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Country guide
The United Kingdom is 244,376 km² holding 69,281,437 people, and it is four countries rather than one: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast as their capitals. Three of the four run parliaments of their own over devolved matters, and the law splits three ways — England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. A visitor meets that in small practical things rather than at a border. London alone holds about 9.1 million of the total, which is why so many trips never leave it, and why the ones that do feel like arriving somewhere else.
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · Ilya Grigorik · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photograph · 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Daniel Nisbet from Manchester, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
12 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
The Tower of London is a working fortress on the north bank of the Thames that has been a castle, a royal palace, an armoury, a mint, a menagerie, a prison and a place of execution, and is now the…
The British Museum in Bloomsbury holds the largest permanent museum collection in the world and charges nothing to see it.
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a working scientific institution on 320 acres beside the Thames in south-west London, with more than 50,000 living plants and a UNESCO World Heritage inscription granted in July 2003.
The Victoria and Albert Museum is the national museum of art, design and performance at Cromwell Road in South Kensington, and its permanent collection of more than 2.8 million objects makes it the world's largest museum of applied and decorative…
The Natural History Museum in South Kensington holds around 80 million specimens across botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology, and it holds them in a building that is itself one of the exhibits.
The Science Museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington is Britain's national museum of science, technology, engineering and medicine, founded in 1857 and independent since 26 June 1909.
Hampton Court Palace is a Tudor and Baroque royal palace on the Thames 12 miles (19 kilometres) southwest and upstream of central London, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Kelvingrove is Glasgow's civic art gallery and museum, a red sandstone building on Argyle Street at the western edge of the city centre, run by Glasgow Life on behalf of Glasgow City Council.
The National Museum of Scotland is the national museum on Chambers Street, combining collections that range across Scotland, the natural world, science, technology, art and design.
The Burrell Collection is a civic museum in Pollok Country Park, three miles south of central Glasgow, built to hold the roughly 9,000 objects that Sir William Burrell spent seventy-five years buying.
Glasgow Science Centre sits on the south bank of the Clyde at 50 Pacific Quay, a titanium-clad crescent facing the SEC and the Armadillo across the water.
Manchester United Museum is the historical half of Old Trafford’s combined Museum and Stadium Tour. The museum descends through three levels of club history before the guided route enters the working stadium.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Ten to fourteen days can cover four or five days in London, two in Manchester, and two or three each in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Highlands, Lake District, or Welsh national parks need dedicated nights and should not be squeezed into London day trips.
UK document rules depend on nationality and trip purpose, and many visitors now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before boarding. Check the linked UK government visa service for both visa and ETA status shortly before travel.
Intercity rail is the practical spine between London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, with advance fares usually distinct from flexible tickets. Each city runs its own local fare system, so London's contactless cap is not a nationwide travel pass.
May to June and September are useful planning windows for this route, but conditions vary between southern England and Scotland. Festival dates in Edinburgh and rural transport in national parks can matter more than the national seasonal label.
The United Kingdom uses pound sterling (GBP). Contactless payment is widespread in major cities, but keep another payment method for rural services or terminals that do not share London's payment arrangements.
Use 999 or 112 for emergencies in the United Kingdom. Type G sockets supply 230 V, and mains tap water is recorded as safe; save rail disruption information as well when the itinerary depends on several city-to-city journeys.
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