Shakespeare's England

Birmingham pulses at the centre of England, the country's second city and an industrial heart reborn as a vibrant, cosmopolitan metropolis. Its canals, more extensive than those of Venice, are now lively waterside walks lined with bars and restaurants around Brindleyplace and Gas Street Basin. The renewed Bullring quarter offers first-class shopping, while the Library of Birmingham and the Museum and Art Gallery hold culture and art. The Jewellery Quarter preserves the city's centuries-old goldsmithing tradition. Its cuisine is famous for the balti, the Anglo-Indian dish born here, and its dining scene boasts Michelin stars. Nearby lie the Warwickshire countryside and Stratford-upon-Avon. Birmingham is industrious, multicultural England reinventing itself.

Oxford instantly conjures its dreaming spires, home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of England's most enchanting cities. Its forty-odd colleges follow one another in a maze of quadrangles, cloisters and libraries: the rotunda of the Radcliffe Camera, the solemn Bodleian Library among the world's greatest, Christ Church College with the dining hall that inspired Hogwarts and its cathedral-chapel. Climbing the tower of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin takes in a panorama of golden pinnacles. The city holds treasures such as the Ashmolean Museum, Britain's first public museum, and the Bridge of Sighs recalling Venice. Along the rivers Cherwell and Isis visitors go punting, gliding in flat-bottomed boats between meadows and willows, while historic pubs like The Eagle and Child evoke Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Among antiquarian bookshops, cafés and bicycles everywhere, Oxford breathes a timeless, intellectual air. A short way off await the sumptuous Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the honey-stone villages of the Cotswolds. Oxford is a city that makes you fall in love with learning, suspended between academia and beauty.

Windsor surprises arrivals with the commanding silhouette of its castle, one of the oldest and still-inhabited royal residences, presiding over the Thames just a few miles from London. The cobbled streets of the centre lead from the fortress gates to the shop windows of Peascod Street, while across the river lies aristocratic Eton with its famous college. The Long Walk, a tree-lined avenue nearly five kilometres long, crosses the Great Park to the hilltop statue of the King. Nearby, Slough offers easy connections and access to the area's great theme parks. A boat trip on the Thames, an afternoon tea and the elegance of the royal gardens round out the experience. Windsor remains shorthand for a stately England, where crown and river meet.

London is one of those metropolises that defies summary: a millennia-old capital of the United Kingdom, it spreads along both banks of the Thames and changes character with every district. Its monumental heart turns around Westminster, where the Palace of Westminster and the Big Ben clock tower face the Gothic Westminster Abbey, setting for royal coronations. A little further on lies St James's Park and, at the end of the Mall, Buckingham Palace with its famous Changing of the Guard. Heading east you reach Christopher Wren's domed St Paul's Cathedral and, on the river, the medieval Tower of London guarding the Crown Jewels, flanked by the iconic Tower Bridge. On the opposite bank, the South Bank lines up the London Eye, the Tate Modern set in a former power station and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The great museums are free and astonishing: the British Museum with the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon marbles, the National Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Square, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert in South Kensington. Shopping has its temples along Oxford Street and at Harrods and Liberty, while Covent Garden, Soho and Camden Market reveal a younger, more creative London. The West End lights up its musicals each evening and Notting Hill smells of vintage stalls along Portobello Road. The food is an atlas of the whole world, from the curries of Brick Lane to pubs serving fish and chips and a pint of ale, not forgetting the ritual of afternoon tea. Getting around is easy thanks to the Underground and the red double-decker buses. Within easy reach await unforgettable excursions: the royal gardens of Kew, Windsor Castle, Greenwich with its zero meridian. London is a city forever reinventing itself, suspended between royal tradition and contemporary energy.