Paris
Few Parisian parks are as romantic as this, created as the result of a wager in 1775 between Marie-Antoinette and the Count of Artois. Irises bloom in May…
Must-see attractions in Western Europe
Baixo Alentejo
Found just beyond the castle, the unusual Visigothic museum is housed in the former Igreja de Santo Amaro, parts of which date from the early 6th century,…
The Midlands & the Marches
Friar St was largely chock-a-block with historic architecture until the iconoclastic 1960s when much was demolished, including the lovely medieval Lich…
Évora
Just outside the walls to the northeast is the university’s main building (Colégio do Espírito Santo), a descendent (reopened in 1973) of the original…
Museu Municipal de Arte Moderna Abel Manta
Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela
This fascinating modern-art museum pays homage to Abel Manta, a (controversial) Portuguese modernist painter, who was born in Gouveia in 1888. Around 23…
Shropshire
Set at the top of the Hay Inclined Plane (a cable lift that once transported coal barges uphill from the Shropshire Canal), Blists Hill is a lovingly…
Ullapool to Kyle of Lochalsh
Just west of the junction of the A835 and A832, 2 miles south of Braemore, a car park gives access to the Falls of Measach, which spill 45m into…
Edinburgh
The Hermitage of Braid is a wooded valley criss-crossed with walking trails to the south of Blackford Hill – with sunlight filtering through the leaves…
Dorset
Sir Walter Raleigh began building the impressive Sherborne New Castle in 1594, but only got as far as the central block before being imprisoned by James I…
St Andrews
This museum provides a comprehensive overview of the history and development of the game and the role of St Andrews in it. The huge collection ranges from…
Belfast
The UK's last surviving WWI Royal Navy cruiser has been converted into a floating museum, docked in Titanic Quarter. Audio tours take in the captain's…
Bruges
While Antwerp is now the centre of the diamond industry, the idea of polishing the stones with diamond ‘dust’ was originally pioneered in Bruges. This is…
Dartmoor National Park
Remnants from Tavistock's now vanished abbey sit in this traditional but excellent museum alongside artefacts of the town's copper-mining heyday. Look out…
North Yorkshire
The Rotunda Museum is dedicated to the coastal geology of northeast Yorkshire, which has yielded many of Britain's most important dinosaur fossils. The…
Golfe du Morbihan
The Musée de Préhistoire is chock full of the finds from the megalithic sites throughout the region, so it serves as a fantastic primer to the area and…
North & West Coast
A few miles north of Scourie Bay lies this nature reserve run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. The island's western sea cliffs provide nesting sites for…
Northeast Belgium
The city’s step-gabled courthouse was once Margaret of Austria's palace (from 1506). Despite many subsequent alterations, it maintains a gorgeous…
Outer Hebrides
Dun Carloway is a 2000-year-old, dry-stone broch, perched defiantly above a beautiful loch with views to the mountains of North Harris. The site is…
Rye
Just off Church Sq stands the sandcastle-esque Ypres Tower (pronounced ‘wipers’). You can scramble through the 13th-century building to learn about its…
Universo de Memórias João Carlos Abreu
Funchal
Housed in an elegant 19th-century mansion, this museum–arts centre is another repository of knick-knacks donated to the city by an avid collector, this…
Chamonix
Step directly inside the glacier at this tunnel of ice, reshaped every year for the past half-century, which sparkles with perennially recreated ice…
Counties Fermanagh & Tyrone
Originally planted for timber production, this coniferous forest is now a 15-sq-km park. The main car park is the starting point for a series of walking…
West Cornwall
A beach for the active: this attractive rocky cove is backed by high cliffs and sits in a remote spot along the coast path in the far west of Penwith,…
Oxford & the Cotswolds
Sprawling across 150 hectares, the country's largest drive-through animal reserve can only be visited in your own car (so long as it’s not a convertible!)…
The Cotswolds
A long-buried secret lies a minute’s walk north of Broadway Tower, in the cramped cellar-like form of a bunker where, until 1991, members of the Royal…
Grafton Street & St Stephen's Green
These beautiful gardens may not have the sculpted elegance of the other city parks, but they never get too crowded and the warden won't bark at you if you…
Côte d'Azur
Just east of St-Tropez, Plage des Salins is a 600m-wide pine-fringed beach at the southern foot of Cap des Salins. At the northern end of the beach, on a…
The Beiras
The only remaining vestige of the defences the Knights Templar built in the 13th century is the Torre de Menagem. Also known as the Torre dos Templários,…
Exmoor National Park
On 16 August 1952 a huge wave of water swept through Lynmouth following torrential rain. The devastation was immense: 34 people lost their lives, and four…
La Cohue – Musée des Beaux-Arts
Golfe du Morbihan
Opposite the cathedral, the building called La Cohue has variously been a produce market, a law court and the seat of the Breton parliament. Today it's a…
Normandy
Built between the 14th and 18th centuries, this imposing clifftop castle affords spectacular views of the coast. Inside, the museum explores the city’s…
Yonne
This fantastic museum in the exquisite townhouse of Nobel Prize–winning pacifist writer Romain Rolland (1866–1944) holds the collection of Christian…
The Midlands & the Marches
This museum exploring the history of Leicester from Roman times to the modern day was undergoing renovations at the time of writing, and is expected to…
The Beiras
Housed in the severe 17th-century Episcopal Seminary, Guarda's main museum showcases an eclectic collection of archaeological finds, artworks and early…
Kent
On the riverfront in Chatham, this historic dockyard, a candidate for Unesco heritage status, occupies a third of what was once the Royal Navy’s main dock…
Utrecht
You can't usually go inside unless attending a conference here, but it's well worth admiring the exterior of this splendid 500-year-old mansion which was…
Nottingham
Taking aim at the castle gates with his bow and arrow from Nottingham Castle's former moat, this 1952-unveiled bronze statue of Nottingham's famous outlaw…
Parc National du Mercantour
In the mountains around Digne, British contemporary artist Andy Goldsworthy has created a series of outdoor sculptures along a 150km hiking circuit…
St-Émilion
For captivating views of the hilltop hamlet, borrow one of four keys from the tourist office to climb the 196 spiralling steps of this 68m-high bell tower…
Outer Hebrides
This distillery started production in 2015, so its first batch of single malt whisky will be ready in 2019; meanwhile, it's producing Isle of Harris gin,…
