England Travel Guide 2024

2024 Great Britain Visitors Guide

London is the place to start. Nowhere in the country can match the scope and innovation of the metropolis, a colossal, frenetic city, perhaps not as immediately attractive as its European counterparts, but with so much variety that the only obstacle to a great time is the shockingly high cost of everything. It’s here that you’ll find Britain’s best spread of nightlife, cultural events, museums, galleries, pubs, and restaurants. The other large cities, such as Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds or Liverpool each have their strengths: Birmingham has a resurgent arts scene, for example, while people travel for miles to sample Newcastle’s nightlife.

These days Manchester can match the capital for glamour in cafés and clubs, and also boasts the inimitable draw of the world’s best-known football team. England’s ancient cathedral cities, such as Lincoln, York, Salisbury, Durham, and Winchester, cannot be equaled for sheer physical beauty. Wherever you’re based, you’re never more than a few miles from a ruined castle, a majestic country house, a secluded chapel, or a monastery. In the southwest, there are remnants of a Celtic culture that was all but eradicated elsewhere by the Romans, and everywhere you can find traces of prehistoric settlers – most famously the megalithic circles of Stonehenge and Avebury.

Most beguiling of all are the long-established villages of England, hundreds of which amount to nothing more than a pub, a shop, a gaggle of cottages, and a farmhouse offering bed and breakfast. Devon, Cornwall, the Cotswolds, and the Yorkshire Dales harbor some especially picturesque specimens, but every county can boast a decent showing. Then, of course, there’s the English countryside, an extraordinarily diverse terrain from which Constable, Turner, Wordsworth, Emily Brontë, and a host of other writers and artists took inspiration. Exmoor, Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, the North York Moors, and the Lake District are the most dramatic and best-known of the national parks, each offering an array of landscapes crisscrossed with walking routes.

Forbury Garden

Built between 1856 and 1864, Forbury Garden is a great attraction for many tourists. Here you can admire a huge statue of Miwand Lion, which is dedicated to the 66th Berkshire Regiment. The statue was designed by George Blackall-Simonds and is one of the largest bronze statues in the world. While visiting this garden, you can relax a little bit and read a good book. If you want to discover more, you can visit the nearby Reading Prison. Here was sentenced Oscar Wilde, in 1895.

Beale Park Bird

This park is home to an impressive collection of birds, including swans, peacocks, parrots and owls. Here, you can also find a deer park, farm animals, train track and a pet room. After you visit this amazing collection of birds, you can rest at a cafeteria or buy gifts at the gift shop. The kids can have some fun at a summer fishing adventure or they can go on a boat trip.

Reading is a lovely town where you can visit different kinds of museums or enjoy beautiful gardens. Would you visit Beale Park Bird?