If anything defines downtime in the UK, it’s the great British weekend away. Get in the car, hop on the train or bus and treat yourself to a hotel, B&B or spa weekend break.
The UK is alive with a lifetime’s worth of short breaks, city trips, luxury getaways and family favourites that celebrate the four corners of the British Isles. The result? A golden age for weekends away in the UK, with everything you ever fancied catered for, plus plenty more.
These days, there’s also a big interest in getting close to nature and supporting local start-ups and independent operators. And every chance I get, I’m on the road to somewhere new. Let’s dive into my top 10 UK weekend breaks.
The top 10 weekend breaks in the UK
- The Lake District
- Edinburgh
- Yorkshire Dales
- Northumberland
- North Coast 500
- The English Riviera
- The Causeway Coast
- Kelso
- Anglesey
- London
1. The Lake District
- Best for: a weekend family adventure
It’s the countryside break you always hope for your family: lake activities on tap, cute towns and chugging boats, rough-and-tumble forests and kid-friendly boozers, plus lashings of sticky toffee pudding (the dessert was invented in a hotel kitchen on Ullswater).
The Lake District feels wilder and less manicured than other parts of the English countryside, but it’s also terrific for little ones: Beatrix Potter was inspired by its vividly evocative landscapes and locations, including Wray Castle. Now, who could argue with her?
Where to stay: Holbeck Ghyll Country House
An enchanting place, with rambling gardens and an outdoor hot tub, this is a half-forgotten place away from the lakeshore crowds and blessed with Langdale Fells views. Renée Zellweger stayed while filming Miss Potter, so if it’s good enough for a Hollywood A-lister, it’ll do for you.
2. Edinburgh
- Best for: a couples’ weekend away in the UK
Get the train to Edinburgh’s Waverley Station and find yourself mole-blinking as you look out at the most beautiful city skyline in the UK. Wonky steeples, steampunk tolbooths and heavenly spires crowd beneath Edinburgh Castle. If that’s not a romantic setting to explore for a weekend, I don’t know what is.
It’s the Gothicism of Edinburgh that’s so special. Make the most of it and dine at The Witchery, low-lit with candles and serving steaks and seafood towers. Then seek out the boutiques and bars on the cobblestoned William Street.
Where to stay: Prestonfield House
A sibling to The Witchery, Prestonfield House comes armed to the teeth with stag antler armchairs and gilded mirrors. Echoing the Highlands, there are shaggy-haired cows and peacocks in the grounds too.
3. Yorkshire Dales
- Best for: an outdoorsy weekend
They call it God’s Own Country for a reason, you know. There are ballooning hills to hike, snaky roads to cycle, spooky castles for kids to explore, abbeys for pilgrimage and waterfall trails to potter along. Put Aysgarth Falls, Malham Cove’s outdoor amphitheatre, the cheese dairies of Wensleydale and the pubs of Swaledale and Masham on your itinerary, then fall for the myths of Jervaulx and Bolton Castle and get planning for your return weekend trip.
Where to stay: Simonston Hall Hotel
In the thick of things in Hawes, and close to the Wensleydale Creamery, this country house hotel is a time capsule of costume drama decor, with ornate rooms and beautiful gardens married with here-and-now hospitality.
4. Northumberland
- Best for: a stargazing adventure
An inescapable fact about northeast England is life ticks by at a slower pace and the skies are clearer than anywhere else in the UK. The best address is light pollution-free Kielder Water and Forest Park, home to the Kielder Observatory and International Dark Sky Park, the second largest protected celestial swathe in Europe.
There’s plenty of daytime activity too, from mountain biking to canoeing and kayaking, but my money is on late nights scoping out nocturnal creatures like barn owls, foxes and badgers, plus marvelling at all manner of moons and the Milky Way.
Where to stay: The Pheasant Inn
A proper family-run country inn in a building dating back to the 17th-century, The Pheasant Inn is all about old-fashioned hospitality and hearty pub grub.
5. North Coast 500
- Best for: a bucket-list road trip
Inverness certainly isn’t Chicago, nor is Caithness like California. But the North Coast 500, which loops around mainland Britain’s north, is equally worthy of US type hyperbole. Simply put, it’s terrific. Tackled anti-clockwise, the 500-mile touring route first climbs north from Inverness over the Moray Firth and through Sutherland and Wester Ross, past a greatest hits of grand Scottish icons.
Filling the windscreen are gleaming silver seas, one-of-a-kind castles, peat-smoked whisky distilleries (my favourite is Old Pulteney in Wick), fishing villages and undulating golf fairways. All the totems of the Highlands are present and correct, in fact, with stylistically diverse hotels seemingly at every turn. Buckle up for the most scenic long weekend break in the UK.
Where to stay: Royal Marine Hotel, Brora
A stay at this beachfront bolthole is a little like visiting the sort of wonderfully eccentric uncle we all wish we had. In addition to the hotel’s Highland trimmings (a roaring fire, local’s bar, bespoke tartans, tatty scones and smoked steelhead trout for breakfast), South African manager Billy McKechnie whips out his bagpipes to soundtrack breakfast and dinner.
6. The English Riviera
- Best for: a weekend break by the seaside
All set for a best-of-British trip to the seaside? South Devon (Torbay, Paignton and Brixham, for the uninitiated) is your destination for a UK weekend break with all the good stuff. Spend your weekend pottering around the towns, road tripping from Babbacombe Bay to Brixham, or exploring the Agatha Christie connection; Torquay’s best known resident.
This stretch of coast is also marketed as England’s Seafood Coast, so it’d be rude to not dig into plates of Brixham crab and lemon sole. For that wind in your hair look, it’s also true ice cream and fish ’n’ chips taste better when sat on a pier.
Where to stay: Cary Arms & Spa
Riviera chic is on point at this lovely coastal English inn overlooking Babbacombe Bay. There are suites and beach huts, plus an indoor spa for rainy days and a sandy beach for cold water swims when the sky is blue.
7. The Causeway Coast
- Best for: an outdoorsy long weekend
The intersection between land and sea is where you find the 120-mile coastal road from Belfast to Londonderry and it tumbles past landscapes primed for lung-filling adventures. Drag yourself along the Gobbins Cliff Path sculpted out of volcanic rock; hike over Antrim’s sands and bluffs towards the higgedly-piggedly columns of the Giant’s Causeway. Then reward yourself with Irish whiskey at Old Bushmills Distillery. A blissful way to spend a weekend away in the UK.
Where to stay: The Bushmills Inn
Slap bang in Bushmills, this 17th-century-era coaching inn is at the centre of your travel compass for visits to the Giant’s Causeway and, if swinging’s your thing, Royal Portrush Golf Club.
8. Kelso
- Best for: a spa and sports weekend
There’s no need to hit the Highlands to feel like a laird or lady. A spa break in a chilled-out swathe of countryside is at your fingertips in the market town of Kelso.
This is River Tweed country and world-class fly-fishing for catch-and-release salmon and trout is your good fortune here. Plus the country sports Schloss Roxburghe Hotel & Golf Course is blessed with a landmark new spa, with an outdoor lap pool, hot tub, steam room and treatment areas.
Where to stay: Schloss Roxburghe Hotel & Golf Course
Once owned by the Duke of Roxburghe, this estate hotel is now overseen by Hyatt, yet thrills with some of the country’s finest spa and sports facilities.
9. Anglesey
- Best for: a wildlife-filled weekend break
Anglesey is tiny by British standards. It takes only half an hour to drive or catch public transport across, but it almost feels untouchable across the water from the rest of North Wales.
Dolphins carousel along the Menai Strait off Beaumaris. Cormorants circle above the Irish Sea. The cliffs of Holy Island fill with curlews, gannets and puffins, and gaining a foothold on Anglesey’s outlying islands are grey seals. Hop on an engine-revving RIB from a blue flag beach to see them in all their blubbery glory.
Where to stay: Château Rhianfa
Part mid-Victorian pile, part fairy tale French château, this hotel overlooks the Menai Strait and Snowdon, and is full of nooks, making it the perfect hideaway for a quiet weekend break in the UK.
10. London
- Best for: a luxury city break
Where else for a classic weekend away? For starters, stay at Raffles London at the OWO in Whitehall’s Old War Office; polished to the tune of £1.4 billion over eight years, it’s now the UK’s flashiest new hotel.
Then it’s time to explore. For a no-expenses spared weekend take the private chopper tour from the London Heliport opposite Chelsea Harbour then indulge in a destination restaurant tasting menu.
Book ahead in the nearby Restaurant Gordon Ramsay or Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester on Park Lane, or try my favourite – The Lecture Room & Library inside sketch on the fringes of Mayfair. Such swank and sparkle is worthy of any big spender.
Where to stay: Great Scotland Yard Hotel
If you can’t afford the Raffles price tag (up to £25,000 a night), then Great Scotland Yard Hotel is another great option. A stone’s throw from Westminster Abbey and the political theatre of Downing Street, it’s a hideaway of elegant suites and parlours for cream teas and cocktails..
Looking for more staycation inspiration? Check out the best romantic getaways and the best castle stays in the UK, all equally great weekend breaks in the UK.
