Britain for returning visitors

Destinations not on our first-week route

• Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire

  Granite city, the castles of Royal Deeside and the clifftop ruin of Dunnottar

• Anglesey

  Island of castles, Neolithic tombs and sea cliffs across the Menai Strait, with the Irish ferry port at Holyhead

• Bath

  A Roman spa town of honey-colored Georgian terraces in Somerset

• Birmingham

  Canals, workshops and Victorian civic squares in England's second city

• Blackpool and the Lancashire coast

  Blackpool's Tower, piers and tramway, and Lancaster and Morecambe on the bay to the north

• Brighton & Hove

  A seaside city on the Sussex coast, with a Regency palace, two piers and a pebble beach

• Bristol

  A working harbor, Brunel's engineering, Georgian Clifton and a street-art scene

• Cambridge

  A university city of colleges, bridges and riverside meadows on the River Cam

• Canterbury & Kent

  A cathedral city, oyster harbours, Thanet's sandy bays and the castles and white cliffs of the Channel coast

• Cardiff

  The Welsh capital: a castle in the city centre, free national museums and a redeveloped bay

• Cornwall

  Harbor towns, art galleries, tidal castles and Atlantic beaches at the end of the line

• Coventry

  Two cathedrals side by side, Lady Godiva and the UK's big road transport collection

• Devon

  Two cities, the English Riviera, the Dart estuary and the moors of Dartmoor and Exmoor

• Glasgow

  Scotland's biggest city: Victorian civic grandeur, Mackintosh, the Clyde waterfront and free museums

• Gloucester

  A Norman abbey turned cathedral, Victorian docks and a Roman street plan on the Severn

• Hereford

  The Mappa Mundi, a chained library and cider country on the River Wye

• Ironbridge Gorge

  The Iron Bridge of 1779, Blists Hill Victorian Town and the museums of a Shropshire World Heritage Site

• Islay and Jura

  Whisky distilleries, early Christian crosses and the Paps of Jura

• Isle of Arran

  Brodick Castle, Goat Fell and the stone circles of Machrie Moor

• Isle of Bute

  Rothesay Castle, Mount Stuart and quiet beaches a short ferry from Glasgow

Suggested routes from our itineraries

Editorial judgment

Editorial judgment: the northern cities route is tagged 'Second-time visitors' and the Bath route 'Return visitors' in our itinerary data; the bookish route is relaxed and themed.

• Bath, Oxford and the Cotswolds in 5 days

  5 days · Relaxed pace · Bath, The Cotswolds, Oxford

  Georgian Bath, the golden villages and Oxford's colleges, with no capital city needed.

  0 of 16 stops reported step-free · 0 flagged family-friendly (flags exist for London only). Suits: Couples, Slow travelers, Return visitors.

• Manchester, York and Edinburgh by rail

  6 days · Steady pace · Manchester, York, Edinburgh

  Three northern cities in eight days: industry and music, medieval walls, then a castle on a rock.

  0 of 19 stops reported step-free · 0 flagged family-friendly (flags exist for London only). Suits: Culture seekers, Rail travelers, Second-time visitors.

• Bookish Britain by rail

  4 days · Relaxed pace · London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh

  Libraries, writers' houses and bookish streets across four cities.

  2 of 14 stops reported step-free · 0 flagged family-friendly (flags exist for London only). Suits: Book lovers, Rainy-day travelers, Couples.