United Kingdom

Reasons to go:

1. Cities

1.1 London and its neighbourhoods

1.2 Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a beautiful and exciting historic city, surrounded by an elegant new city. Scottish culture, castles, hiking opportunities and the best whisky in the world are some of the main highlights.

  • Stockbridge: This is the best area to stay in Edinburgh. It has great food shopping (Stockbridge Market on Sundays, I.J. Mellis Cheesemongers Stockbridge, George Mewes Cheese), museums (National Galleries of Scotland - Modern One and Modern Two, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh), walks (along Water of Leith, past beautiful Dean Village), cocktails (The Last Word) and less tourists.
  • Edinburgh New Town: Seeing the city from Calton Hill is a great place to start. Both The Gardener’s Cottage and The Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage are great restaurants. There are many cocktail and whiskey places on my to-visit list - The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Panda & Sons, Lucky Liquor Co, Bramble Bar, Nightcap.
  • Edinburgh Old Town: Edinburgh Castle, Surgeons’ Hall Museums, National Galleries of Scotland - National, National Museum of Scotland, St Giles’ Cathedral. My all time favourite postcards come from Edinburgh Arts & Picture Framers on Nicolson Street. The Outsider is a great restaurant; Hey Palu is awesome for cocktails. The Meadows is where the locals enjoy the outdoors.
  • Leith: Leith Farmers Market on Saturdays. A cocktail at Nauticus is a great way to start/end your exploration of Leith.
  • Holyrood Park and beyond: Hiking up to the Arthur’s Seat is a must, and don’t miss the Scottish Parliament Building. Craigmillar Castle - I prefer this one to the touristy Edinburgh Castle. Pentland Hills Regional Park is excellent for beautiful long walks. Area around Royal Observatory Edinburgh is nice for a short walk. Holyrood Architectural Salvage is a fun place to explore.
  • Cramond Island - it’s fun to walk there, but check the tide schedule first.
  • Still on my to-do list is a boat tour from the Scottish Seabird Centre to see puffins. Once there, I’ll explore Tantallon Castle too. And perhaps Glenkinchie Distillery too.

1.3 Oxford

1.4 Birmingham

  • The Jewellery Quarter - a lovely neighbourhood. Great cocktails at 40 St Pauls gin-centered cocktail bar. Still on my to-visit list: Ikigai at 1000 Trades cocktail bar and Damascena Jewellery Quarter for brunch. I can highly recommend the area around St. Paul’s Church as the best place to stay during your visit.
  • Digbeth (including the Custard Factory) - the neighbourhood full of street art. I used this map as a rough guide, but keep exploring and you’ll find more, for example The Brolly Works public parking. Still on my to-visit list: Chance & Counters board game cafe.
  • Gas Street Basin - an area of canals. Ikon Gallery is great.
  • City Centre - I loved the vegan tasting menu at Land, Indian food at Ark Restaurant and cocktails at Fox and Chance. Still on my to-visit list: The Pineapple Club Birmingham cocktail bar.
  • South part of Birmingham: Lapworth Museum of Geology - a paradise of rocks and fossils. Fluorescent rocks on the upper floor are magnificent! Chakana - an amazing Peruvian/Japanese restaurant with numerous vegan options. Moseley Bog - the park that inspired landscapes in The Lord of the Rings, nice for a short walk. Still on my to-visit list: cocktail bars Couch Stirchley and Bar Ikigai.

Nearby:

  • Coventry Transport Museum - an excellent museum. Thrust SuperSonic Car is on display.
  • Lichfield cathedral is beautiful. The rooftop tour is still on my to-do list.

1.5 Bristol

Nearby:

  • Bath: The Roman Baths. Bath Abbey decorated with carvings of angels climbing the ladders. City’s unique architecture, good examples include The Circus and The Royal Crescents. Paxton & Whitfield is a great cheese shop. Still on my wishlist: Museum of Bath Architecture.
  • Stonehenge. Avebury is still on my wishlist.
  • Lacock village that is a famous filming location for a reason.

2. Hiking in the Lake District

  • Striding Edge - ridge walk to/from Helvellyn. Start from Patterdale or the bus stop/car park at (54.542464, -3.058717).
  • Crinkle Crags
  • Stickle tarn - a lake in the crator of an ancient volcano, great views and further hiking opportunities from there.
  • Hardknott Roman Fort
  • Scafell Pike
  • Buttermere hike from Buttermere village, up to Red Pike, along the ridge to High Stile, and back along the north-east side of Buttermere lake. Beware of loose small rocks that make some steep parts of the route perilous, regardless if you do this hike in clockwise or anticlockwise direction.
  • Rydal Cave - a short hike for a rainy day when no serious hiking is possible.

Note: A great way to visit without a car is to take the train to Windermere, stay there and take buses to starting points of different hikes. Usually a pdf of current bus schedule can be found.

3. Other Stuff

  • Whitelee Windfarm near Glasgow - walking among wind turbines and sheep. To reach it without a car, take a bus to Eaglesham and walk from there to Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre, where you can get a warm drink to set yourself up for a long walk - 215 turbines connected by 130km of trails.
  • Rampion Offshore Wind Farm tours. I had a great experience with Sussex Boat Trips. For contrast, see Beacon Hill Windmill after the boat tour. If you are passing through Brighton, Burnt Orange is a truly outstanding restaurant.
  • Imperial War Museum Duxford - a huge museum of military and civilian aircrafts. It has its own airfield!
  • Free in-person tours of Amazon fulfilment centres. Available locations vary, they are not always near London.
  • Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram is great; various temporary locations around the UK.

Notes

  • Trainline app is the best place to see all UK trains. The app is free to use to track trains in real time, but you pay commision if you buy tickets through the app. It makes my life so much easier, that I’m ok with paying the commision.