City Breaks Archives - UK Explorer

Belfast City Hall with its green copper dome and ornate stone façade, seen from the surrounding lawns beneath a cloudy evening sky and framed by leafy trees.

Belfast City Hall is one of those buildings that seems to steady the city around it. Grand without being stuffy, ornate without tipping into absurdity, …

Bridge and colourful Bristol streets, Newcastle’s Quayside with the Sage and Tyne Bridge, a historic timber-framed lane in York, and Glasgow’s city centre with a bright pink illuminated building.

City Breaks UK Weekend Getaways

10 of the best easy weekend city breaks in the UK

Updated on 17 April 202617 April 2026

There comes a moment in adult life when you realise that a weekend city break is one of Britain’s great civilised inventions. You leave on …

Edinburgh city centre at night during the festive season, with a large illuminated Christmas tree in the foreground, a glowing Ferris wheel to the left, and historic buildings lit up against the dark sky.

City Breaks UK Winter and Festive Travels

Festive city breaks for winter weekends with character

Updated on 13 April 202613 April 2026

Winter city breaks can go one of two ways. They can become a blur of overcrowded markets, damp gloves, and the sort of decorative reindeer …

Overhead view of a wooden table by a window with a folded map of Britain, handwritten UK trip notes in an open notebook, train tickets, an Oyster card, a guidebook, and a mug of tea as a hand marks out a first-time UK travel route.

First time visitor Planning UK

First time in the UK? How to plan a trip that actually works

Updated on 11 April 202611 April 2026

A first trip to the UK can look wonderfully simple in the imagination and slightly less simple once flights, trains, regions, hotels and ambitious ideas …

Scenic view of Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds, featuring honey-coloured stone cottages, a tree-lined stream, and a small stone footbridge reflected in the water

UK Weekend Getaways

Best UK weekend getaways for a proper change of scene

Updated on 11 April 202611 April 2026

Sometimes you do not need a grand adventure, a reinvention of the self, or a suspiciously expensive airport sandwich. Sometimes you just need to leave …

Night view of Belfast waterfront with a curved bridge lit in purple, city buildings glowing across the water, and reflections shimmering on the river under a dark sky

City Breaks Northern Ireland Weekend Getaways

Belfast, or how to build a city out of smoke, ships and stubbornness

Updated on 12 April 202624 March 2026

Belfast is one of those cities that seems to have lived several completely different lives and kept souvenirs from all of them. It was a …

Coventry Cathedral in sunlight, showing the roofless stone ruins of the old Gothic cathedral with its tall spire beside the modern cathedral building, which has a broad brick facade, a large cross and steps leading to the entrance under a clear blue sky

Cathedrals City Breaks England

Coventry, the city that refused to stay down

Updated on 12 April 202619 March 2026

Coventry is one of those places that has had the sort of history that would have sent a lesser city quietly off for a lie …

A crowd of cheerful London Marathon supporters stands behind a red Virgin Money barrier and a bright arch of red, yellow, and blue balloons, holding handmade signs and cheering on runners

Scotland Seasonal Travels Spring Travel

30 Top UK festivals and events for April and May 2026

Updated on 12 April 202616 March 2026

Quick takeaways April and May are excellent months for getting out and about in Britain. The weather is usually improving, the gardens are waking up, …

Panoramic view of Norwich Cathedral rising above the city, with its tall stone spire, Romanesque cloisters, and surrounding green trees under a bright blue sky

City Breaks England Historic Cities

Norwich and the unlikely triumph of a city doing things its own way

Updated on 12 April 202616 March 2026

With a Norman cathedral, a crooked medieval street plan, a market that has been trading for centuries and a quietly rebellious streak, Norwich is one …