Must-see attractions in Great Britain

  • Detail of main facade of Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

    Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

    Edinburgh

    Edinburgh's gallery of modern art is split between two impressive neoclassical buildings surrounded by landscaped grounds some 500m west of Dean Village…

  • Eltham Palace and Gardens.

    Eltham Palace

    London

    This gorgeous 1930s art-deco mansion was built by Stephen Courtauld, whose family made a fortune in the rayon (artificial silk) industry, and his wife…

  • CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM - 2009/06/14: Fitzwilliam Museum at the  university city. (Photo by Olaf Protze/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Fitzwilliam Museum

    Cambridge

    Fondly dubbed 'the Fitz' by locals, this colossal neoclassical pile was one of the first public art museums in Britain, built to house the fabulous…

  • LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 25, 2019: Exterior view of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England; Shutterstock ID 1516861004; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

    London

    This state-of-the-art 62,300-seat stadium in Tottenham, with a retractable pitch that hosts both 'real’ and American football games, opened in April 2019…

  • Tintern Abbey, Wales

    Tintern Abbey

    Southeast Wales

    The haunting riverside ruins of this sprawling monastic complex have inspired poets and artists through the centuries, most notably William Wordsworth,…

  • National Portrait Gallery

    National Portrait Gallery

    The West End

    What makes the National Portrait Gallery so compelling is its familiarity; in many cases, you will have heard of the subject (royals, scientists,…

  • Portobello Road Market, London, UK

    Portobello Road Market

    Notting Hill & West London

    Lovely on a warm summer's day, Portobello Road Market is an iconic London attraction with an eclectic mix of street food, fruit and veg, antiques, curios,…

  • Holker Hall country house & Summer Garden near Cartmel, Cumbria, England; Shutterstock ID 707297809; full: digital; gl: 65050; netsuite: digital; your: Barbara Di Castro
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    Holker Hall

    Cumbria & the Lakes

    Three miles east of Cartmel on the B5278, Holker Hall has been the family seat of the Cavendish family for nigh on four centuries. Though parts of it date…

  • The National Railway Museum in York.

    National Railway Museum

    York

    York's National Railway Museum – the biggest in the world, with more than 100 locomotives – is well presented and crammed with fascinating stuff. It is…

  • One of London's best small galleries, the Wallace collection is a fascinating window into the life of 18th century aristocracy

    Wallace Collection

    The West End

    Arguably London’s finest smaller gallery, the Wallace Collection is an enthralling glimpse into 18th-century aristocratic life. The sumptuously restored…

  • People having picnics at Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath.

    Kenwood House

    North London

    This magnificent neoclassical mansion stands at the northern end of Hampstead Heath in a glorious sweep of landscaped gardens that lead down to a…

  • Autumn scene at Rydal Mount, house and garden of the English Victorian poet William Wordsworth from 1813 to his death in 1850. It is in Rydal village near Ambleside in the English Lake District, Cumbria, UK.
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    Rydal Mount

    The Lake District

    The poet William Wordsworth's most famous residence in the Lake District is undoubtedly Dove Cottage, but he actually spent a great deal more time at…

  • Chester, England - July 2021: Visitors walking on an elevated section of  the walk around the city's old wall.

    City Walls

    Chester

    A good way to get a sense of Chester's unique character is to walk the 2-mile circuit along the walls that surround the historic centre. Originally built…

  • Salthouse Dock  To the right the three graces of Pier Head the Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building  To the left Albert Dock Buildings Liverpool  England  UK

    International Slavery Museum

    Liverpool

    Museums are, by their very nature, like a still of the past, but the extraordinary International Slavery Museum resonates very much in the present. It…

  • St Fagans National History Museum

    Cardiff

    Historic buildings from all over the country have been dismantled and re-erected in the semirural surrounds of St Fagans village, 5 miles west of central…

  • Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester, Greater Manchester, England.

    Science and Industry Museum

    Manchester

    Manchester's rich industrial legacy is explored in this excellent museum set within the enormous grounds of the old Liverpool St station, the oldest rail…

  • Located in Norfolk, Sandringham House is one of two personal and private residences owned by the English Royal Family. The residence - which is occupied since Elizabethan times - is one of the most loved by the Queen, who uses to spend here the Christmas Day and year-end holidays.

    Sandringham

    Norfolk

    Both monarchists and those bemused by the English system will have plenty to mull over here, at the Queen's country estate. It's set in 25 hectares of…

  • People s history museum in Manchester - MANCHESTER / ENGLAND - JANUARY 1, 2019
People's History Museum

    People's History Museum

    Manchester

    The story of Britain's 200-year march to democracy is told in all its pain and pathos at this superb museum, housed in a refurbished Edwardian pumping…

  • A family watch on as a woman in traditional dress demonstrating stitching at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York.

    Jorvik Viking Centre

    York

    Interactive multimedia exhibits aimed at bringing history to life often achieve exactly the opposite, but the much-hyped Jorvik manages to pull it off…

  • Ruins at Vindolanda Roman fort in England
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    Vindolanda Roman Fort & Museum

    Northeast England

    The extensive site of Vindolanda offers a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of a Roman garrison town. The time-capsule museum is just one part of…

  • Glasgow Riverside Museum, Zaha Hadid Architects, 2011, Exterior wide view of riverside facade

    Riverside Museum

    Glasgow

    This visually impressive modern museum at Glasgow Harbour owes its striking curved forms to late British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. A transport museum…

  • Grasmere, Lake District, UK - June 2017: Dove Cottage - picturesque home of the poet William Wordsworth.
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    Dove Cottage & The Wordsworth Museum

    The Lake District

    On the edge of Grasmere, this tiny, creeper-clad cottage (formerly a pub called the Dove & Olive Bough) was famously inhabited by William Wordsworth…

  • Albert Memorial

    Kensington & Hyde Park

    This splendid Victorian confection on the southern edge of Kensington Gardens is as ostentatious as its subject wasn't. Queen Victoria’s humble German…

  • Laying down Giant at the Lost gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, England

    Lost Gardens of Heligan

    South Cornwall

    This is Cornwall's real-life secret garden. Formerly the family estate of the Tremaynes, Heligan's magnificent 19th-century gardens fell into disrepair…

  • Illuminated Brighton Pavilion building at dusk, Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom

    Royal Pavilion

    Brighton & Hove

    The Royal Pavilion is the city’s must-see attraction. The glittering party pad and palace of Prince George, later Prince Regent and then King George IV,…

  • Mackintosh House Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland.

    Mackintosh House

    Glasgow

    Attached to the Hunterian Art Gallery, this is a reconstruction of the first home that Charles Rennie Mackintosh bought with his wife, noted designer…

  • Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum

    Glasgow

    A magnificent sandstone building, this grand Victorian cathedral of culture is a fascinating and unusual museum, with a bewildering variety of exhibits…

  • View of Carlisle Castle, Cumbria. England, 11th century.

    Carlisle Castle

    Cumbria & the Lakes

    Carlisle's brooding, rust-red castle lurks on the north side of the city. Founded around a Celtic and Roman stronghold, the castle's Norman keep was added…

  • The National Army Museum in Chelsea, the British Army's central museum.

    National Army Museum

    Kensington & Hyde Park

    This inventively redesigned museum vibrantly relates the history of the British Army, from the perspective of its servicemen and servicewomen. Reopening a…

  • The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens.

    Great Pagoda

    Richmond, Kew & Hampton Court

    This 49.5m-tall eight-sided pagoda (1762), designed by William Chambers (who designed Somerset House), is one of Kew Gardens' architectural icons. During…

  • KINGSTON LACY, UK - SEPTEMBER 29, 2012: A view toward the country house at Kingston Lacy with landscaped gardens in Summer; Shutterstock ID 1033498075; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Kingston Lacy

    Dorset

    Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. It overflows with rich decor, most famously in the Spanish Room, which is…

  • Aerial View.Carreg Cennen.Castles.Historic Sites

    Carreg Cennen

    Parc Cenedlaethol Bannau Brycheiniog

    Dramatically perched atop a steep limestone crag, high above the River Cennen, are the brooding ruins of Wales' ultimate romantic castle, visible for…

  • 500px Photo ID: 123711007 -

    Bute Park

    Cardiff

    Flanked by the castle and the River Taff, Bute Park was donated to the city along with the castle in 1947. With Sophia Gardens, Pontcanna Fields and…

  • Royal Botanic Garden

    Edinburgh

    Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden is the second-oldest institution of its kind in Britain (after Oxford), and one of the most respected in the world…

  • Displays in the Pitt Rivers Museum.

    Pitt Rivers Museum

    Oxford

    If exploring an enormous room full of eccentric and unexpected artefacts sounds like your idea of the perfect afternoon, welcome to the amulets-to-zithers…

  • Paisley Abbey

    Paisley Abbey

    Greater Glasgow

    Paisley Abbey is well worth the short trip from Glasgow. This majestic Gothic building was founded in 1163 by Walter Fitzalan, first high steward of…

  • Trelissick

    South Cornwall

    Grandly located at the head of the Fal estuary, 4 miles south of Truro, Trelissick is one of Cornwall's most beautiful aristocratic estates, with a formal…

  • Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort.  Lancaster, Lancashire, England, on Monday, 11th April, 2022.
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    Lancaster Castle

    Northwest England

    Lancaster's most imposing building is the castle, built in 1150 but added to over the centuries: the Well Tower dates from 1325 and is also known as the…

  • Harlech Castle

    Snowdonia National Park (Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)

    Edward I finished this intimidating yet aesthetically pleasing castle in 1289, the southernmost of his 'iron ring' of fortresses designed to keep the…