and premier ferry port for the western Channel, with over 3 million passengers per year, over 1 million cars and some 318,000 freight units pass through the Continental Ferry Port each year. The Commercial Port also encompasses the Camber in Old Portsmouth, a popular tourist area, home to the city’s fishing fleet and the Wightlink terminal for Isle of Wight services.
The fruit importing facility on Flathouse and Albert Johnson quays has a flourishing trade in citrus, bananas, other mainstream and speciality produce.
Portsmouth is considered to be one of the best connected ferry ports offering:
More destinations than any other UK ferry port, with combined sailings to Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, St Malo, Bilbao, Guernsey and Jersey
Easy access to holiday France and many popular European destinations via auto routes serving Le Havre, Caen and Cherbourg
A motorway (M275) running right, to the port entrance – Portsmouth is the only UK ferry port with this clear advantage
Quicker journeys to the Midlands, North of England and Wales and frequent rail services to and from London Waterloo and Victoria. (Source: The Portsmouth Port)
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