United Kingdom

Despite its small size, England remains stubbornly impossible to encapsulate in a neat sound bite. It’s a delectable mosaic of cultures, cities and landscapes, and any holiday in England will add up to an experience that’s way more than the sum of its parts. Okay, so if you’re looking for reliably good weather, admittedly this is not the place to come. But on every other stereotype, England will have you doing an about-face – come expecting a nation of tea drinkers and shopkeepers, quaint traditions and Sunday roasts; leave knowing there’s so much more to it than that.

For one, there are the cities. London hardly needs introduction, such is the dominance of the capital on a world scale; royal celebrations and Olympics-hosting only showcase the tip of the iceberg of what makes the city great. But whilst it often steals the limelight, England’s regional cities are increasingly marching to the beat of their own drums, driven by a cosmopolitan renaissance that saw Manchester the scene of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Liverpool awarded 2008 European City of Culture and York chosen to host of the 2014 Tour de France. Leeds is where music-lovers can immerse themselves in the sounds of the city and serious shoppers can get their fixes, whilst at the other end of the cultural scale sit grandiose seats of learning Cambridge and Oxford, where mediaeval architecture and cobbled streets evoke a powerful sense of history at every turn.

England’s eccentricities can both bewitch and bewilder (as any visit to the annual cheese rolling competition in Gloucestershire will prove), but despite the odd clash between tradition and modernity, the two can make comfortable bedfellows. Visit England, and you’ll see a place where liberal values have fostered a culture of tolerance and diversity, where self-deprecation is the modus operandi and where witty words beat correct answers in almost every context.

It’s a country that rewards the curious, whether that means a cosy chat with the locals down the pub, making an unscheduled stop at whatever catches your eye, or heading on a journey out into the wilds – from the dramatic dales of Yorkshire and the rugged fells of the Lake District, to the bucolic hills of the Cotswolds and Cornwall’s dramatic coastal splendour, England’s landscape has it all. No wonder it’s one of the most popular destinations in the world.

Taking the time to explore this multi-faceted destination is the best way to experience the country, but any visitor will have a hard time nailing down a potential itinerary. Do you head up north, where the views from the mountains are glorious, the people are humorous and the tea is strong? The low-key (but no less attractive for that) counties of the Midlands, where lesser-travelled gems and picturesque villages lie in waiting? Or perhaps a romantic break in the coastal retreats of Devon or Suffolk? And that’s before turning attention to the copious attractions of neighbours Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!