The stone city walls of Chester, with the walkway along the top.
The walls · Chester

Places/England

Cheshire

Chester

A Roman grid, a complete city wall, and the Rows: galleries of shops above the street.

Stay
A day, or one night on the way to north Wales
Best for
walls, a stop between London and Wales, walking
Base
Inside or just outside the walls if you are staying. Otherwise treat it as a day between London and somewhere in Wales.

Chester is the most intact walled city most English people have somehow not put on a first itinerary. The wall is a full circuit, about two miles, and it is the right way to see the place. The Rows — covered galleries at first-floor level — are medieval shopping streets that still work.

It sits on the way to north Wales. Conwy and the Eryri are the continuation if you have a second day. Chester alone is a rich afternoon and a morning, not a week.

See

  • The walls

    Do the circuit. The eastgate clock is the famous bit and the least interesting ten yards. The river section is the best.

  • The Rows

    Walk the upper level on Watergate and Eastgate. Go into the cathedral close when the shops have done their job.

  • The cathedral

    A choir school and a cloister, quieter than the walls. Worth the ticket if you like church woodwork.

  • The river

    The Groves, below the wall. A short extra if the circuit has not finished you.