UK holidays

While the UK has plenty of unique places for a staycation, there’s one city that people go back to again and again. With so much to do for travellers of all ages it’s easy to see why it remains at number one.

It can be great fun to explore an exotic location several hours away and experience a new culture and scenery, but many of us don’t have the time or budget to take long-haul holidays.

That’s why it’s worth considering locations closer to home. Even if they are on your doorstep, visiting them as a tourist can give you a whole new perspective on a place.

That’s why Expedia has put together a list of the top UK holiday destinations for 2026. Although the city grabbing the number one spot may not come as a great surprise, there are some interesting locations in the top ten.

London topped the list for domestic destinations, and even if you already visit the capital a lot, it’s worth considering as a city break. While many visitors stay in the centre of London, it’s a huge, sprawling city full of colourful neighbourhoods, so simply staying a little further out can completely change your perspective.

Avoid the hotels in tourist central and consider staying in an area such as Hackney Wick or Ladbroke Grove, both of which made it onto The Telegraph’s list of London’s 10 coolest neighbourhoods. Not only will you save money on hotels, but you can also live like a Londoner while still enjoying easy transport links to tourist attractions.

A trip to London also doesn’t need to mean the usual visits to Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. If you enjoy those things, that’s great, but new attractions are being opened all the time. In late 2026, the London Museum in Smithfield will open in a former Victorian market, making the most of the grand building. It’ll include underground exhibition spaces and performance venues.

V&A East opens April 18 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, just a short walk from the popular V&A East Storehouse. It will include two free galleries showcasing “contemporary global culture” as well as temporary exhibition spaces. Its first temporary exhibition will be The Music Is Black: A British Story and the café will serve dishes inspired by East London’s diverse communities.

Even well-established landmarks such as the British Museum are always offering new exhibitions and things to do. In September, the much-anticipated Bayeux Tapestry Exhibition will arrive at the museum, allowing visitors to see the incredible 68-metre-long medieval masterpiece up close.

If you prefer attractions that are a little livelier, then the new Gameshow LIVE! might be one for you. Opening in spring, it bills itself as the “world’s first interactive gameshow”. Up to 200 players can join in, and the attraction will include all the elements you expect from a classic game show, from buzzers to dramatic lighting. It’ll certainly outshine your local pub quiz.

On Expedia’s list at second place was the classic tourist destination Edinburgh, while third and fourth place went to Manchester and Liverpool. Birmingham was perhaps a surprise addition at number five, and the West Midlands city managed to beat York and the Lake District in the rankings.

Expedia’s top ten UK destinations for 2026 – full list

1. London
2. Edinburgh
3. Manchester
4. Liverpool
5. Birmingham
6. York
7. Glasgow
8. Lake District
9. Devon
10. Cardiff

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The UK’s most beautiful places have been ranked and one English spot has particularly impressed thanks to its enchanting scenery and quaint villages

A beautiful region full of rolling green hills, lakes with azure waters and charming villages that are the stuff of fairytales has been named England’s most beautiful place for 2026.

The Lake District has long been attracting visitors from around the world, often featuring on rankings of the more scenic spots and picturesque landmarks across Britain. Now, it’s been named one of the UK’s most beautiful places, taking the silver medal in new rankings from Big 7 Travel.

“England’s largest national park, the Lake District, is surely one of the UK’s most beautiful areas,” the team behind the research explained. “Whether it’s grass-covered fells, England’s highest mountain (Scafell Pike), beautiful lakes such as Ullswater and Windermere or quaint towns like Grasmere and Keswick, the Lake District has it all. Perfect for everyone from hikers to swimmers, photographers to artists and more, the Lake District is easily one of the most beautiful places in the UK.”

While it’s hardly a hidden gem, it’s not difficult to see why the Lake District is so popular with tourists. There are plenty of breathtaking lakes to explore in the region – 16 in fact – with popular highlights including the likes of Lake Windemere, Derwentwater and Ullswater which boast a host of water sports facilities and attractions. (Families may particularly want to bookmark the World of Beatrix Potter which brings the stories of Peter Rabbit and his friends to life).

Then of course that lush green landscape is packed with everything from scenic strolls to epic hiking trails, depending on how far you want to cover in your hiking boots. Oh, and the region is renowned for the many, many brilliant pubs where you can warm up by a fire, tuck into a hearty roast and enjoy a well-deserved drink after a busy day of exploring.

As for where to stay, there’s a plethora of accommodation to choose from, with the likes of Sykes Holiday Cottages and Holidaycottages.co.uk both offering up some brilliant options that look like the stuff of storybooks, or if you fancy treating yourself to a hotel stay, TripAdvisor has a handy guide to some of the best cheap Lake District hotels you’ll want on your radar.

Meanwhile, if you’re after more staycation inspiration then you could of course head to the UK’s most beautiful destination in the rankings. That accolade went to the Queen’s View in the Scottish Highlands, a picturesque viewing point that overlooks Loch Tummel. One of its most famous visitors, Queen Victoria, arrived at the site in 1866 and reportedly assumed that the location was named after her. (In reality, It is thought that it was named after Isabella, Robert the Bruce’s first wife, who lived more than 500 years before Victoria’s visit).

You can see the top 10 rankings below…

The UK’s top 10 most beautiful places

1. Queen’s View – Perthshire, Scotland
2. The Lake District – Cumbria, England
3. The Forest of Dean – Gloucestershire, England
4. Fairy Pools – Isle of Skye, Scotland
5. Rathlin Island – County Antrim, Northern Ireland
6. Berwyn Mountains – Powys, Wales
7. Heights of Abraham – Derbyshire, England
8. Holkham Beach – Norfolk, England
9. Eilean Donan Castle – Highlands, Scotland
10. Knaresborough – North Yorkshire, England

You can find out more on enjoytravel.com.

Is there a destination you think deserved to be in the top 10 rankings? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

Kidlington in Oxfordshire was declared a town last month after almost 40 years, and boasts scenic walks, cosy pubs and is the perfect base for visiting Blenheim Palace and Harry Potter locations

Britain has officially gained a new town, boasting welcoming pubs, a delightful tearoom, picturesque riverside strolls and a vibrant community spirit.

Located to the north of Oxford, Kidlington features a busy high street and an expanding population. However, until recently, it held the distinction of being one of Britain’s largest villages.

The Oxfordshire settlement is home to nearly 14,000 people and exceeds the size of several of England’s more established towns. Kidlington previously sought to upgrade its designation from village to town status back in 1988, though the bid was unsuccessful at that time, with locals continuing to embrace their preferred classification.

Yet after nearly four decades, Kidlington was officially granted town status last month, after Parish Council members backed the move unanimously. The council highlighted that it possesses the “population, services, and infrastructure of a town”, with the reclassification bringing certain advantages.

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Under the government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework and National Policing Guarantee introduced last year, towns benefit from enhanced safeguards, especially concerning planning and policing matters. The settlement has ambitions to construct additional housing and increase its population beyond 30,000, reports the Express.

Yet, some locals remain unconvinced about its elevated status as a town, with one resident telling the Metro: “I would prefer it to be a village – it just got more of a community feel to it. A town to me seems something that it’s not. I don’t know what it represents, being a town.”

They continued: “I can’t see by being a town it’s going to improve.” Meanwhile, others feel disappointed about losing its claim as one of Europe’s largest villages.

However, politics aside, Kidlington boasts a stunning location, close to the beautiful Cotswolds, nestled between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal. The town offers numerous picturesque walks, and sits conveniently less than half an hour’s drive from Oxford city centre.

It serves as a perfect base for Oxford commuters, with the neighbouring Parkway railway station providing access to the city in less than 10 minutes. For those exploring the town itself, there’s the 13th-century church featuring an impressive 220-foot spire, and the high street, brimming with shops and welcoming pubs, including The King’s Arms and The Boat Inn, positioned along the river.

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Making the most of its setting, visitors can find the Thrupp Canoe and Kayak Hire Centre for leisurely river trips, followed by a visit to the delightful Annie’s Tea Rooms. There’s also the Thrupp Community Forest providing woodland walks, and close by sits Willowbrook Farm for days of adventure.

The town is also in close proximity to the market town of Bicester, renowned for its popular outlet village, offering discounted brands. Meanwhile, less than 10 minutes away lies Blenheim Palace, the distinguished birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and home to acres of tranquil grounds to explore.

Nearby is also the iconic Harry Potter tree, featured in the franchise films, which is definitely worth a visit after a wander around Kidlington.

The market town is one that has had a run of bad luck, but has plenty to be excited about, including cheap houses, an excellent art gallery and a local fish and chip delicacy

There’s a market town in England lined with grand terraced houses that regularly sell for £100,000. In fact, many go for just £50,000.

Head to Rightmove or a local estate agent and you’ll find two and even three-bedroom homes selling for half or even a third of the nation’s average. But it’s a place that’s got a lot more than just cheap houses.

It’s home to one of the UK’s most recognisably-named football clubs, one of the country’s greatest living authors, and one of the world’s finest collections of Tiffany glass.

The dazzling glassware, worth tens of millions, was sent from the US in 1933 by local lad-done-good Joseph Briggs. They then sat gathering dust for four decades before their brilliance was finally recognised.

Accrington — where the collection now shines in the Haworth Art Gallery atop the town’s hill — is much the same: a hidden gem, long overlooked beyond Lancashire, but, I’d argue, ready to dazzle.

It’s about time, because Accrington has had its share of misfortune.

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The town is probably best recognised (at least by those Fifa fans who have needed a willing team to drub) for its amusingly named football club, Accrington Stanley. Back in 1888, the club was one of an elite 12 that helped found the Football League, only to tumble out mid-season 88 years later, bankrupt and in chaos. As miserable fans drifted off to Blackburn and Burnley, the 15,000-seat stadium was binned and replaced with one a third of the size.

Far more tragic is the story of the Accrington Pals. In 1914, 5,000 striking mill workers were locked out by machinists Howard & Bullough amid a big industry downturn. Desperate for wages, many enlisted, making Accrington the smallest town in England to raise a battalion. On the first day of the Somme, 580 of the 720 Accrington Pals were mown down within half an hour.

There’s a cruel irony, too, in the town’s legacy as a brickmaking powerhouse — its super-strong ‘Noris’ bricks underpinning the Empire State Building and Blackpool Tower — and the relative cheapness of its homes. With an average house price of £148,714, and terraces £110,381, Accrington is officially the cheapest place in England or Wales to buy property.

But as advertising whizz and Amazing Accrington chair Murray Dawson tells me on a tour of the town: “Accrington needs to focus on the future, not the past.”

Certainly, the people I met are determined to do just that. Happily, there’s a lot to focus on.

Take Accrington Stanley. A decade ago, the Owd Reds were £1.2 million in debt, playing in a cowshed stadium with a pitch so waterlogged that six consecutive matches were postponed. Then along came Jack Holt, a Burnley lad who grew up on “the Shameless estate”. Since taking over in 2015, he has invested around £9 million of his plastics fortune into the club.

When I turned up, chief executive Warren Eastham paused his work on the club’s merchandise website to show me the gleaming corporate lounge running alongside the new artificial, puddle-free pitch — a set-up befitting a mid-table League Two side now punching above its weight, after years in the doldrums of football’s seventh tier.

After admiring the near-complete Stanley mural made by the paint-splattered Paul Curtis, Murray and I headed to the Haworth Art Gallery to meet curator Gillian Berry, who looks after the town’s Tiffany treasures.

The buzzing gallery looks out across the valley to Pendle Hill, recently climbed by a group of wig-wearing Jeanette Winterson superfans retracing the steps of the Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit author.

In 1960, Winterson was brought to the town by her adoptive, evangelical Christian parents, who only allowed her to read six books and burned her secret literature stash when they discovered it. The town’s cathedral-like public library, funded by Andrew Carneiege and bathed in sunlight filtered through great stained glass windows, provided a refuge and supply of illicit literature for Winterston.

The Whitbread Prize winner is not the town’s only notable daughter. There is also Lydia Becker, the pioneering suffragist who led the movement in the North West. Having spent years overshadowed by the likes of her protege Emmeline Pankhurst, she is now being celebrated at the new Accrington Dome, part of an ambitious town-centre regeneration stretching across several floors and shopfronts.

Soon, traders such as Steve Hatt will move his 150-year-old family fishmongers into the renovated Victorian Market Hall, and temporary market stalls that block off the grand town centre will be cleared away, as part of a £20 town centre revamp.

In an Amazon-dominated world, this seems as good a way as any to breathe life into a dying high street, hollowed out by online shopping and two huge supermarkets on the edge of town.

Another project that has successfully done just that is the Oswaldtwistle Mills. Having clung on as a working mill until the early 1990s, the two-century-old weaving centre was then transformed into a vast and hugely successful shopping complex, packed with everything from plants and dresses to children’s toys and butter pies. It is independently owned by Peter Hargreaves, whose relative, James (somewhat ironically) invented the Spinning Jenny, which mechanised milling and became a symbol of industrialisation for the homespinners it rendered obsolete.

Competing with Ozzie Mills in the size and shiny newsness stakes is the Raza Jamia Masjid Mosque. It is a vast building that regularly attracts 4,500 worshippers from across Lancashire.

It is the £9.5million passion project of Jawid Hussain, another local lad, who made his £110million fortune as the founder of toilet paper giant Accrol Papers. Today, he lives across from the mosque in a sprawling house with a Lamborghini-studded driveway.

I had discovered by that point in the day that the warmth of the welcome I received there, and the enthusiasm of the mosque’s caretaker-turned-impromptu-tour guide Manzoor Hussain, is typical of Accrington. It’s the kind of place where chippy owner Dianne wanders around the square after dealing with the lunch rush, armed with salt and vinegar, to make sure her regulars don’t need an extra shake.

The kind of place where so many random people kept chatting to Murray and me, our half-day tour ran over by hours. It’s also the kind of place that made national headlines back in 2024 when anti-racism protesters marched into the town centre in response to the Southport Riots.

As the woman behind the Heritage Dome, Hannah Saxton, tells it: “People were coming out of the pubs to shake their hands and hug them.”

Accrington’s challenges are undoubtedly real. It’s a town where its main industry has been hollowed out and has suffered years of underinvestment. But what is also real is its resolve. In its bricks, its glass, its football club and its faith, the town feels less like a relic of industrial Britain and more like a place quietly rewriting its future.

A pretty town deserves a spot on your itinerary with its cobbled streets, Georgian architecture, antique shops and cosy pubs, and a park home to hundreds of free-roaming deer

A quintessential English town, with narrow cobbled lanes and surrounded by diverse landscapes, offers a glimpse into bygone eras.

The historic town of Petworth in Sussex is characterised by meandering cobbled lanes, 17th-century Georgian buildings and quaint, stone cottages. It’s conveniently positioned just over half an hour’s drive from Chichester and around 50 minutes from Portsmouth, offering a delightful day out among its unspoilt landscapes.

There are narrow streets that lead to hidden gems scattered around the town, with antique emporiums and independent boutiques, complemented by cafés, delicatessens, and inviting pubs. Thanks to its scenic setting, it was even crowned by Condé Nast Traveller as one of the UK’s most picturesque towns.

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The medieval town, with more than 400 listed buildings, is also renowned for its thriving art and antiques community, with a wide range of galleries and more than 30 antique stores where you can find ancient treasures. One of the most popular spots for vintage goodies is Petworth Antiques Market, featuring more than 40 dealers offering everything from exquisite furniture to ornaments and an extensive selection of homeware.

One guest enthused on TripAdvisor: “I absolutely love going to the Petworth Antique Market, the customer service is amazing with extremely friendly, helpful staff, and I always always find beautiful treasures there!!”

You certainly won’t go hungry during a trip to Petworth with The Hungry Guest on Middle Street, among its standout establishments, serving up seasonal, locally sourced cuisine that has elevated the town’s reputation. Additionally, there’s an array of inviting pubs, including The Welldiggers Arms, The Black Horse Inn and The Angel Inn.

But away from the town centre, Petworth is a haven for avid walkers, with diverse landscapes within easy reach of the pretty town, including the rugged chalk hills of the South Downs National Park and the ancient woodland of The Mens Nature Reserve. Yet, the Petworth House and Park is the town’s most notable attraction, with its sprawling 700-acre park surrounding the impressive 17th-century Petworth House.

Visitors can explore the historic stately residence and discover an exceptional collection of world-class art and sculptures. The property represents one of the finest remaining examples of an English landscape designed by the renowned Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

There are also hundreds of deer wandering freely across Petworth Park that can be easily admired, or you can soak up the spectacular views of the South Downs during a stroll around the grounds. The National Trust park has certainly put Petworth on the map, and even more so after appearing in major film productions, Napoleon, Rebecca, and Maleficent, as well as Netflix’s popular drama Bridgerton.

Following a visit, one traveller shared: “Another National Trust gem! Had a wonderful day there. So much to see and wonderful walks in the grounds and deer park. The art collection is outstanding, and as usual, the volunteers in the house were great. Had an interesting talk in the square dining room about the family’s history. Found the kitchens fascinating! Great cafe too. Highly recommend.”

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