Nottingham

Nottingham's compact centre means the choice of base matters less for travel time than it does in bigger cities, but it still shapes the kind of stay you have. The Lace Market and the streets around the castle put you within a few minutes of the caves, the museums and the best independent bars, and suit visitors who want to walk everywhere and finish most evenings on foot. The Old Market Square and the main shopping streets work well for a straightforward city break, close to the tram interchange and the station, with a wide spread of restaurants on the doorstep. West Bridgford, over the Trent Bridge, offers a calmer, more residential alternative with its own cafes and restaurants, and is the natural choice for cricket or football weekends given its proximity to Trent Bridge and the City Ground. Properties further out towards the ring road and the M1 junctions tend to suit drivers prioritising parking and a quick road link over walkable evenings.

Nottingham's hotel stock spans a genuine boutique scene, several handsome Georgian and Victorian conversions, dependable branded hotels aimed at business travellers and weekend visitors alike, and a small but well-regarded set of independent guest houses just outside the immediate centre. Prices hold up reasonably well year-round given the university terms and regular events at the Motorpoint Arena and Trent Bridge, so booking a little ahead around Goose Fair in October, university graduation weeks and major sporting fixtures is worthwhile. Outside those peaks, midweek rates in the centre are generally good value compared with similarly sized English cities, and the tram network means a slightly cheaper hotel on the edge of town rarely costs much in either time or convenience.

The city centre and its immediate surroundings hold enough to fill several days without needing a car.

• Nottingham Castle occupies the sandstone rock above the city and now houses a museum covering the Robin Hood legend, the city's rebel history and its lace and industrial past, alongside grounds with wide views over the rooftops.
• City of Caves, entered through the Broadmarsh shopping centre, is a network of man-made sandstone caverns used over the centuries as tanneries, air-raid shelters and slum dwellings, and gives the clearest sense of the hidden city beneath the streets.
• Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, built into the rock beneath the castle, is regularly cited as one of England's oldest pubs and is worth a visit for its cave-cut back rooms as much as its beer.
• The Lace Market rewards an unhurried walk past former Victorian warehouses, the restored Adams Building and St Mary's Church, now filled with independent shops, galleries and bars rather than lace merchants.
• National Justice Museum, housed in a former courthouse and gaol, lets visitors sit in the dock and walk the old cells while tracing the history of crime and punishment.
• Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, a few miles west of the centre, combines an Elizabethan prodigy house, a natural history museum and 500 acres of parkland grazed by red and fallow deer.
• National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont offers rowing, canoeing, white-water rafting and open riverside walking beside the Trent on the eastern edge of the city.
• Nottingham Contemporary, one of the largest contemporary art galleries outside London, sits on the edge of the Lace Market and shows free exhibitions year-round.

Nottingham's food scene has grown well beyond its historic reputation for Stilton, made just over the county border, and the Bramley apple, which originated from a tree still standing in Southwell. Hockley and the Lace Market hold the highest concentration of independent restaurants and bars, from long-standing curry houses to newer small-plates openings, while the Cornerhouse and the Old Market Square area cover the bigger chain restaurants and late bars. Sneinton Market, redeveloped around independent studios and food stalls, is worth a visit for weekend street food and the Nottingham Vegan Market held there periodically. The city's pub heritage runs deep: alongside Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, the Malt Cross on St James's Street occupies a restored Victorian music hall, and a cluster of real ale pubs around the Lace Market keep the city's brewing tradition, once dominated by the Shipstone's and Home breweries, alive through smaller modern producers. Victoria Centre Market and the Flying Horse Walk arcade add further options for a slower browse between meals.

Nottingham itself is a dense, sandstone-built city rather than a camping destination, but open country starts within a few miles in most directions, particularly south-east towards the Vale of Belvoir and along the flat, riverside land bordering the Trent. Sites here tend towards touring and family camping rather than wild, remote pitches, set on working farms or beside the water sports facilities at Holme Pierrepont, and most are geared towards caravans and motorhomes as much as tents. Sherwood Forest and the wider Dukeries lie further north and offer a woodland alternative for anyone happy to drive half an hour or so out of the city.

Wild camping has no general legal standing in England outside a small area of Dartmoor, and Nottinghamshire's farmland and country parks are all either privately owned or managed by the county council, so pitching up without permission is not an option here; the campsites below are the realistic way to camp near the city. The Trent valley's flat, low-lying ground means sites can hold water after heavy rain, so spring and fine summer weeks are generally the most comfortable, while the flatness that makes for occasional mud also means excellent, easy cycling and walking on the doorstep. Most sites run from spring through to early autumn, with a handful open to caravans and motorhomes year-round; June to September gives the most reliable weather and the fullest facilities, including any seasonal shops or cafes on site.