Travel Tips: UK Alternatives to Foreign Destinations

Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic last year, it's been, at times, difficult, and at other times, impossible to travel abroad. This has meant that many people around the world have been discovering different places around their own countries on their holidays, and this has been especially true here in the UK.

Speaking from personal experience, over the past year I should have been living in Santiago with my boyfriend, and exploring different places around Chile and Latin America. Instead, I have been living in a small, isolated village in Wiltshire with my parents, and have only left the country once since the first lockdown came into force. I'm not going to pretend that I'm satisfied with this situation, but I've at least tried to make the best of it. One effective source of escapism for me has been to travel to various places around my local area and beyond, in particular those that are reminiscent of foreign countries. 

This has led me to put together a list of some of my favourite UK alternatives to foreign destinations. Some are alternatives to a particular town or city, whereas others are alternatives to entire countries/parts of the world. I hope that it can come in useful for the times when it's not possible to leave the country (though hopefully this never happens again!), or for times when you would simply prefer to have a UK holiday. After all, there are many reasons to travel in our own countries, such as wanting to protect the environment, or not wanting to go through the hassle of border controls and luggage restrictions. 

So with that said, here are my British alternatives to ten foreign destinations!

Foreign Destination: China

Image of Beijing by Magda Ehlers from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Chinatown, London

The Chinatown in London is one of the largest Chinatowns in Europe, and it really does make you feel like you've been transported to China. Not only are there many colourful lanterns, elaborate gateways, and Chinese statues, but all of the shop names are written in Chinese! It's definitely one of the highlights of a trip to London, and it demonstrates just what an international city it is.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: Veules-les-Roses, France

Read more about Veules-les-Roses here!

UK Alternative: Bibury

When I spent part of my Year Abroad in Normandy, I realised just how similar the north of France and the south of England are. Which makes sense really, as they're very close to each other! And when I visited Bibury in the Cotswolds last summer, I was struck by how similar it was to the village of Veules-les-Roses. Both are situated on rivers, and are full of quaint cottages and pretty flowers. In addition, they both have been described as the prettiest villages in their respective countries!

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: Viña del Mar, Chile

Read more about Viña del Mar here and here!

UK Alternative: Bournemouth

At the height of summer, the beach town of Bournemouth on the south coast of England really does feel a bit like somewhere more exotic. My boyfriend compared it to Viña del Mar (one of the most popular beach towns in Chile) and I can definitely also see the similarity. They both have plenty of palm trees, sandy beaches and pretty gardens.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destination: The Netherlands

Image of Amsterdam by Kata Pal from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Westbury Court Garden

This has to be one of the most unique destinations I've been to over the last year, as it's the only restored Dutch water garden left in the UK. If you want to see canals, a Dutch pavilion, formal gardens and plenty of tulips, you should definitely visit!

Read more here!

UK Alternative 2: Ashdown House

Ashdown House is another very unique place, as it's a Dutch townhouse located in the English countryside! The house was built in the 17th century and has a very long and detailed history. It's more than worth a visit if you're interested in either history or architecture.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: North American Lakes

Image of Field, Canada by James Wheeler from pexels.com

UK Alternative: The Cotswold Water Park

The Cotswold Water Park, a small area containing around 180 lakes, is only a short distance from my house, but often makes me think of the lakes of Canada and the north of the United States. Maybe this is because of the large amount of wooden cabins and New England chalets that you can find on the edges of the lakes. In any case, the area is a great place to enjoy nature, watersports and wildlife spotting.

Read more here and here!

Foreign Destinations: Italy and Greece

Image of the Pantheon in Rome by Griffin Wooldridge from pexels.com

Image of the Acropolis in Athens by Mohammed Zarovski from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Stourhead

The National Trust property Stourhead is famous for being one of the most beautiful gardens in the country. Its design was heavily influenced by Greek and Roman mythology, and it features several temples and statues of various deities. The highlight has to be the Pantheon (pictured above), which was inspired by the building of the same name in Rome.

Read more here!

UK Alternative 2: Buscot Park

The Buscot Park National Trust property also takes inspiration from Italy and Greece. It has lots of classical architecture, walls painted with frescoes, and even an Italian water garden, making it a very picturesque place to wander around on a summer's day.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: Japan

Image of Osaka by Bagus Pangestu from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Batsford Arboretum

This arboretum in the Cotswolds is home to the UK's national collection of Japanese cherry blossom (sakura) trees, and is heavily inspired by Japan. Sights to look out for there include the Japanese rest house (pictured above), the statue of the Buddha, and several little red Japanese bridges over streams.

Read more here! 

Foreign Destination: Provence, France

Image by David Bartus from pexels.com

UK Alternative: Cotswold Lavender

Unfortunately, the weather was a bit grim when I visited Cotswold Lavender last year, hence the rather grey-looking photo! But it was still a nice experience to walk around the fields and see and smell all of the different types of lavender. It's probably the closest you can get to having a holiday in Provence without leaving England!

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: The Taj Mahal, India

 

Image by Sudipta Mondal from pexels.com

UK Alternative 1: Brighton Pavilion

The Brighton Pavilion is the most famous Indian-style building in the UK, and was inspired by palaces such as the Taj Mahal. Although it had scaffolding around it when I visited with my boyfriend Claudio last year, it was still a very majestic sight to see. It's definitely worth getting tickets to enter the palace and see the Chinese-inspired rooms inside. I would also recommend viewing some of the other Indian-style buildings around the city, such as the Brighton Dome and the Western Pavilion.

Read more here and here!

UK Alternative 2: Sezincote

In fact, the most direct inspiration for the Brighton Pavilion was this palace located in the Cotswolds, which I would say is even more majestic. Not only is the building itself beautiful, but it also has amazing gardens, including the Persian Garden seen in my picture. Sezincote is definitely one of my favourite places I've visited this year, and it almost made me feel like I was really in India.

Read more here!

Foreign Destination: The South of Chile

Read more about the South of Chile here!

UK Alternative: The Lake District

When I visited the Lake District in the north of England last September, I was surprised by how much it reminded me of the south of Chile, where I'd been in 2018. The mountains may not be so high, but at least there actually are mountains (I don't think we have any in the south of England). Plus, there's a range of lakes, waterfalls and forests to explore.

Read more here and here!

So there you have it: my little world tour that you can take without leaving the UK. (Well, actually, I've just realised that all the destinations are in England, as that's the part of Britain I'm most familiar with, but I'm sure there are some other great foreign alternatives in Scotland and Wales - Portmeirion in particular looks a lot like Italy, and is somewhere I'd love to go to in the future.)

Of course, there is no real substitute for global travel; personally, I still plan to continue discovering the world once it's possible to do so again. But, it's nice to know that there are some places where you can get a little bit of that feeling of being somewhere else, whilst still being here in England!

Check out the rest of my Travel Tips here!

Brighton: Day Two

On our second day in Brighton, we arrived at the Pavilion in the morning, ready to go inside when it opened.

The weather was a little nicer than it had been the previous day, and the Brighton Dome looked stunning in the sunlight.

Then at 10 o'clock, it was time for us to enter the palace!

When we'd been planning the trip, we actually hadn't been sure about buying tickets to go inside; they were quite expensive at £15.50 each, and the pictures and videos we'd seen online of the interior didn't look particularly impressive. But in the end we decided to go for it, because after all, you don't get many opportunities in your life to look around an Indian-style palace!

And as it turned out, the cost of the tickets was totally worth it - the interior of the Pavilion was absolutely amazing. Although the palace's exterior was inspired by India, most of the rooms inside were inspired by China and Japan, and the decoration was so elaborate and ornate, featuring many beautiful chandeliers, paintings, curtains and pieces of furniture. In addition, we had the place almost to ourselves, which was just a brilliant experience. 

After we'd finished exploring the palace (and the gift shop!), we went back outside to take some photos. The opposite side of the building to the visitor entrance is the part that is photographed the most, and we hadn't seen it yet. But when we got there, it looked quite different to how it did on the internet! For starters, there was scaffolding covering parts of the building. And the "lake" which had looked so beautiful in pictures online was actually a tiny little pond surrounded by litter...

But despite all that, it was still a beautiful sight to see. We almost could have felt like we were in India, if it weren't for the British weather!

Afterwards, we wandered through the city down to the beach again. The difference between the ocean that day and the previous day was incredible! Whereas before the ocean had been wild and dramatic, now it was calm, and there was sunshine. In my pictures, it actually looks quite summery!

The final sight we went to see was the Western Pavilion, a house that was inspired by the Brighton Pavilion. It's not very big, but as one of only a few Indo-Saracenic buildings in the UK, it's an interesting place to look at.

Next we had a look around the Lanes shopping area, which to be honest I thought was a bit overrated and worryingly busy. After that we had lunch at a really nice Italian restaurant in the shopping centre, and then (sadly!) it was time to take the long train journey back home.

We had had an wonderful weekend exploring Brighton, and our trip there was definitely one of the highlights of Claudio's time in Europe. It's a really unique and vibrant city, which manages to be both very British and very international at the same time.

Both of us would like to go back one day - preferably in the summer, when it's possible to swim in the sea. Our tickets for the Brighton Pavilion are valid for a year, so perhaps we'll be able to take advantage of them later on in 2021. Watch this space...

Read about Brighton: Day One here!

Brighton: Day One

One Saturday in December, Claudio and I travelled down to Gatwick Airport. However, we weren't going to catch a plane (although we would take a "flight" later that day!). 

Instead, we were going to take a train from the station at the airport down to Brighton, a city on the south coast of England that we both were very excited to visit for the first time.

I'd never considered visiting Brighton until a couple of years ago - I'd thought there wasn't much more to it than a typically cold, pebbly English beach and some nightclubs. But then I saw a picture in a newspaper that completely changed my mind. The photo showed a beautiful Indian-style palace with big domes and minarets, which I assumed had to be in India or a nearby country. But then I read the caption and was shocked to find out that this was the Brighton Pavilion! Ever since, I've been wanting to visit the city and see the palace for myself.

And then when Claudio and I were in London, he found pictures of the Pavilion on the internet and also really wanted to visit it. So we decided we would go there after we got back from Sweden. However, when we got back, the second lockdown was announced, so we thought we wouldn't be able to go. But then Claudio's flight was changed to a month later (after the end of the lockdown), and we could go after all!

It was very exciting when we stepped out of Brighton train station following the three hour journey from Wiltshire to East Sussex and saw the city for the first time, with the sea visible a short distance away! One thing that was very cool to see was that several of the buildings had Indian-style roofs, just like the palace.

The first place we went to was the beach, which looked very dramatic because of the sea's huge crashing waves. It was really cold, but it was still so nice to be back on a beach again for the first time since our trip to Viña del Mar, Reñaca and Concón in March. That trip feels like a long time ago now...

One of the most iconic landmarks in Brighton is the Palace Pier, which also happens to be one of the most famous piers in the whole of the UK. Its design was inspired by the Pavilion, and it features an arcade, cafés, restaurants and many funfair rides. Most of the rides were closed when we were there, but it was still a very fun - and very British - place to look around.

I don't know why, but when we were on the beach and the pier, I had the strong sense of having been there before, even though I knew I hadn't. Maybe it was just memories of other seaside places I'd been to, but it was a bit strange...

Next we went back up into the centre of the city and eventually found ourselves in the Royal Pavilion Garden, which of course is where the palace is located. It was very impressive to see in real life - it's not an enormous building, but it's so elaborate.

In the garden, you can also find the Brighton Dome and the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, another building designed in the Indo-Saracenic style.

The two entrances to the garden also take inspiration from India. The southern entrance is called India Gate and was built to mark the fact that the palace was used as a military hospital for Indian soldiers during World War One.

The other entrance, the North Gate, was built in the 19th century, not long after the construction of the Pavilion was completed.

It was great to see the palace for the first time, but we didn't stay long, as we had tickets to go inside the following day.

After having lunch, we headed back towards the beach, as we had a flight to catch! But we weren't going on a plane - instead, we were going up the British Airways i360 tower. The tower, which was only opened in 2016, is 162 metres high and is considered to be Brighton's equivalent to the London Eye.

We managed to get tickets for £10 each (thank you, Black Friday!) and we had a great experience there. There are actual British Airways flight attendants there who guide you into the pod, which then goes up to the top of the tower and back down again. The flight takes 25 minutes and the views from the top are great. Even though it was raining when we were there, we were still able to see right across the city and even all the way over to the Seven Sisters cliffs.

After the flight, we explored some of the other attractions nearby on the beach. Right next to the tower, you can find the Upside Down House, one of several in the UK. It's a fun place for taking photos!

The West Pier is another interesting sight to see. It was built during the Victorian era, but fell into a state of disrepair. However, its ruins are actually very striking to look at.

One of the attractions I liked the most was this beautiful bandstand overlooking the sea.

I also thought this bar that looks like a boat was very cool, and it brought back memories of Viña del Mar.

Later on in the evening, we went for a little walk around the city to see its Christmas lights, which were very pretty.

It was the perfect end to an amazing first day in Brighton. ❤

Soon I'll be writing about our second day in the city, which was possibly even more amazing, as we actually went inside the Pavilion!

Read about Brighton: Day Two here!