Tracey Emin travel tips

Margate doesn’t stay still for long. A streak of seaside nostalgia runs through the Kent town, but this is a place with its focus squarely on the future. Take Dreamland, a retro-themed pleasure park that draws visitors to its vintage carousel and scenic railway (Britain’s oldest roller coaster) as much as its Pride celebrations and a newly installed Banksy mural. Aroseaund the bay, modern art exhibitions rotate through the Turner Contemporary gallery, while kids play with buckets and spades on the beach in its shadow. New openings butt up against the resort’s kiss-me-quick attractions, and nowhere is this more apparent than along the seafront. Amusement arcades and shops selling inflatables squeeze in between microbreweries and cocktail bars, and restaurants serve both cod and chips and miso-battered tofu. 

A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller UK.

When you have a partner obsessed with architecture, you can’t expect to go on holiday without a detour to see some building or another. So if it’s a city break, that usually means a walking tour of the architectural highlights interspersed with visits to art galleries.

“Casa Maria Luigia is a home and a hotel…imaginary and real,” writes Lara Gilmore in Slow Food, Fast Cars, the book she co-authored with chef Massimo Bottura, her partner in life and fine dining. Together, they’ve created such restaurants as the three-Michelin-star destination Osteria Francescana. But Gilmore began her career writing about art, and Slow Food, Fast Cars: Casa Maria Luigia - Stories and Recipes (out from Phaidon on December 6) marries a number of genres, from cookbook to essay collection to exhibition catalog and beyond.

For locals, it's a well-known fact that many of the UK capital’s best attributes are completely free to enjoy. In London you can walk through two millennia of history, delve into a cornucopia of treasures, go on a music and art odyssey, and soak in some of the most iconic views on Earth – all without spending a single penny. Here’s where to start.

With curved architecture and a multicoloured mural encompassing the exterior, Towner Eastbourne is an eye-catching stalwart of the south coast’s art scene. This year it celebrates its centenary with Towner 100: The Living Collection, which has accompanying text panels helping youngsters to learn their way around the exhibits. A 20-minute stroll west leads you to Holywell Retreat, a shingle beach with rockpooling and a tea chalet offering breakfast or lunch with a view. Admission free, townereastbourne.org.uk; family room, B&B, from £146, lansdownehotel.co.uk (gallery visitors to the hotel can claim a £20 discount)

Newmarket in Suffolk is the home of British horse racing, with equine attractions aplenty. There are the two race courses, the Rowley Mile and the July Course; the gallops where the horses are exercised; the National Stud, where they are bred; and Tattersalls, where they are bought and sold. There is plenty of art, too, but it is largely of a horsey nature – the Packard Galleries of British Sporting Art are full of paintings by George Stubbs and Alfred Munnings, and depictions of hunting, hawking, shooting and, of course, racing.

Affectionately known by Brits as the Garden of England, Kent is famed for its leafy surroundings and home-grown produce. But thanks to its bounty of award-winning booze, cutting-edge art and spine-tingling scenery, this county is even more fruitful than its monicker implies. And now is the perfect time to visit – here are five reasons why.

Tim Chester, Web Editor: From the Turner Contemporary gallery to the proliferation of other indie art spaces, retro shops and cute cafés in the Old Town, Margate now offers much more than its beautifully dilapidated seafront. Dubbed “romantic, sexy and weird” by local girl Tracey Emin, this gem on the Isle of Thanet constitutes one of the highlights of the forthcoming Rough Guide to Kent, Sussex and Surrey for many good reasons.

What image does the word “Teesside” conjure up? A stark landscape where heavy industry meets the wind-whipped North Sea coast, perhaps? While this stereotype certainly forms part of Teesside’s character, there’s so much more to the intriguing northeast region than meets the eye.