The Olympics are coming and isn’t just London where the party’s happening. Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset County, will be where the 2012 Olympic spirit hits the beach.

Weymouth is a south-western beach town on the English Channel, about 195 kilometres from London, which, along with the nearby island of Portland, has won the prestige of hosting the London 2012 Olympic Sailing events.

The best sailors in the world (many rumoured to already be in the area practising) will converge on Weymouth and Portland to fight for Olympic glory, and it’s already got all the locals excited.

This is all thanks to the fact that, according to the Royal Yachting Association, Weymouth is simply the best place to sail in the whole of northern Europe and home to Britain’s National Sailing Academy. So from the 28th July – 11th August 2012 the whole world will be watching this sleepy little town that suddenly finds itself at the centre of the sporting world’s attention.

So are you planning on coming for the Olympics? If so then make sure that you plan your trip to include a couple of days out of London, soaking up the sea breeze in the town that the locals call “Weybiza”.

The 2012 Olympics have been really welcomed, mostly because they represent the end of a difficult period for Weymouth and Portland. Ever since the navy left HMS Osprey [the naval base], the area became a bit run down, but the NSA [National Sailing Academy] has given it a real boost, and today locals can look forward to Weymouth becoming an international base for sailing after the Olympians have packed up and moved on.

So what can you expect from a visit to Weymouth and Portland? Who better to tell you than a man who grew up on its wild and windy Jurassic coastline, local journalist Tomas Mowlam:

"Weymouth is a great place, for its size there's a great nightlife, with plenty of pubs and clubs, and there's a couple of good restaurants too. The real attraction though is your surroundings; windsurfing, sailing obviously, kayaking, diving, fishing - anything to do with sea, you can pretty much do it here [except surfing, do not expect to get tubular around these parts, head further west for the breaks – Ed].

"The Jurassic coast gets really interesting around Weymouth, and it can get pretty wild on the beaches when the storms roll in. Up the coast is ‘Durdle Dor’, a limestone arch that juts out into the sea and you can always check out the Celtic hill fort at Maiden Hill."

"A wander through Tout Quarries and a look at all the stone carvings on the cliff faces is always worth a look. The Great Dorset Maize Maze, [it's a maze made out of corn] about ten miles outside of town never fails on a nice sunny day. The main attraction always will be the beaches, pebbles at Portland and golden sand at Weymouth, there's nothing better than whiling away a day in the sunshine on the coast. Plus after the event we'll have world class sailing facilities to use, and more sailing competitions to come."

During the Olympics Weymouth expects to host about 35,000 visitors a day and the party atmosphere promises to enter into legend. Already Dorset County Council is launching a language training scheme to make sure that everyone coming to see the events will receive a warm welcome from their multi-lingual volunteers. But Weymouth is used to welcoming people from around the world; it has long been a favourite destination for foreign language students, who come each summer to improve their English whilst enjoying the warm sandy beaches.

There are already annual sporting events every summer leading up to the Olympics, such as the Beach Volleyball tournament in July and the Kite Festival in August, which attracts over 40,000 visitors. So the town is ready and waiting to welcome you to what promises to be one of the biggest events in its long history.

Weymouth has lots of accommodation to suit every budget, whether you want a hotel, cottage, B&B or campsite, but book early if you are coming during the summer season and even earlier for the Olympics, which is likely to see every spare room for miles taken up long before 2012.

You can get to Weymouth and Portland by train from London Waterloo or Bristol, the two nearest cities with international airports. Or you can get their by car or coach, by driving down towards Bournemouth then getting lost in some of the most beautiful countryside that England has to offer.

John Hillman