Weymouth, Dorset to the main town centre. There are 11 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the borough, which cover an area of , and there are 37 other Nature Conservation Designations. Situated approximately halfway along the Jurassic Coast, Weymouth is a gateway town to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes of the Dorset and east Devon coast that is important for its geology and landforms. The South West Coast Path has two routes around Weymouth and Portland—one around its coast, and one along the South Dorset Downs, which reduces the path's length by . The path is the United Kingdom's
West Bay, Dorset a World Heritage Site which stretches for and includes most of the Dorset coastline. West Bay also lies within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. West Bay is sited on deposits of river alluvium that indicate a former estuary. There are beaches and cliffs on either side of the harbour. The beaches were previously of a similar size—in terms of their seaward extent—but now East Beach is considerably larger, due to accumulation of finer sediment. East Beach is also designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and forms one end of Chesil Beach, a barrier beach which extends southeast