The UK can be an amazing country to explore, whether you’re a first-timer or seasoned visitor, with a compelling mixture of urban and rural, spiritual and hedonistic, adventurous and world-famous experiences and destinations.
Here’s my top 20, including tips on avoiding the crowds.
Hike up Ben Nevis
Some purists scoff at the Mountain Track (also known as the Tourist Route or Pony Track), but it’s a very walker-friendly gradual ascent up from the east side of the UK’s highest peak. It is doable in snow; indeed, a winter’s day is arguably the best time to tackle this walk as the tourist numbers will be low.
That said, it should not be underestimated. Good navigation skills are essential, with mobile coverage unreliable and intermittent – so download any maps for use offline.
The view from the top takes in the Torridon Hills, Ben Lomond and Morven at Caithness, and, on a clear day, you can see Northern Ireland.
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How to do it
The train to Fort William (served by the Caledonian Sleeper) is the easiest way to arrive. A 30-40-minute walk takes you to the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre at the foot of the peak. More routes up and guided walks are available here.
Be a pilgrim
Pilgrimages are all the rage, despite – or because of – the increasingly secular character of 21st-century Britain. There are lots of route options, and a range of distances to meet all needs, but a classic biggie for the south of England is the 214-kilometre Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury – linking an ancient regional capital with the Church of England’s mother-seat and home of the shrine of the martyred archbishop, St Thomas Becket.
Cicerone publishes a guide for the route, which also includes the Chaucerian hike from London. From Farnham, the Pilgrims’ Way is mainly coincident with much of the North Downs Way National Trail, following the crest of the southern escarpment of the North Downs. There are views of the South Downs and several steepish ascents. Topography includes woods, chalk grassland, some minor roads and, in Kent, orchards and farmland.
How to do it
The British Pilgrimage Trust produces route guides; Contours Holidays offers guided walks, from £1580 ($2779) per person.
Have a pint at one of England’s best pubs
The Staffordshire market town of Tamworth might not be on most people’s weekend break radar, but it is home to the Tamworth Tap, named Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Pub of the Year for 2025, 2023 and 2022 – the only pub to win three times.
Serving eight cask hand-pulls, 20 keg taps, plus 20-odd bag-in-box ciders, it is very beer-focused – but the décor is fun, the staff welcoming and the bar snacks moreish. The Tudor building, with a 16th-century front and courtyard, sits in the shadow of the town’s Norman castle.
How to do it
The closest major city is Birmingham. Catch a train to Tamworth and go to the pub.
Spend a weekend in the UK’s most underrated capital
Belfast is an exhilarating, culturally rich, historically fascinating city, with the five-star and boutique/designer hotels and top-notch gastronomy you’d expect, as well as ancient pubs that are as characterful as any south of the border – and always less touristy.
The Peace Walls and political sites are well worth seeing, but so is the jazz at Bert’s, the whiskies at The Friend at Hand, the big Titanic museum and the Ulster Museum. St George’s Market – open Fri, Sat and Sun – is full of music, chatter and food.
How to do it
Hop on the ferry from Liverpool for the slow arrival. Budget airlines also fly there from England’s major cities.
Splash out on a night in one of London’s ‘grande dame’ hotels
London is expensive. Sometimes, the best way to deal with this is to pick a special weekend and decide you’re going to have a splurge. Check into one of the big-name, five-star classics. You could go for Brown’s, Claridge’s, The Dorchester, The Savoy, and many others besides. Budget for an opera or a big play, a fabulous lunch or dinner, or both, perhaps some committed fashion shopping, and wrap up with afternoon tea.
How to do it
Visit the hotels’ websites for details.
Ride on the Settle-Carlisle railway
Celebrating its 150th birthday in May, the line was built by Midland to compete with the mainlines on the east and west coasts. It wasn’t a success. The London St Pancras-to-Waverley services ended in 1968 and the trains to Glasgow St Enoch were axed in the Seventies.
The Settle-Carlisle, widely considered the most scenic line in the UK, was itself threatened with closure in 1983. A popular campaign secured its survival and there are regular Northern departures from Leeds to Carlisle via Settle. It’s lovely to ride there and back and soak up the views. But even better is to combine a ride with a walk; Ribblehead is the station for the famous viaduct.
How to do it
Timetables and ticket information for the regular Northern service and special trains is on the dedicated website (settle-carlisle.co.uk).
Camp wild(ish) on Dartmoor
Dartmoor is the only UK national park that permits fly or wild camping (i.e. pitching a tent outside an official camping area). The right has been unsuccessfully contested by at least one landowner.
To celebrate the freedom wild camping allows, and to show your support, take your tent and backpack and choose a site away from the Ministry of Defence training (and shooting) areas. And, of course, leave no trace of your stay.
How to do it
Rail users can approach via Newton Abbot or Ivybridge. See the interactive bus map for local services to Widecombe and Haytor.
Travel back in time at the Black Country Living Museum
Even those who don’t normally go in for theme parks or “living museums” tend to have a fabulous time at Dudley’s acclaimed open-air educational space, last year named the best museum in England.
Occupying a 10.5-hectare site of formerly derelict land, the assemblage of domestic and industrial buildings explores 250 years of Black Country history. Workers in costume talk to visitors about how their ancestors made anchors for the Titanic, glass for the Crystal Palace, chains, kitchenware and leather goods. There are period pubs, traditional shops and a variety of eating places, as well as green spaces to sit back and reflect on the olden days.
How to do it
Tipton is the closest station; see bclm.com for further information.
Hike to the top of Haystacks
This was the favourite fell of famed guidebook author Alfred Wainwright – so much so that he asked for his ashes to be scattered at Innominate Tarn, near the summit. Located in Buttermere, somewhat away from the overtourism maelstroms of Ambleside and Grasmere, it nonetheless draws in plenty of hikers.
The classic walk starts at Gatesgarth Farm, climbs Scarth Gap, described by Wainwright as “one of the pleasantest of foot-passes”, to the col between High Crag and Haystacks. A zigzagging path leads up the face of Haystacks. In the great man’s words, “Haystacks stands unabashed and unashamed in the midst of a circle of much loftier fells, like a shaggy terrier in the company of foxhounds.”
How to do it
Wainwright took buses. The 77 bus links Buttermere to Keswick and Cockermouth. Additionally, the Buttermere Shuttle bus (77C) runs weekends and bank holidays May to August.
Drive (or cycle) the North Coast 500
It gets bad press for popularity and traffic, but this 826-kilometre route around the upper half of Scotland – the North Highlands – takes in some of the loveliest spots in Europe, including the Muir of Ord, Ullapool, Wick, John o’ Groats, Dingwall and Gairloch, with plenty of options for coast walks, Munro hikes, distillery visits, picnics and landscape ogling.
The wet, hilly west, Flow County and eastern lowlands – famously sunny – are encompassed and the drive delivers variety of topography as well as weather.
How to do it
There’s a dedicated website with tips for driving the route here.
See the stars in Northumberland
Dark Sky Areas are found all over England, but this is the biggest and almost the most remote from built-up areas. Northumberland has the lowest population density of any English county, gets only a fraction of the visitors that flock to the Dales and Lakes to the south, and is also a less obvious holiday option than the Scottish Highlands.
Combine a visit with trips to the Farne Islands and a walk on one of the middle sections of Hadrian’s Wall.
How to do it
Northumberland National Park has a dedicated Dark Skies webpage with links to optimum star-gazing sites.
Tick off the Gower Peninsula’s greatest beaches
A walk around the 74-kilometre Gower section of the Wales Coast Path is full of clifftop views, dramatic stacks and quaint villages. But it also takes in some of the UK’s most beautiful beaches.
They include Rhossili Bay, a routine scooper of “best beach” prizes; Oxwich Bay, backed by beautiful woods; tranquil Three Cliffs Bay, with its limestone walls; Whiteford Sands, with its picturesque dunes and cast-iron lighthouse.
How to do it
Gower walks are easy to tackle from Swansea, walking in via Mumbles. Ramblers Worldwide arranges guided walks for groups. See our guide to Pembrokeshire’s best hotels.
See Shetland’s wildlife
The UK’s northernmost outpost is Unst at the top of Shetland. The drive north from the airport at Sumburgh or from the ferry port at Lerwick is akin to beating a retreat by road, as you cross two narrow waterways on local ferries and traverse the island of Yell.
The Shetland Islands are home to the highest density of the Eurasian otter in Europe, and you can see them easily enough off the northern coasts. There’s good whale watching off the west, with orcas a highlight for many.
Hermaness NNR at the northernmost tip of Unst is an internationally important habitat for Atlantic puffin, northern fulmar, northern gannet, kittiwake and great skua (known as “bonxies” here); these last will give you a warm welcome by dive-bombing if you go anywhere near their nests.
How to do it
Northlink sails from Aberdeen to Lerwick every day; you can combine Orkney on some routes. Loganair flies Sumburgh to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Inverness and Kirkwall.
The Telegraph, London
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
