United Kingdom

London-by-the-Sea: a Regency palace, two piers and a shingle beach, an hour from the city and a world away from it

Harbourside, the gorge and Banksy's home ground: a working port city reinvented in colour

Colleges, the Backs and flat water: a compact fen-edge university city built for walking and punting

The cathedral city that pilgrims have been walking to since the twelfth century

The walled city on the Dee: two-tier medieval Rows, a complete Roman and medieval circuit you can walk in an afternoon, and the oldest racecourse still racing

A walled town people still live in: Edward I's castle, a complete circuit of medieval walls, and three river crossings in a row

Scotland's biggest city: Victorian mercantile grandeur, Mackintosh architecture, and the best live music scene in the country

The Mersey waterfront, the Beatles, two cathedrals and two football clubs: a proud maritime city that built the modern world's music and never stopped arguing about it

The medieval hilltop Cinque Port that the sea left behind, cobbled Mermaid Street and all

Scotland's home of golf, a ruined medieval cathedral, and a university town on the North Sea

The Cornish harbour town that turned its light into an art movement, turquoise beaches and all

The pastel-painted walled harbour town on Carmarthen Bay, three beaches and a monastery island on the doorstep

A working harbour split by the Esk: the abbey on one cliff, the fish quay on the other, and 199 steps in between

The Kent oyster town: a working harbour, weatherboard beach huts, and the best seafood shacks on this coast

The Castle town on the Thames, half an hour from London and worth more than the half-day most people give it