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United Kingdom
Rich history, iconic royals, sprawling countrysides and cosmopolitan cities.
Top Destinations
Explore our curated selection of landmarks and cities you must visit.
Tower of London
A medieval royal fortress and UNESCO World Heritage Site beside the River Thames, begun by William the Conqueror in 1066, that has served as a royal palace, treasury, mint, menagerie, and prison. The Crown Jewels — including the 530-carat Cullinan I, the world's largest top-quality cut white diamond — are displayed here.
Best Time
March to May and September to November. Summer queues for the Crown Jewels can exceed 2 hours. Arrive at opening time (10 AM) to beat the crowds.
Insider Tip
Book the 'Ceremony of the...
Stonehenge
A prehistoric stone circle on Salisbury Plain constructed between 3000 and 1500 BCE, with the central sarsen stones weighing up to 25 tonnes each transported from 25 kilometres away by a society with no wheels or written language. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most visited monuments in the world.
Best Time
Shoulder seasons (April–May, September–October) for smaller crowds and better light. Special access tickets to stand inside the stone circle at dawn are available for summer and winter solstice events.
Insider Tip
Book 'Stone Circle Access' tickets...
Edinburgh Old Town
Scotland's ancient capital perched on volcanic rock, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of medieval tenements (closes and wynds), the 12th-century Edinburgh Castle overlooking the Royal Mile, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the foot — a straight kilometre of royal and ecclesiastical history.
Best Time
August for the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe (the world's largest arts festival, 3,500+ shows). Year-round for the historic Old Town, but summer has 17 hours of daylight.
Insider Tip
Visit the Greyfriars Kirkyard at...
Lake District National Park
England's largest national park covers 2,362 square kilometres of mountain, lake, and fell, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. Scafell Pike (978 metres) is England's highest mountain; Windermere is its largest natural lake. The landscape inspired William Wordsworth, John Ruskin, and Beatrix Potter.
Best Time
May to September for walking. October for autumn colours around the lakes. December–January for occasional snow on the fells.
Insider Tip
The Langdale Pikes walk from...
British Museum
The world's first public national museum, opened in 1759, housing 8 million objects spanning two million years of human history. The Great Court, covered by a glass-and-steel dome designed by Norman Foster, is the largest covered public square in Europe.
Best Time
Year-round. Tuesday to Thursday mornings are quietest. Late opening on Fridays for the Rosetta Stone gallery without crowds.
Insider Tip
The museum's Egyptian mummy collection...
Scottish Highlands
The ancient mountains and glens of the Scottish Highlands form the most dramatic and unspoiled landscape in the British Isles — a 25,000-square-kilometre wilderness of Ben Nevis (1,345 metres), Glencoe, Loch Ness, and the Cairngorms, inhabited by red deer, golden eagles, and ospreys.
Best Time
May to July for long daylight hours (midsummer has virtually no darkness). September to October for the Highland Games and autumn colours. February to March for Munro-bagging in snow.
Insider Tip
Stay in the tiny village...
Bath Roman Baths & City
A perfectly preserved Georgian city built over the only naturally hot spring in Britain, exploited first by the Romans as Aquae Sulis (75 CE) with a temple and bath complex of extraordinary engineering, then by 18th-century society as the most fashionable spa destination in England — the setting for Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.
Best Time
Year-round. Spring and autumn are best — Bath is compact enough to walk entirely and the Georgian streets are most atmospheric in golden light.
Insider Tip
Bathe in the actual geothermal...
Pembrokeshire Coast
The only exclusively coastal National Park in the UK — 186 miles of cliffs, sandy coves, offshore islands, and sea caves along the southwest Welsh coast, home to the largest puffin and seabird colony in Wales on Skomer Island and one of the finest coastal walks in Europe.
Best Time
May to July for puffins on Skomer Island (puffins arrive mid-April and leave mid-August). The coast path is accessible year-round but dramatic storms from September to March.
Insider Tip
Book Skomer Island day trips...
The Cotswolds
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty stretching 90 miles through central England, a quintessential English landscape of honey-coloured limestone villages, ancient market towns, meadows, and dry-stone walls that compose the English countryside as it exists in the collective imagination.
Best Time
May and June for wildflowers and village fetes. October for harvest light and golden-hour stone. December for Christmas markets in Tetbury and Cirencester.
Insider Tip
Rent a bicycle in Bourton-on-the-Water...
Westminster & Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament), including the iconic Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben), occupies the north bank of the Thames opposite Westminster Bridge. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the current Gothic Revival structure was built 1840–1870, replacing the medieval palace partly burned in 1834.
Best Time
October to July (parliamentary term). Request free tickets for Prime Minister's Questions (Wednesdays, 12 noon) from your MP or embassy.
Insider Tip
The best exterior view of...
Windsor Castle
The world's oldest and largest continuously occupied castle, the official residence of the British monarch since William the Conqueror built the first wooden structure in 1070. St George's Chapel within the castle precincts is the burial place of 10 British monarchs including Henry VIII and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Best Time
Year-round. The castle is open daily except during State Visits (when some areas close). The Royal Standard flies when the monarch is in residence.
Insider Tip
Walk up the Long Walk...
Yorkshire Dales
A national park of limestone valleys, moorland, and waterfalls in the Pennines of northern England. The unique limestone pavement formations, field barns, and dry-stone walls create a landscape of extraordinary character. The Dales are bisected by the historic Settle–Carlisle railway — Britain's most scenic mainline.
Best Time
May to October. The Three Peaks Challenge walk (24 miles, 3 summits) is best in June and July for long daylight. Spring brings wildflowers to the limestone pavements.
Insider Tip
Take the Settle–Carlisle railway from...
St Ives & The Penwith Peninsula
A small fishing harbour town on the Penwith Peninsula of west Cornwall with the purest sea light in Britain, an internationally significant artistic heritage (Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo all worked here), and the Tate St Ives gallery overlooking one of England's most beautiful beaches.
Best Time
May to October for coastal walking. The Porthminster Beach below Tate St Ives faces southwest — the sunset over the bay is spectacular.
Insider Tip
Visit Tate St Ives first...
Snowdonia
Wales' largest national park encompasses 823 square miles of ancient volcanic mountains, including Snowdon (1,085 metres) — the highest peak in England and Wales. The park contains 15 peaks over 900 metres, 2,500 lakes, and a network of mountain railways including the Snowdon Mountain Railway (1896).
Best Time
May to October. September offers the finest mountain conditions — clear stable weather, autumn colours in the valleys, and fewer summer tourists.
Insider Tip
The Horseshoe Walk (Y Gribin...
Cambridge University
The second-oldest English-speaking university in the world (1209), a complex of 31 colleges in a city of extraordinary architectural beauty centred on King's College Chapel (1441–1515) — the finest example of English Perpendicular Gothic architecture — and the Backs, where the River Cam flows behind the college courts.
Best Time
May Week (late June — graduate celebrations on the Backs). Year-round, but the Christmas carol service at King's is the cultural highlight of England's December.
Insider Tip
King's College evensong is free...
Giant's Causeway
A UNESCO World Heritage Site of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns rising from the North Antrim coast — the result of an ancient volcanic eruption 50–60 million years ago. The hexagonal columns, perfectly tessellated by geological accident, descend into the North Channel of the Irish Sea in a staircase of extraordinary regularity.
Best Time
May to September. The causeway is exposed and can be treacherous in winter storms. The coastal walking path from the causeway east to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (6 km) is finest in summer.
Insider Tip
Walk the coastal path west...
Blenheim Palace
The greatest Baroque palace in Britain, built 1705–1722 as a gift from the nation to the Duke of Marlborough for his victory at the Battle of Blenheim. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, birthplace of Winston Churchill in 1874, surrounded by 2,000 acres of Capability Brown landscape — the finest natural English garden in existence.
Best Time
May to September. The Long Library and State Rooms are finest in afternoon light. The parkland wildflower meadows bloom in May and June.
Insider Tip
The Marlborough Maze (the world's...
Hadrian's Wall
A UNESCO World Heritage Site: the northern defensive frontier of the Roman Empire, built 122–128 CE on the orders of Emperor Hadrian, stretching 73 miles from the Solway Firth to the mouth of the River Tyne. The 5-metre-high wall, with forts every Roman mile, represents the most complete Roman frontier surviving anywhere in the world.
Best Time
May to September. The central section (Hexham to Greenhead) is most dramatic, crossing the Whin Sill basalt ridge at the highest and best-preserved points.
Insider Tip
Start walking west-to-east from Carlisle...
Isle of Skye
Scotland's largest and most dramatic island, 50 miles long with the jagged Black Cuillin mountains rising 993 metres from sea level in a saw-toothed ridge of gabbro and basalt — the finest mountain scrambling terrain in Britain. The island's coastline of sea stacks, basalt cliffs, and tidal pools is one of Europe's great wild seascapes.
Best Time
May to September. June has the longest daylight (sunset after 11 PM in midsummer). Avoid July and August school holidays for quieter roads.
Insider Tip
Drive the Trotternish Peninsula anti-clockwise...
North Coast 500
Scotland's ultimate road trip — a 516-mile scenic route starting and ending in Inverness, weaving along the dramatic North Highlands coast past white sand beaches, rugged mountains, remote fishing villages, and historic castle ruins.
Best Time
May to September for long daylight hours and optimal driving conditions. Late spring brings bright yellow gorse blossoms along the route.
Insider Tip
Drive the route counter-clockwise to...
Travel Tips for United Kingdom
- 1.
Stand on the right on escalators
- 2.
Always carry an umbrella
- 3.
Understand the pub culture