Every UK City's Top Tourist Attraction

For tourists and locals alike, there are cultural attractions and landmarks all over the country waiting to be wowed at. Whether you prefer to marvel at the historic ceilings of century-old cathedrals, head for long strolls among the country’s natural beauty or tend to find yourself eyeing up the modern art in a gallery, you’ve sure got plenty of choice in the UK. But which should you choose if you’ve only got a limited time to explore?

Luckily for internet browsing thrill seekers, Google collects a bunch of reviews for mostly every tourist attraction in the country, written and rated by fellow travellers. We’ve compiled a list of the top attraction within or nearby each of the UK’s 65 cities by taking a look at Google’s Travel Guides for each city and finding the top reviewed ‘thing to do’ there.

Every UK City's Top Tourist Attraction

All attractions were categorised as either ‘museum’, ‘religious’, ‘nature’, ‘entertainment’, ‘landmark’ and ‘library’. There were:

  • 24 natural attractions
  • 17 museums
  • 10 religious buildings
  • 9 entertainment venues
  • 3 landmarks
  • 2 libraries

It seems that the great outdoors is a popular choice for city explorers, with nature coming out as the most frequently occurring category in our list of the top things to do around the UK. Museums and art galleries are also a popular choice for tourists, being the second most commonly occurring category in our list. Religious buildings are highly rated amongst Google reviewers in smaller, historical cities, with cathedrals making up the majority.

Chris Johnson, head of Operations at Vouchercloud, commented:

“It’s really encouraging that so many of the top attractions – so close to cities – are focused on nature, and it feels quite refreshing knowing that most cities offer a way to escape to the great outdoors.

"Despite some of the quirkier options among the top attractions, we’ve definitely shown that every corner of the UK offers something different, and there’s always a fun day to be had".

In terms of country-specific differences, in Scotland 4 out of 6 of the top attractions listed are natural, and similarly 50% of the highest rated attractions are nature-based both in Ireland and in Wales.

Interestingly, only three landmarks make the list as top-rated attractions; the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, the HMNB in Portsmouth, and Free Derry Corner in Londonderry.

City

Top Attraction on Google

Rating

Number of Reviews

Category

Miles from centre

Aberdeen

David Welch Winter Gardens

4.7

154

Nature

1.29mi

Bangor

Zip World Panrhyn Quarry

4.8

1,339

Entertainment

2.24mi

Bath

Alexandra Park

4.7

253

Nature

<1mi

Belfast

Grand Opera House

4.7

1003

Entertainment

<1mi

Birmingham

The Electric

4.7

572

Entertainment

<1mi

Bradford

Oakwell Hall Country Park

4.7

111

Nature

5.21 mi

Brighton and Hove

Devil's Dyke

4.7

131

Nature

4.98 mi

Bristol

Clifton Suspension Bridge

4.7

2412

Landmark

1.72mi

Cambridge

Imperial War Museum Duxford

4.8

3910

Museum

7.57 mi

Canterbury

Wingham Wildlife Park

4.6

1291

Nature

6.48 mi

Cardiff

Principality Stadium

4.7

3517

Entertainment

<1mi

Carlisle

Watchtree Nature Reserve

4.7

141

Nature

6.15 mi

Chester

Chester Cathedral Falconry and Nature Gardens

4.8

238

Nature

<1mi

Chichester

Goodwood House

4.7

593

Museum

2.86mi

City of London

British Museum

4.7

41,716

Museum

1.62mi

Coventry

Coventry Transport Museum

4.7

2543

Museum

<1mi

Derby

Make Your Escape

4.8

63

Entertainment

<1mi

Dundee

McManus Galleries

4.6

439

Museum

<1mi

Durham

Durham University Oriental Museum

4.8

85

Museum

<1mi

Edinburgh

Arthur's Seat

4.8

579

Nature

1.21mi

Ely

Ely Cathedral

4.6

325

Religious

<1mi

Exeter

Red House Mysteries

4.9

67

Entertainment

<1mi

Glasgow

Glasgow Film Theatre

4.7

593

Entertainment

<1mi

Gloucester

Gloucester Cathedral

4.7

409

Religious

<1mi

Hereford

Hereford Cathedral

4.5

201

Religious

<1mi

Inverness

Plodda Falls

4.8

126

Nature

24.33mi

Kingston upon Hull

Escape Room Hull

4.8

57

Entertainment

<1mi

Lancaster

Williamson Park

4.7

1276

Nature

<1mi

Leeds

Royal Armouries Museum

4.7

2737

Museum

<1mi

Leicester

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

4.9

71

Religious

1.95mi

Lichfield

National Memorial Arboretum

4.8

2306

Nature

5.29mi

Lincoln

Lincoln Cathedral

4.8

552

Religious

<1mi

Lisburn

Wallace Park

4.6

519

Nature

<1mi

Liverpool

251 Menlove Avenue

4.8

71

Museum

5.03mi

Londonderry

Free Derry Corner

4.7

379

Landmark

<1mi

Manchester

John Rylands Library

4.8

295

Library

<1mi

Newcastle upon Tyne

Beamish Museum

4.8

4549

Museum

6.86mi

Newport

Belle Vue Park

4.6

379

Nature

<1mi

Newry

Slieve Guillion Forest Park

4.8

179

Nature

4.98mi

Norwich

City of Norwich Aviation Museum

4.7

102

Museum

3.49mi

Nottingham

Wollaton Hall, Gardens and Deer Park

4.7

2832

Nature

2.21mi

Oxford

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

4.7

1703

Museum

<1mi

Peterborough

Peterborough Cathedral

4.7

241

Religious

<1mi

Plymouth

National Trust - Plymbridge Woods

4.7

277

Nature

3.66mi

Portsmouth

HMNB Portsmouth

4.7

3,195

Landmark

<1mi

Preston

Worden Park

4.6

758

Nature

5.38mi

Ripon

Studley Royal Park

4.7

174

Nature

2.51mi

Salford

John Rylands Library

4.8

295

Library

1.77mi

Salisbury

Boscombe Down Aviation Collection

4.7

139

Museum

1.77mi

Sheffield

Peak District

4.8

13,575

Nature

4.73mi

Southampton

Royal Victoria Country Park

4.6

697

Nature

3.92mi

St Albans

St Albans Cathedral

4.7

430

Religious

<1mi

St Davids

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

4.8

5,109

Nature

15.13mi

Stirling

Dumyat

4.7

53

Nature

3.67mi

Stoke-on-Trent

Gladstone Pottery Museum

4.7

187

Museum

2.28mi

Sunderland

Ryhope Engines Museum

4.7

78

Museum

2.92mi

Swansea

The Escape Game Swansea

4.9

57

Entertainment

1.53mi

Truro

Kennall Vale Nature Reserve

4.8

89

Nature

6.42mi

Wakefield

Clarence Park

4.5

84

Nature

<1mi

Wells

Wells Cathedral

4.7

272

Religious

<1mi

Westminster

British Museum

4.7

41,716

Museum

1.56mi

Winchester

Winchester Cathedral

4.6

717

Religious

<1mi

Wolverhampton

Royal Air Force Museum Cosford

4.8

3,018

Museum

8.81mi

Worcester

Worcester Cathedral

4.7

242

Religious

<1mi

York

National Railway Museum

4.7

5,880

Museum

<1mi

The Data

The data was collected by Vouchercloud using Google’s ‘Things to do’ feature to search every UK city list of reviewed attractions. The attractions with at least 50 reviews and the highest star rating were selected.

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