United Kingdom cliff
Ballard Cliff
You can see 95 km from here, looking east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 95 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 95 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 30%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
- 69Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 115 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 69 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from April to May, in July and in September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset26%
- Febwest8 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Marwest14 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Aprwest6 min before the sea-level sunset43%
- Maynorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Junnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Julnorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset42%
- Augnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Sepwest10 min before the sea-level sunset41%
- Octwest8 min before the sea-level sunset31%
- Novsouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset26%
- Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset27%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Ballard Cliff.
Cliff on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, United Kingdom
Ballard Cliff is a cliff in United Kingdom, 115 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 95 km away, looking east.
The sea fills 30% of the horizon.
69 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is St Boniface Down (241 m), 52 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from April to May, in July and in September.
Get there and stay
- Ulwell Cottage Caravan Parkcampsite · 2.4 km · 24 within 10 km
- Bankes Armsplace to stay · 1.4 km · 144 within 10 km
- Swanagenearest town · 2.8 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in SwanageBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Bournemouth Airport (BOH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire at BOH airport (Bournemouth)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 8other viewpoints within 5 kmViewpoint to Old Harry Rocks and 7 more
- 6named peaks within 5 kmBallard Down, Godlingston Hill, Studland Hill and 3 more
- 7marked trails within 3 kmPurbeck Way, South West Coast Path (Section 52: Worth Matravers to South Haven Point), Priest's Way and 4 more
- 7shelters and huts within 5 kmDolphin Shelter and 6 more
- 31car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 kmSwanage Information Centre
- 41restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 24campsites within 10 kmUlwell Cottage Caravan Park, Cauldron Barn Caravan Park, Swanage Bijou Camping at Kirkwood Park and 21 more
- 144places to stay within 10 kmBankes Arms, Studland Stores, Tall Trees and 141 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Ballard Cliff, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas20 mountains within 25 km
Coastya1 beaches within 10 km
Cavernyas2 caves within 20 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Ballard Cliff
United Kingdom
- 79Viewyas Score
- 95 kmFarthest ridge
- 69Peaks in view
- 115 mAltitude
Gad Cliff
United Kingdom · 16 km
- 83Viewyas Score
- 124 kmFarthest ridge
- 28Peaks in view
- 128 mAltitude
Swyre Head
United Kingdom · 24 km
- 80Viewyas Score
- 115 kmFarthest ridge
- 22Peaks in view
- 91 mAltitude
Burning Cliff
United Kingdom · 28 km
- 77Viewyas Score
- 112 kmFarthest ridge
- 20Peaks in view
- 86 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q4851504) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Islandyas, Coastya, Cavernyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit