Britain’s best (and worst) cities – according to science

British cities work hard to delight their residents and visitors. They have to. Our climate is hardly world-class and the off-season is long. The countryside is sporadically lovely and seaside resorts have their moments every year. But it’s to the cities we most often turn for weekend breaks. There we know we’ll find a museum, heritage, good restaurants, cosy pubs, a theatre and a music scene. 

Word of mouth and the perennial recycling of “second city” claims has tended to thrust a few places into the limelight. London still gets most attention. But Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and, of late, Birmingham, generate plenty of column inches. Are they in our top ten? Read on to find out. 

What is clear is that size is not everything and that what delights the chatterati (like schools and house prices) doesn’t necessarily make for a great little holiday. In our survey of 69 cities – all those in England, Wales and Scotland, with the exception of the square-mile City of London – we focused on fun things like hotels, parks, Unesco sites and pubs, but also safety, public transport and rainfall (see methodology, below). Our top ten is aimed at visitors first, residents second. This matters, as weekenders only need a handful of excellent shops, restaurants and experiences – it’s all about quality and character, not quantity. The overall winner, as you’ll see, is a beautiful, rather gracious city that has long been regarded fondly – but which also has cultural clout. Our second-ranked city might come as something of a surprise, though perhaps not to those who know it well. 

With the conviviality of a market town, a cathedral for the ages, and a rich history due to its location, Canterbury rarely fails to dazzle visitors. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, the Kentish “capital” invented tourism, if that’s not too impolite a term for pilgrimages. Chaucer’s motley crew knew what they were after: the mother-church of Anglicanism, soaring heavenward above its tree-filled Precincts.

The city as a whole scores high on green spaces. St Augustine’s Abbey, the Roman Museum and Dane John mound add further layers of interest. Narrow medieval alleys, riverside gardens and ancient city walls complete the impressive architectural tableau and make the city a joy to walk around. Canterbury has a lively student population and a good smattering of pubs (the oldest, The Parrot, pre-dates the famous pilgrims), restaurants and independent shops – the King’s Mile is a superb example of old meets new, traditional and trendy. The Goods Shed might be the loveliest food hall-cum-farmer’s market in the land.

Kent is close to France and its wines are just as good. Westgate Hall will host the Canterbury Wine Festival on the weekend of May 17-18.

The 35-room Canterbury Lodge, the best-located hotel in the city, has B&B doubles from £105 per night.

At first glance, Worcester might look unassuming, unprepossessing, a bit dull. But it’s one of those unshowy cities that delivers more than it promises. The Severn is known as Sabrina in Worcester, a mark of respect for the city’s Roman history and for the river too (our ancestors had a healthy fear of floods). Along its hallowed banks are a swannery, a fine arched bridge, riverside parks and walkways, footbridges and, of course, the glorious cathedral – some parts of which date from the 11th century. Nearby are some very picturesque streets, including Friar Street and New Street, which are mostly pedestrianised, cobbled in parts and lined with jettying half-timbered Tudor houses. The National Trust’s Greyfriars House – a late medieval merchant’s abode – was saved from a council demolition order in the 1930s.

Worcester fits lots of history into its compact size: King John of Magna Carta fame is buried at the cathedral; the English Civil Wars ended with a battle here in 1651; Edward Elgar was born at The Firs in Lower Broadheath, three miles to the west, and resided at no fewer than six addresses in the city. Throw in the magnificent porcelain collection at the Museum of Royal Worcester and a splash of Lee & Perrins sauce – still made at the factory on Midland Road – and you have a tasty weekend-break bolthole.

Canter over to the Worcester Show at Pitchcroft (the racecourse) on Sunday, August 11 for the big summer fete, with local produce, music festival, funfair, horticulture and crafts.

The Elms is a grand Grade II-listed Queen Anne country house with plenty of character, with a spa and fine-dining restaurant. Doubles B&B rom £159 per night.

Yorkshire’s smallest city is nigh-on perfect, especially for heritage buffs. Medieval cathedral? Tick. Ancient market place? Tick. Wonky narrow streets? Tick. There are also independent shops, courteous traffic, and three rivers looping around its edges to frame the loveliness. Ripon gave up on its spa-town ambitions in the 1930s (there were no springs) but the splendid Edwardian building still stands, and it can confidently lay claim to the title of last traditional spa to be built in Britain.

Other visitor highlights include three quirky museums – Workhouse; Prison and Police; Courthouse – and nearby Fountains Abbey. You might not think of Ripon as a tourist hotspot, but it actually came second in our survey for “hospitality and provisions”. As for York, up the road, it came 13th overall.

Ripon cathedral hosts the Spring Food, Home & Garden Show on Saturday, April 13.

Palladian, palatial Grantley Hall, located in film-set-perfect parkland, has B&B doubles from £516 per night.

An easy but exhilarating way to take a look at this city is to climb the 114-foot tower of the University Church of Great St Mary’s. The array of spectacular buildings – designed by the likes of Wren and Gibbs – is an indication of what awaits below. Cambridge is a wonderland of grand gateways, tranquil courtyards and dreamy gardens. An ancient standout is King’s College Chapel, with its heavenly Perpendicular Gothic towers, while West Court, Jesus College is a modernist statement.

Outside London, Cambridge has a higher concentration of museums and galleries than any British city, many of them part of the University and free of charge. The Fitzwilliam Museum is one of Britain’s greatest museums. At the heart of everything is the River Cam, which lends itself to riverside strolls to pubs and punting excursions to picnic spots. Ancient and modern co-exist dynamically in Cambridge. The wider region is a science and tech hub. The city also boasts a lively cultural scene and excellent shopping. In 2021, boutique hotel chain The Graduate opened its first non-US property here – neatly splicing donnish traditions with tasteful tourism.

English folk music is booming; Cambridge Folk Festival is a premier event, happening this year from July 25-28. 

Former coaching inn, University Arms Cambridge,  is the oldest hotel in the city; doubles B&B from £184 per night. Plan a visit with our expert Cambridge guide.

Some small towns have huge histories. In Roman times, St Albans – then called Verulamium – was the second-biggest settlement in the country after Londinium. It was renamed after the martyrdom of said saint, the first in this Christian backwater, according to the Venerable Bede. The excellent Verulamium Museum tells the whole story. Just across the road from it are the remains of the Roman theatre. A lovely park surrounds the museum, containing remnants of the town wall and the hypocaust – the Romans’ ingenious underwater heating system. Unsurprisingly, a major edifice here is the cathedral – still a parish church – which has the longest nave in Britain, and doesn’t charge an entrance fee. Look out for the Shrine of St Alban, restored in 1993, and for the ornate medieval murals that were whitewashed during the turbulent Reformation period but rediscovered in the 19th century.

St Albans has a thriving street market, which runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with more than 160 stalls to choose from. There is a farmers’ market on the second Sunday of every month. The town claims to have more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in Britain – this is hotly debated, but CAMRA has its HQ here and they should know. Want to combine a city break with a walk around Hertfordshire? No problem – St Albans came top for transport, so getting out to the countryside is a cinch.  

Fancy verifying the “most pubs” claim? St Albans Beer and Cider Festival takes place September 25-28, 2024. 

Sopwell House is a popular country house spa hotel in 12 acres of grounds, just south of St Albans; doubles B&B from £242 per night.

Edinburgh has evolved over nine centuries, and gives up its wonders generously. A morning’s walk will uncover the medieval tenements, vennels and wynds and Scots Baronial Victorian landmarks of the Old Town, the gracious mansions of the Georgian New Town, and a few well-placed new developments – such the Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood. The city tops the list for foreign tourists. Why? Perhaps because Edinburgh is beautiful but also human in scale.

With its hilltop castle and Arthur’s Seat, the city looks designed by nature as well as humans. It’s a cosmopolitan capital, with Michelin-starred restaurants, a thriving café scene, varied nightlife, great shopping and a strong contemporary arts scene. Its major events – in particular the International Festival and Fringe, and Hogmanay celebrations – are renowned but the film, jazz food and books shindigs are also world-class.

Five operas will be among the highlights for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival, which runs from August 2-25.

Sumptuous and wonderfully unsubtle, The Witchery is a Gothic-meets-Victorian restaurant with rooms close to the castle; B&B doubles from £495 per night. Plan a visit with our expert Edinburgh guide.

A list of Oxford’s big-hitting architectural landmarks and cultural treasures quickly becomes a paragraph. Visitors vicariously experience a fresher-like buzz when wandering round the likes of Balliol, Magdalen, Merton and Trinity colleges, the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera, Ashmolean – Britain’s oldest public museum – and the Pitt Rivers Museum. History has a conspicuous presence.

Rather than be overwhelmed by the dreaming spires, it pays to get up there with them – a climb to the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin affords a panoramic view of the city and will help newbies get their bearings. It’s not all hoary old institutions though. From the church it’s a short walk to Modern Art Oxford, where the changing exhibitions of contemporary visual arts are always worth a look. The city’s live music venues are launch-pads for young performers, and there are bars and restaurants, cool stores and laidback gastropubs in Jericho and East Oxford.

The surprisingly middle-brow, family-friendly Oxford Literary Festival takes place from March 16-24.

Stay at the Old Parsonage Hotel, where Oscar Wilde was a resident – and screened party guests from his window. Doubles B&B from £224. Plan a visit with our expert Oxford guide.

In the early 1990s, Bristol slunk out of the shadows in which it had slumbered since the 18th century. Maritime trade had given it prominence the first time round, turning Bristol into the second city of empire. This time it was music, specifically trip-hop, which was a sly, understated sound perfect for a city that wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. Today it routinely tops rankings for happiest city, greenest city, foodiest city and most hipsterish city – and is very popular with the under 25s. In a relatively compact space, framed by eye-catching slopes, Bristol packs in the Georgian style of Clifton, the cultural diversity of Stokes Croft, affluent Westbury Park, historic Harbourside, bohemian Bedminster and independent-minding Wapping Wharf. 

A great walking city, Bristol is one of those places that keeps drawing you in, down secret streets, into undiscovered corners. To get an overview, head to Brandon Hill Park, a conservation area and home to the 105-foot Cabot Tower. It was built in 1897 to mark John Cabot’s voyage from Bristol to North America 400 years earlier; there’s a fine panoramic view of the city from the top of the steps. For lung-filling fresh air and proper walks, you can skirt the edges of the city on 20 superb spring walks. 

Hot air is not only for books festivals. The Bristol International Balloon Festival takes place at the Ashton Court Estate from August 8-11. 

Artist Residence Bristol is a magnificently rakish converted Georgian townhouse on the edge of St Paul’s; doubles from £154 per night; breakfast dishes from £4.50. Plan a visit with our expert Bristol guide.

Diminutive it may be, but Wells’ historic core feels rather capacious – probably because almost everything in the city is old and handsome. The centrepiece is the Gothic Cathedral, with its dramatic West Front. Nearby is Vicar’s Close, the only complete medieval street in England, and the location of the 13th-century Bishop’s Palace, with its fortified walls, great hall and moat. Elsewhere are assize courts, ancient gateways and places with names like Penniless Porch and Bishop’s Eye.

If it all sounds like too much old stone and choirboys, the town hosts comedy and literature festivals – and Glastonbury is just up the road. This small city topped a recent survey of inland towns and villages by Which? and among our top ten, came out highest for nature and green space. Wells has featured in period dramas and film productions including Hot Fuzz, Dungeons & Dragons and Wolf Hall. A well-deserved second place proves small is still beautiful. 

Wells Comedy Festival, which draws big-name stand-ups, takes place May 24-26.

The Swan, a 15th-century inn with views of the cathedral, has B&B doubles from £96 per night,

Bath has Unesco World Heritage Site status not once but twice. One inscription covers the entire city – a rare honour that reflects its unique history and character; the other applies to Bath’s membership of the exclusive Great Towns of Europe club.  The hot springs have been used for two millennia and are still there for deep wallowing and all-round wellness at Thermae Bath Spa. They fed the Roman Baths, which, along with the associated temple complex, make up one of Britain’s most prized ancient sites. Much later, Bath added the elegant Georgian terraces, squares and ground-breaking crescents that so enhance its natural contours. The Neoclassical Assembly Rooms and Grand Pump Room are also Grade I-listed. The latest heritage landmark was added in September 2023 with the opening of the restored Cleveland Pools, Britain’s oldest lido.

The present and future tenses are not by any means forsaken: the Holborne Mueum is currently hosting a textile-based installation by Turner Prize-winner Lubaina Himid that deconstructs and denounces Bath’s opulent history. Bath has done better at retaining independent shops than most city centres – with an impressive choice of independent-owned cafés, cosy pubs, sophisticated bars and gourmet restaurants. Finally, we mustn’t forget the city’s enviable setting, in a bowl surrounded by seven green hills, with sylvan countryside within walking distance.

Bath has a major film festival in late autumn (2024 dates TBC). 

The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa is a Georgian masterpiece with the best address in the city; B&B doubles from £300 per night. Plan a visit with our expert Bath guide.

With a score of just 43 (Hospitality and amenities 16; Culture and heritage 8; Transport 4; Nature and green spaces 15), the putative capital of Cumbria and gateway to Scotland propped up our table of 69 cities. It was found to be lagging behind in Michelin restaurants as well as highly-rated pubs, Airbnb rooms as well as swanky hotels, museums as well as crime. The Hadrian’s Wall path passes through but it’s the least interesting section and a bit of a non-event after Birdoswald or Housesteads. Walkers prefer almost anywhere else for a gawp and a ramble.

Carlisle is not a horrible town though, by any means. It has a medieval castle that’s not as ugly as some have claimed, and a Grade I-listed cathedral. It’s a very liveable size. It has the M6, West Coast Main Line, a cross-country line to Newcastle and, most famously, a very scenic train to Skipton and Leeds. It falls down on amenities and local transport and, perhaps because the nearby Lakes and Dales have so much solidly well-supported tourism, it’s hard for a middling sometime textile town to compete. Rankings favour quantifiable factors and Carlisle is perhaps more of a pleasantly humdrum place for a mooching day-trip and a convenient sleepover – it has several good hotels – than an attention-seeking big hitter.

Keats wrote of the town: “The whole art of yawning might have been learned there”. Slow travellers, at least, might appreciate the slumberousness. Could dullness be the new wellness?

The individual category winners

We considered a range of 25 criteria, divided into four subcategories: Hospitality and Amenities, Culture and Heritage, Transport, and Nature and Green Space. Where possible, lest the rankings reward size over substance, we judged cities on a per capita basis. Research was carried out in December 2023.

For Hospitality and Amenities we assigned each county a score according to its performance in the following criteria: Michelin-listed restaurants (according to the latest Michelin guide for Britain), top-rated pubs per capita (ie. “recommended” or “worth a visit” in the latest Good Pub Guide), Airbnb listings per capita (with availability from April 12-14, 2024), top-rated hotels per capita (awarded 9/10 or 10/10 by Telegraph Travel), crime rate (per 1,000 people, according to police data) and number of accessible destinations per capita (within five miles of the city and listed on AccessAble). 

For Culture and Heritage, the criteria were: Unesco World Heritage Sites per capita, museums and galleries per capita (according to Which Museum) and listed buildings per capita (according to Historic England, Historic Wales and Historic Environment Scotland) while bonus points were awarded to all cities possessing a literature festival, a large music festival, a comedy festival, an arts festival and a symphony orchestra. 

For Transport, the criteria were: distance from city to a major airport and train time to London (according to Trainline; London was awarded a median score here, to prevent it being penalised), while bonus points were assigned to cities with a direct rail link to the capital and a metro system (rail or tram). 

For Nature and Green Space, the criteria were: size of biggest park per capita (according to local council data), distance to an AONB, distance to a national park, hours of sunshine per year and average rainfall per year (both according to the Met Office). Extra points were given to cities with a nearby beach.