gems

From ancient sites home to centuries of fascinating history to breathtaking natural wonders, here are some of the most magical places to visit on home shores

Summer holiday season may soon be coming to an end, but for those already mourning their time abroad, staying on UK shores doesn’t have to mean a return to the mundane. There are countless places to discover tucked away in all corners of the country that rival holiday destinations overseas with their stunning scenery and fascinating history.

If Brits are seeking inspiration on where to visit next to stave off those post-summer holiday blues, our travel experts have picked out some lesser-known destinations across the UK that are sure to impress. The list below includes five of the top-rated attractions that are branded ‘hidden gems’ on TripAdvisor, with each having earned glowing reviews from visitors.

Our experts have also included tour options from the travel experiences website Viator, for visitors who want to take their excursions to the next level and tick off several beauty spots and historical sites in one day. These tours rank among the highest rated in the area, earning praise from participants for their organisation and informative guides.

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Viator offers flexible booking options, such as 24-hour cancellation and the option to reserve now and pay later, Meanwhile, the app allows travellers to manage all their bookings in one place and search for things to do nearby.

From the ancient Roman ruins of northern England to a one-of-a-kind village in Wales, here are five places to put on your travel list for the remainder of 2026. As well as uncovering hidden gem places, several of the tours found by our travel writers include stop-offs at some of the UK’s most iconic sites too, from Stonehenge to the Giant’s Causeway.

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Vindolanda, Northumberland, England

Hidden in the Northumberland countryside is one of the most important Roman archaeological sites in all of Europe. Vindolanda was once a key military post along the famous Hadrian’s Wall, with its ancient ruins still visible today alongside an on-site museum displaying some of the fascinating finds that have been unearthed, including the Vindolanda Writing Tablets – the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.

Take a tour: For a day trip delving into the rich history of Northumberland, a top-rated option on Viator is the Hadrian’s Wall and The Borders Tour from Edinburgh. Priced from £88 per person, this 10.5-hour tour begins in Edinburgh before crossing the border into the awe-inspiring Hadrian’s Wall country to stop off at several historical sites, from an Augustinian abbey to a Victorian spa town.

Operated by Rabbie’s Trail Burners, this tour has been praised as a “very interesting and engaging experience” in reviews, with several participants praising their guide as “very knowledgeable”. While one reviewer thought that the tour felt “a bit rushed” and another fed back that they would have “loved more time at Vindolanda”, multiple others said they had “plenty of time at each stop”.

The price of this tour includes admission to the Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum. For those organising their own trip to this part of Northumberland, tickets are available to buy online via the Vindolanda Charitable Trust.

Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England

Dubbed the “prettiest village in England”, Castle Combe ranks highly on TripAdvisor’s list of the country’s best hidden gems. A trip to this tiny picture-perfect village feels like stepping back in time, as it has changed very little over the centuries, with its honey-coloured cottages nestled in a woodland valley.

Visit Wiltshire notes that the village is “vulnerable to the pressures of over-tourism” due to its small size, and is therefore not an all-day destination. A visit is best taken as part of a wider tour, with plenty of options available on Viator that include stop-offs at other must-visit spots in this picturesque part of England.

Take a tour: One of the most highly rated options on Viator is the Private Tour to Stonehenge, Bath and The Cotswolds. Lasting around 10 hours, this tour doesn’t come cheap with prices starting from £1,100 per group of up to seven people, but it does check off multiple bucket-list worthy destinations, from the iconic Stonehenge to the Roman Baths, making it a dream for lovers of history and idyllic scenery.

Run by Tailored Tours, this excursion has been branded an “enriching experience” in reviews, with participants having high praise for the “vast and in-depth knowledge” of their guide. In fact, with nearly 200 reviews, it has received five-star ratings exclusively, with others describing it as “a perfect mix of fun, historical and beautiful”, although one person noted that they “wish we’d had more time to explore Bath”.

The price of this tour does not include admission to Stonehenge. Anyone planning their own visit to the world-famous prehistoric monument can book tickets via English Heritage, which also includes admission to an exhibition housing more than 250 artefacts discovered in the landscape.

Portmeirion Village, Gwynedd, Wales

Over in Wales, the number one hidden gem attraction according to Tripadvisor rankings is the spectacular Portmeirion Village. This unique tourist village will have visitors thinking they’ve travelled to the Italian Riviera with its colourful buildings and ornamental gardens, with shops, cafés, tea-rooms and restaurants too.

Take a tour: Travellers can explore the treasures of North Wales with the Portmeirion, Castles and Snowdonia Tour, a top-rated option on Viator that embarks from Llandudno on a drive along the one-way road of the Great Orme headland with its spectacular mountain drop off into the sea. Alongside a visit to Portmeirion, tourists will stop off at the medieval castle towns of Conwy and Caernarfon, before driving through part of the Snowdonia National Park for a chance to experience its breathtaking scenery from mountains to waterfalls.

Operated by Adventure Tour Snowdonia, the action-packed day has been hailed as an “insightful” trip offering “a great taste of North Wales” and “a great way to see the Snowdonia area without a car”. One reviewer remarked that “the three longer stops felt a bit too long”, while someone else thought that “some spots did not feel worthy of time”, although a different participant said they “enjoyed every moment”.

This tour is priced from £65 per person and is a full day lasting around nine hours. Meanwhile, tourists who want to turn a visit to Portmeirion Village into a holiday have a choice of hotels and self-catering cottages in the village itself for a one-of-a-kind retreat, from the striking Castell Deudraeth to the characterful Village Rooms.

Dean Village, Edinburgh, Scotland

Up in Scotland, Dean Village in Edinburgh takes the top spot when it comes to hidden gems to discover in the country, rated by visitors on TripAdvisor. An ancient settlement with roots dating back to the 12th century, this cherished beauty spot offers a tranquil retreat at the heart of the city, steeped in fascinating history.

Take a tour: Offering the chance to fully experience this hidden gem with the help of expert local insight is the Dean Village Circus Lane Walking Tour with a Local, which is priced from £18 per person and comes recommended by 100% of reviewers on Viator. Following a visit to Dean Village, this two-hour tour will lead to the New Town of Edinburgh, followed by the Water of Leith Walkway, before finishing at Circus Lane – the so-called ‘most Instagrammable lane in Edinburgh’.

Run by Local Eyes Tours, this walk has impressed participants with no ratings below four stars and reviews praising it as “very informative” and “picturesque”. Although multiple reviewers named the “flat, clear walking surfaces” as a bonus, one reviewer advised: “You’ll be in the weather elements, so bring a jacket and an umbrella or a waterproof coat. There might be a little bit of mud.”

For more tours exploring Edinburgh and wider Scotland, the award-winning Rabbie’s Tours offers more than 30 options, travelling to beauty spots such as Loch Ness, Loch Lomond and the Isle of Skye.

Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

And finally, Northern Ireland’s top hidden gem according to TripAdvisor reviews is the majestic ruins of Dunluce Castle. Described as “one of the most picturesque and romantic of Irish Castles” by Discover Northern Ireland, its remains date from the 16th and 17th centuries, with its position on the coastal cliffs of County Antrim making it an all the more dramatic sight.

Take a tour: For a tour that includes Dunluce Castle alongside several more of Northern Ireland’s most awe-inspiring sites, one option that comes highly rated by participants is the Giant’s Causeway Sightseeing Day Tour from Belfast. Lasting around nine hours and priced from £30 per person, this tour offers magnificent views of the Giant’s Causeway, plenty of photo stops along the Antrim Coastal Road, and the chance to learn all about the history of Northern Ireland.

Operated by Citysightseeing Belfast, participants said they loved the “amazing scenery” and “knowledgeable” guides, saying the Giant’s Causeway was “spectacular to see in person”. One reviewer described Dunluce Castle as “beautiful and majestic”, although one person felt that they spent “a little too much time on the bus”.

The National Trust also offers Giant’s Causeway experiences available to book, including a five-mile guided cliff hike along the coastline, and seasonal events such as twilight tours.

A couple converted an £8k van during the pandemic, despite having no experience, and since then have swapped exotic trips abroad for staycations to some very unusual UK locations

A “battered” carpenter’s van that cost £8,000 changed the course of one couple’s lives after they turned it into a home on wheels.

Andy and Claire Stocks, also known as St Christopher of Atlantis to more than 45,000 followers on YouTube, have swapped foreign holidays for staycations in their van, sharing their adventures across the UK’s underrated spots with their fans.

The Barnsley couple fell into van life accidentally, taking on the task of turning a van into a motorhome after their Mercedes broke down during the pandemic and they were unable to get parts. “It started to get this intermittent fault on the dashboard and I didn’t really want to part with the car, but it got worse and worse, and it was coming up more and more,” Andy explained.

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“I was a little bit annoyed at it. So, I decided to buy a van instead. I just kind of threw the teddy out of the pram because the car that I liked, I couldn’t have.”

But that van ended up being life-changing for the couple. They swapped exotic jaunts to hotels and Airbnbs in the Far East and Central America for simpler staycations, and have now semi-retired to spend more time on the road and focus on their YouTube channel.

The couple has also turned their adventures into a book: It Started with a Van, due to be released in paperback on July 16. The story begins with them finding a van and deciding to give vanlife a go, with Andy noting he had no experience and “an unrealistic amount of confidence” when he took on the project.

Andy admitted that the start of the project had its hitches. “The first job that I had to do – there’s a bulkhead that separates the cab from the back to stop things flying into the cabin. So, I had to remove that. I thought that was going to be a really easy job. And I started taking the bolts out, and they were all good apart from one bolt, and that took me two weeks to actually get rid of. So it kind of set the tone for everything else that followed.”

While they learned some skills from YouTube and a book on conversions, the couple went into the project blind, doing jobs after work in the winter whenever they had enough light.

In addition to the initial cost of £8,000 for the van, the couple spent a “few thousand” on the renovations, although they haven’t worked out the true amount. Andy joked: “I might be in trouble with her if I did.”

Their first trip in the van was to Conwy in Wales, and it took place with the build half-done. The couple admitted it was less glamorous than many vanlife influencers would have you believe.

“I was trying to sell the lifestyle to Claire. What actually happened was we sat in a car park with a sandwich. On the bare floor,” laughed Andy.

As they worked on the van the couple had the idea to put updates on their progress on YouTube. They have since built a base of thousands of subscribers. But at first, the reception wasn’t quite what they expected.

Andy said: “When we put it out on YouTube, I think people thought it was a bit of a joke. Some of the initial comments were, ‘Oh, that was really funny. That was, you know, you made me laugh.’ And actually, that wasn’t your intention at all.

“No, I put my best foot forward thinking this would show people how to build a van, but they thought it was more of a funny sort of parody type thing really.”

However, they persevered and have now cut their work days to three a week to allow them to spend more time in the van and creating YouTube content.

In a typical day, the couple travel to a campsite and create a video tour of the facilities. “A lot of people book campsites off the back of us. We turn up, we set the pitch up, then we grab the cameras, and then we will go and tour the campsite and the surrounding area. And then when we’ve done that, we come back to the motor home and we’re working basically,” Andy said.

“The illusion is that we are out and just on campsites and enjoying ourselves., But we’re editing, we’re dealing with the social media side, the comments. And so it’s like our motor home now, it’s a bit like an office on wheels.”

Despite the success of their build, Andy conceded that if they had to do it all again, he’d “probably get somebody else to build it because I really found out what my limits were.”

After enjoying adventures that took them all the way to Italy through Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium, plus lots of staycations, the couple eventually traded in their carpenter’s van, opting to buy a motorhome instead.

As a couple on the road all the time, Andy and Claire noted that living in tight quarters can lead to annoyances. Their original van had no separate seating area, just a bed, and no built-in toilet, so they had to rely on campsite facilities and stay “mega organised” to cope.

The couple also dealt with breakdowns and an incident where they ended up trapped in a full-blown blizzard. Perhaps most memorable was when they ended up in completely the wrong place.

Andy said: “We did have an occasion where we put in the wrong location into the satnav. I went to the completely incorrect country. It said we should have been somewhere in France. We ended up in Belgium.”

Debunking a common myth, Andy and Claire say they like to support the local economies in places they visit, often highlighting local cafes, bars, and shops on their channel.

And their trip highlights? The Isle of Mull was a favourite of Claire’s as it has “the most wonderful sunset we’ve ever seen”. She recommended a campsite called Fidden Farm and said: “And the beaches truly are white beaches up there”, comparing it to the Maldives.

Andy’s favourite was a little more unusual: “This is a really random place that we would never expect it. We went to Hartlepool Marina and we saw dolphins. It was so beautiful, kind of an industrial location actually, but then you look up and you’re watching the dolphins.Goodness!

“The Northeast is a bit like that. You know, you can be on a beach and you look one way and there’s industry, but then you look the other way and you’ve got wildlife. Everywhere has got something going for it.”

So, will Andy and Claire ever hang up their motorhome keys? The couple said that they’d like to stay on the road for as long as possible. “We are quite young to be motorhomers. The demographic of our channel is a lot of people that are older than us. So, we’ve got all that to go and we’ll do it as long as we enjoy it,” Andy added.

And his advice to anyone thinking of taking on this kind of life? “Just do it now while you can. Just do whatever you want to do. Get out and do it. That’s my advice.”

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