The Broads National Park

Website: https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk

Hours: Open year-round (no single park gate); individual visitor centres and attractions have set hours

Admission: No general entrance fee for The Broads; fees apply for boat hire, certain visitor centres and attractions

The Broads is a network of rivers and shallow lakes in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England, administered as a protected landscape and popular inland waterways system. The water bodies known as broads are man-made in origin, the result of medieval peat digging subsequently flooded and developed into the wetland complex seen today.

The protected area covers roughly 303 square kilometres and provides about 125 miles (200 km) of navigable waterways, with some 63 broads of which around 13 are open to navigation. The landscape supports extensive reedbeds, grazing marshes and a range of wetland birdlife and aquatic plants.

Boating and hire services operate from towns such as Wroxham and Horning, and visitors come for wildlife watching, sailing, canoeing and cycling along towpaths. Conservation management balances recreation with habitat protection, and parts of the Broads are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest and internationally important wetlands.

The Broads lie mainly east of the city of Norwich in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, with the river and broad network set across a low-lying, flat coastal plain.

• Scale and waterways: Comprises about 303 square kilometres of protected wetlands with roughly 125 miles (200 km) of navigable waterways and some 63 broads, of which around 13 are navigable.
• Visitor seasons and activities: Managed as a protected landscape with strong emphasis on boating, birdwatching and reedbed conservation; busiest season is from spring through early autumn.

What to See#

• Hickling Broad: Hickling Broad - one of the largest broads and a key wildlife reserve within the system, important for reedbeds and waterfowl.
• Main visitor hubs: Wroxham and Horning - principal boating and visitor hubs providing hire services, marinas and access points into the network of waterways.

The Broads are a dispersed network of rivers and lakes across Norfolk and north Suffolk. The nearest city gateway is Norwich - drive east from Norwich via the A47 and local roads to access popular centres such as Wroxham or Acle (Wroxham is a common starting point). From Norwich station there are regular local buses to Broads villages (journeys typically take 20-40 minutes depending on destination) and short walks or boat hire from those villages into the waterways.

• If you want wildlife and peaceful cruising, head out at first light from established launch points (Wroxham or Horning) when bird activity is highest and popular hire boats haven't filled the rivers.
• Pick your base carefully: Wroxham and Oulton Broad are the busiest, best-served places for boat hire and connections; choose quieter broads and creeks further east or south if you prefer solitude.
• Explore by day boat rather than fixed-route sightseeing launches to access smaller creeks and secluded broads that most day-trippers miss-these quieter arms of the network are where otters and rare birds are likeliest to be seen.