3 Cities to Visit in the UK (imho)

It has now been officially the longest time I've ever been outside of the UK. I left in 2013 to go on a 'gap yah' (a gap year is where kids take a year 'off life' to travel either before or after uni, and 'gap yah' is a colloquial way of saying it, kinda, ha). It was only supposed to be a year, but for me that time 'off life' made me revaluate 'life', and finding out that I could have a better quality of life, (and more often than not for cheaper), outside of the UK meant that that gap yah got extended into 8 years of travel and living abroad. But I always visited my birth-land every year at least once. Now, thanks to corona that hasn't been possible, and I miss the UK! So I decided to direct my sad energy into writing about the cities I want to visit in the UK when I can again, and hopefully, to make it less narcissistic, it will hopefully also be useful to you - perhaps even give you some ideas for your own list of cool uk cities to visit, when you can too - hey, maybe we can visit together :D

The Best Cities to Visit in the UK

1#. Manchester

Manchester - rife with history, culture, music, museums, and um, bees? (the bee symbol is the unofficial symbol of Manchester, nature wise it has the usual amount you'd except from a polluted city...) I fell in love with Manchester when two of my besties went up there for uni and invited me to visit :) But it isn't the fond memories, the free museums or the diverse vegan cuisine that's pulling me back there, no, there's another reason. And it's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I have been really really missing the UK, and to combat that, ha, I've been watching Shameless - a 2004 drama set in a fictional housing estate in Manchester. Now I can't get enough of the Manchester accent :D 

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And find the cheapest hotel rates with hotels.com

2#. Liverpool

Manchester's rival, since like forever, is Liverpool - I'm assuming it's cause of the football? Whatever. I like to combat this silly, pointless rivalry by loving both :D Liverpool might well be famous for being the birthplace of the Beatles (okay it's not a might it's a truth), but I have almost as little interest towards those four cis white males as I do towards Liverpool football (with the possible exception of John Lennon). So if you're not into football and you're not into the Beatles, what's great about Liverpool? It's simple for me really: Scousers and architecture. I have always had the best time in Liverpool getting drunk with the locals and marvelling at the unique architecture - for me it's more than enough :D

Find the best tours of Liverpool on Viator

Find the best rates for hotels in Liverpool on hotels.com

3#. London

There's this saying in the UK: 'London is a separate country' - perhaps due to the unreasonable price gap between London and the rest of the UK, perhaps because many Londoners will say that there's nothing worth seeing outside of London and us non-Londoners are a wee bit miffed about that.. Whatever, my non-Londoner-ass nearly didn't put London in this most ("haha that will teach them") but I'm ever-trying to be inclusive and as someone with a mission not to fly, it's hard to avoid London if I want to exit/enter the UK. And of course, even I can not not admit that London has SO MUCH to offer -  authentic food from every edge of the planet, museums filled with stolen treasures (sorry :( ), soothing parks and buildings that are old af. London is made up of individual little districts and their truly truly is something for everyone there, even me :D

Find the best tours of London on Viator

For the best deals on hotels in London look on hotels.com

Wrap Up: 3 Cities to Visit in the UK

So there you have it, three of my favourite cities... Manchester actually reminded me so much of one of my (and probably England's) all-time favourite TV-shows, Shameless, I can't resist linking the memorable intro here - apologies for the sexist overtones of Frank's speech, "cheaper dr*gs now" and "make poverty history" are some of the best working class slogans I've heard on a show like, ever - enjoy (especially the first three seasons :)

P.S.: Another way of travelling and getting accommodation in the UK cheaply is housesitting (yeh, also very middle class but there's less wage labour involved at least!). Trustedhousesitters.com was kind enough to provide us and our readers with a 10% discount -- click on the link to use it!

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ABOUTME

We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.