Best UK days out - historic attractions near you

When we asked almost 3,000 people to tell us about their favourite historic destinations, the answers were surprising.

None of the top 10 were in London - and the best included famous 20th-century attractions such as the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh and the Titanic Belfast museum. 

Wherever you live in the country there's sure to be one of our list of 63 attractions a short bus, train or car journey away. Use our guide below to plan the perfect day out for families, couples and history buffs.

For more reviews, as well as exclusive investigations and expert advice, subscribe to Which? Travel

Yorkshire and the North East 

Fountains Abbey 88%

The joint top-rated historic attraction (for the whole of the UK) was this Cistercian monastery, about half an hour's drive north of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. For a religious order so devoted to simplicity, the detailed masonry and sheer grandeur are staggering. A river path takes visitors to the abbey's emerald lawns, from where you have unfettered access to the 12th-century foundations. They grow higher as you delve deeper, moss and vines creeping over the sandstone.

Romantics should aim to arrive by the 10am opening, when a mist still hangs over the grass. Or wait for a blanket of snow, when the site becomes incredibly tranquil.

Scotland

Royal Yacht Britannia 88%

Joint top alongside Fountains Abbey is this more modern attraction, a 20-minute bus ride from the centre of Edinburgh. Peek into the family rooms of the Royal Yacht Britannia and you might forget you're on a 126-metre cruise liner. The casual, cosy decor - overseen by the Queen and Prince Philip themselves - reflects the off-duty lifestyle they led here, playing quoits on deck, entertaining their grandchildren and relaxing between state visits. 

Decommissioned in 1997, the yacht is moored permanently on the Firth of Forth in Leith. Daily tours give you the run of the wedding cake tiers, engine room, state rooms and private quarters, accompanied by a popular audio soundtrack peppered with anecdotes.

After a nose around, you can partake in the reader-acclaimed cream tea on the royal deck, and even stay a night aboard the Britannia's sister ship, Fingal.

UK’s top-rated historic attractions: the full list

Discover how your local attractions fared in our survey.

Northern Ireland

Titanic Belfast 87%

The doomed ocean liner, which sank on its maiden voyage on 14 April 1912, continues to hold a grim fascination. Its combination of glamour, monumental shipbuilding, tragedy and Hollywood’s take on all of that, is captured in hi-tech brilliance at Titanic Belfast. 

Resembling a glittering, angular hull of a mighty ship, it’s sited on the slipway where the Titanic was built.

Inside, the nine interactive galleries are spread over six floors and are packed with clever exhibits, special effects, dark rides and computer-generated imagery - so it's no surprise it gained the full five stars for engagement. The sounds and smells of the shipyards are cleverly recreated, as are full-sized ship cabins - while numerous original objects from the ship are displayed. It’s a multimedia extravaganza that brings the history of Belfast’s shipbuilding to life and charts the creation of the RMS Titanic and its swift destruction.

South West England

Roman Baths & Pump Room, Bath 87%

Truly the best-preserved Roman relic, Bath's lamp-lit sacred spring makes it easy to imagine what life might have been like 2,000 years ago - at least for the fortunate souls invited to take a dip. The baths began their modern revival in Georgian times, Jane Austen was a fan and they appear in both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Today, you can walk on paving stones laid during Hadrian's rule and even drink some of the mineral water that runs beneath the baths - Bath is one of just two of the world's thermae that still has its original hot springs. 

Don't miss exhibitions around the site featuring jewellery, coins and a gold mask of the goddess Sulis Minerva, which have been unearthed over the centuries.

South East England

Wakehurst, West Sussex 85%

Almost twice as big as Kew Gardens, its sister site in West London, Wakehurst is a spectacular mix of natural beauty, renaissance architecture and modern technology. Near Haywards Heath in Surrey, about an hour and 15 minutes by train and bus from London, it sits within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Beauty (now known as the High Weald National Landscape). 

Most visitors come for the botanic plant collections around its Elizabethan mansion, or the surrounding ancient woodland. A little further afield are beautiful wetlands - with boardwalks letting you venture through the marshes and ponds at the edge of the site.

Even more impressive is the Millennium Seed Bank. Described by David Attenborough as 'perhaps the most significant conservation initiative ever', it preserves over 40,000 species of plant and 2.4 billion seeds against current extinction events or - with its bomb-proof, disaster-proof building - any future apocalypse. Visitors can wander round and learn more about conservation work.

North West England

Quarry Bank, Cheshire 84%

One of Britain's greatest industrial heritage sites is also a beautiful place to walk at any time of year. It started as a cotton mill in 1784 and grew to become one of the largest mill complexes in the world, with hundreds of workers living on the estate - as well as the owners at the Georgian Quarry Bank House.

Visitors can see where child workers as young as eight lived at Apprentice House, visit the still-operational water mill itself - which produces cloth for its own shop - or wander through the gardens along the banks of the River Bollin. 

Quarry Bank is a 12-minute walk from Styal train station, which you can reach in less than 30 minutes from Manchester Piccadilly or Crewe. 

London

Tower Bridge Exhibition, 83%

Unusually for London, the Tower Bridge Exhibition gets an impressive four out of five stars for value for money - with tickets being £12.50 for adults. Tours start in the north tower, where you're shown footage of the bridge opening from 1904. You can then enjoy the exhibition's highlight, which is a walk across the river via the 25m high, glass-bottomed walkways. From here there are some of the city's best views towards The Shard, the Gherkin and St Paul's Cathedral.

At the south tower you can head downstairs to the steam engine room that powered the bridge in Victorian times. The bridge still opens several times a day, although now uses an electric motor. Check the Tower Bridge website to make sure you're there when it happens. It takes around 90 seconds to open and then another few minutes to close. 

Wales

Powis Castle, Powys 83%

Powis Castle, near Welshpool in North Wales, was built by Prince Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn in the 13th century as a fortress, but for hundreds of years (since the late 16th century), it's been much more palatial.

Its crenellated stone walls still make it look as formidable as any other Welsh castle, however the rooms inside are as luxurious and opulent as they would have been in the renaissance or later eras - partly thanks to the Clive family (of Clive of India fame) and their collection of exotic treasures. These include carvings, rare manuscripts and other items taken from the Mughal Empire in the 19th century.

For many visitors the castle's most attractive feature is its garden, which is divided between formal and, much wilder, informal sections. There are terraces, water features and exotic plants - again, many brought back from India. All with a backdrop of the hills and mountains beyond.

Midlands

Calke Abbey, Derbyshire 82%

Calke Abbey is a stately home unlike any other in the UK. Built in the early 1800s on the site of an ancient priory, it's never actually been an abbey. By the late 20th century it was on the point of decrepitude when the National Trust took over and decided to leave it largely as they found it, in order to illustrate the English country mansion in decline. It's especially haunting are the children’s rooms are piled up with ancient toys. In the winter months the house is closed but you can still visit by arranging a guided tour.

The gardens, including the domed orangery, are open all year round and you are free to wander the 600-acre grounds complete with ponds and deer park.

The nearest train stations are Derby and Burton-on-Trent - both around 10 miles away. It's less than an hour by car from Nottingham, Birmingham and Leicester.