Charlotte Brontë travel tips

‘Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as if you were one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression,” was, according to the poet WB Yeats, how he persuaded the playwright John Millington Synge to discover his muse – the desolate beauty of the Aran archipelago. Whatever was the true genesis for Synge’s Atlantic coast hiatus, his times on Inishmaan culminated in the critically acclaimed Playboy of the Western World (1907).

We asked the Rough Guides team to name the most beautiful places in England. After much deliberation, here are the results.

Discover the most romantic places in the UK, whether it's a countryside stroll or a sunset cocktail in one of the world's greatest cities. Here are our top picks.

It would be impossible to mention Manchester and not talk about football. The city’s two teams have a long history of rivalry and boast fans all over the world. The home of Manchester United, Old Trafford, and the home of Manchester City, Etihad Stadium, offer tours and should be on any fan’s to-do list. For neophytes and anyone with an interest in the game, the National Football Museum is a must visit attraction in the centre of the city, next to Manchester Cathedral. The museum is not just about the Mancunian teams – it exhibits artefacts, photographs and stories about the culture surrounding the game.

Some rules are meant to be broken. In 1932 several hundred ramblers and Young Communist League members trespassed onto the moors of Kinder Scout to protest the fact that walkers in England and Wales were being denied access to areas of open countryside. They were confronted by gamekeepers employed by wealthy private landowner, the Duke of Devonshire. Five of the trespassers were imprisoned.