With a world-famous cathedral, popular chocolate cafe and punting tours, Canterbury is the perfect destination for a UK city break! Canterbury is a cathedral city in the south east of England, with roots as a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. The ancient walls surrounding the city were originally built by the Romans, framing the cobbled streets and timber-framed medieval houses.
Here are a list of things to see and do in Canterbury!
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England, forming part of the World Heritage Site. The cathedral was founded in 597, and was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077. Canterbury Cathedral is the Mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The cathedral welcomes nearly a million visitors a year and there’s a wide range of visitor facilities available for guests to enjoy. There’s a small fee to enter the cathedral and its grounds (adults £12.50 | Adults 65+ £11.50 | Full time students £10.50 | children (under 18) £8.50 | Family ticket (2 adults, up to 3 children) £33.00 | Family ticket (1 adult, 2 children) £23.00) and students studying at the local universities can enjoy free entry with their student ID.
You can stroll around at your own pace, or there’s a number of guided tours, mini talks and audio tours taking place around the cathedral to guide you around. At this world-famous cathedral you will see beautiful glass memorials, the chapter house, the great cloisterand chapels.
Eleto Chocolate Cafe
Eleto Chocolate Cafe is an independent coffee shop (with its sister site in Folkestone) serving up delicous food and drink throughout the day until 11pm each day – including signature hot chocolates and an extensive list of desserts and sweet treats.
The chocolate cafe is just steps away from the Cathedral gate and the High Street – so it’s a great location to sit outside and watch the world go by!
When I went with my friend Alice, I ordered the white chocolate crepe with strawberries and Alice ordered the crepe of the day, which happened to be Kinder Beuno on the day. The desserts were deliciously sickly and sweet, and very reasonably priced too!
Cafe Du Soleil
Cafe du Soleil is a wonderful little restaurant beside the river Stour, serving up a delicious range of Mediterranean dishes inspired by southern France, Italy and the Pacific rim.
The restaurant is housed in a former 18th century wool store, with exposed brick walls, tiled floors and low-lights, and a relaxing and cosy atmosphere. I wrote a full review on the delicious menu (where we ate Chicken Saltimbocca: a delicious pan fried chicken breast in parma ham with a sage, leek and tarragon cream sauce, served with a macadamia crusted parmesan risotto cake and kale, and we shared the Wood Fired Alaska for 2: a home made banana bread topped with Madagascan vanilla ice cream and meringue, served with a red fruit and wine compote).
Cafe du Soleil also has a sister restaurant called Cafe des Amis, which serves a range of Mexican dishes in a vibrant atmosphere.
Westgate Punts
Westgate Punts is an independent punting operator in Canterbury, offering relaxed chauffeured river punt trips on the Great Stour river in Canterbury.
There are three different punting routes with Westgate Punts; short trip, long trip and long city trip. The short trip takes you through Westgate Gardens to Whitehall Meadows and takes 35-40 minutes: Adults £12 – Children £6. The long trip is through Westgate Gardens then out to Hambrook Marshes and takes 50 minutes: Adults £16 – Children £7. The long city trip takes you on a 60-65 minute journey through Westgate gardens, Bingley island, down the Romon canal, past Weavers House and returning through medieval tunnels: Adults £20 – Children £8.
The punting trips are relaxing, as opposed to the Cambridge punting trips, but they’re a relaxing and peaceful way to enjoy the city.
Exploring the cobbled Roman streets
Canterbury is a lovely city to just wander around in, checking out all the independent cafes, boutique shops and the medieval-style buildings. The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge is the central museum, library and art gallery of the city of Canterbury, housed in a Grade II listed building. Another interesting historical building to see are the Canterbury Westgate Towers and City Gaol, which has partly been transformed into a bar called The Pound.
Have you been to Canterbury before? What do you enjoy doing there?
Stunning pictures. I would love to go to the Canterbury Cathedral, its history is fascinating.
Author
Thank you Anca! Canterbury Cathedral is absolutely stunning, and the grounds are fun to explore too!
Looks amazing! Great post, I really want to start taking more city breaks in the UK this year.
Matt // http://www.theguyontrend.co.uk
Author
Thanks Matt! I’d love to explore more of the UK too – I’m particualrly interested in visiting Bath again and going to Edinburgh 🙂
Looks stunning id love to plan a visit !
https://eilidhcross.blogspot.com/
Author
Thanks Eilidh, it’s a beautiful place!
I miss Canterbury so much! After living there for three years whilst I was at uni, I’d love to head back soon and explore one of my favourite cities ever.
Love the chocolate cafe, and the cathedral was such an amazing place to graduate! xx
Author
Ahhh I don’t blame you, I really enjoyed it there! I bet you had the best time there Hannah 🙂 the chocolate cafe was amazing – thank you for the recommendation! And I bet that was incredible, it was stunning inside! x
Lovely piece and superb photographs of a very special place.
Author
Thank you, Alex! 🙂 It’s a truly lovely place
Canterbury looks SO beautiful – I love those little old historic streets so much! And those crepes look so yummy – especially the Kinder Bueno one <3 __<3 xx
Laura // Middle of Adventure
Author
Same, I just LOVE the cobbled streets and oldy worldy feel 😀 the crepe was amazing, i definitely need to try a chocolate one next time! x
Canterbury looks gorgeous! It’s so pretty! I’d love to visit, and omg those pancakes look incredible too! xx
Jessie | allthingsbeautiful-x
Author
It’s a super pretty place, I’d definitely recommend a trip there! 🙂 the crepes were insaaaaane!
I lived in Canterbury for 3 years and I graduated in the Cathedral, this place holds a special place in my heart for sure! I would add, going up to the uni campus so you can have a view of the whole city from there 🙂
Pam xo/ Pam Scalfi♥
Author
That’s so exciting Pam, and I’m equally as jealous!! I bet you had a fantastic three years there. I’ll have to bare that in mind for next time 😀 x
Really keen to visit Cantebury so thanks for sharing! Now even more inspired.
Author
No worries Jayde! I hope you enjoyed the post on it – it’s a fantastic place!
Looks like such a great place! I have never been there but really want to now
Gemma x
http://www.jacquardflower.uk
Author
It’s beautiful there and there’s so much to do – I’d definitely recommend a weekend trip there! 🙂
Canterbury is certainly a place I’d love to visit and what beautiful photos! Those crepes look like heaven.
Definitely taking some of this tips with me when I make my way there!
Issy | MissIsGoode
xx
Author
Yay I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post Issy! Canterbury is super beautiful and there’s lots to do there. I hope you have the best time there! 🙂
I went to uni here and I spent far too much money in Cafe Du Soleil – their salmon dish is amazing!
Author
God I’d be there all the time if I was there haha! It’s so lovely in there
Hannah I am obsessed with peoples travel and trip posts at the moment so no idea how I missed this one! I have never been to Canterbury but hello, Chocolate cafe?!?! Im there! It looks like a gorgeous City to spend time in, another place added to my list! Great post xx
Author
Thank you Kerry! 😀 it’s a lovely little city – there’s so much to do there plus it’s SO pretty! I’d definitely recommend a visit xx
There are so many picturesque, postcard-beautiful towns and cities in England. Punting in Canterbury in the summer – with a stop off at the chocolate cafe afterwards – would be such a treat! x
Author
It’s a beautiful place, I’d definitely recommend a trip there! 😀 x