Dundee

London's Trafalgar Sq has Nelson, Edinburgh's Princes St has Sir Walter Scott and Belfast has Queen Victoria outside City Hall. Dundee's City Sq, on the other hand, is graced – rather endearingly – by the bronze figure of Desperate Dan. Familiar to generations of British schoolchildren, Dan is one of the best-loved cartoon characters from the comic Dandy, published by Dundee firm DC Thomson since 1937.

Dundee enjoys perhaps the finest location of any Scottish city, spreading along the northern shore of the Firth of Tay, and has tourist attractions of national importance in Discovery Point and Verdant Works. Add attractive seaside town Broughty Ferry, and the Dundonians themselves – among the friendliest, most welcoming and entertaining people you'll meet – and Dundee is definitely worth a stopover.

The waterfront around Discovery Point has undergone a massive redevelopment, centred on the construction of the architecturally outstanding V&A Dundee museum of design, opened in 2018.