Cheltenham, GB

The long-running Michelin-starred restaurant in The Suffolks, where one chef has cooked French-rooted modern dishes for over three decades. It is a special-occasion room with a famously good bread course and a much-loved cheesecake. Best for a long, considered dinner when you want the town's most serious cooking.

A small, refined Indian restaurant doing tasting-menu Indian cooking with British produce and serious technique, not your standard curry house. The intimate room and layered dishes make it a destination for a nice dinner. Best for a special evening when you want Indian food plated like fine dining.

A warm, more casual Indian kitchen on Suffolk Road leaning into Keralan and South Indian flavours alongside the classics. It is the everyday counterpart to the town's smarter Indian rooms, good for a relaxed dinner with a group. Best when you want generous, spice-led food without the tasting-menu ceremony.

A Japanese small-plates restaurant and bar run by a MasterChef finalist, built around grazing dishes and a 'no sushi' line, with a serious whisky and sake list at the Kampai bar. The Koj fried chicken is the dish people come back for. Best for a livelier dinner over cocktails and shared plates.

A small family-run seafood restaurant on Rodney Road built around sustainable British-caught fish and Cotswold produce, with daily-changing menus. It is the town's go-to for fish done with care rather than fried-and-chips. Best for a quieter, grown-up dinner where the catch dictates the plates.

A tiny French bistro tucked off the centre doing classic, generous cooking in a snug, candlelit room. It is the date-night choice locals guard, all coq au vin energy and proper desserts. Best for an intimate dinner for two when you want comfort over fashion.

A Sicilian-style pizza-by-the-slice counter with a menu that changes weekly and toppings that range well beyond the usual, from Double Gloucester to seasonal greens. It is cheap, fast and genuinely good, the antidote to the town's smarter rooms. Best for a casual lunch or an early, low-key dinner.

A neighbourhood taqueria on Bath Road built around tacos, fresh salsas and a short list of margaritas and palomas. It is small, colourful and proudly un-chain, the spot for casual Mexican with a drink. Best for a relaxed lunch or an early dinner when you want tacos done properly.

A plant-based kitchen on Winchcombe Street with a Middle Eastern lean, doing kebab wraps, seitan gyros, shawarma and properly seasoned mezze. It wins over committed carnivores, not just the veggie crowd. Best for a casual, flavour-forward lunch or dinner that happens to be vegan.

A buzzy Spanish tapas bar on Regent Street near the Everyman, turning out croquetas, gambas pil pil and Iberico ham at speed. It is a lively, order-as-you-go room good for a group or a pre-theatre graze. Best for sharing plates over a glass of something Spanish.

A small wine bar and merchant on Regent Street with a deep, fairly-priced by-the-glass list and cheese and charcuterie boards to go with it. The blind tasting flights are the draw and the staff genuinely know their stuff. Best for an unhurried evening of good wine and a board.

A specialty coffee bar near Sandford Park serving seasonal beans that change weekly, brewed Nordic-style for sweetness and clarity. The staff are coffee nerds in the best way and the cinnamon buns are the snack to get. Best for a serious flat white away from the chains.

An all-day brunch cafe doubling as a plant shop, doing cherry French toast, Turkish eggs and avocado on sourdough among the greenery. It is the go-to for a long weekend breakfast that is not a fry-up. Best for a slow brunch with good coffee and a leafy backdrop.

A small Montpellier artisan cafe and gelateria whipping its own Italian-style gelato to sit alongside homemade cakes and bakes. It is the sweet stop after a Montpellier wander, with seasonal flavours and good coffee. Best for an afternoon treat or a scoop on a sunny stroll.

A thatched seventeenth-century village pub in Prestbury, just outside town near the racecourse, doing proper modern pub food and Sunday roasts with a garden for warm days. It is the family-friendly local that visitors wish they had at home. Best for a long Sunday lunch or a pint in the garden after a hill walk.

The town's largest ornamental park, a flat figure-of-eight around two lakes with the Pump Room as a backdrop, popular for the weekly parkrun and easy family strolls. No hills, plenty of cafes and a big play area. Best for a gentle loop, a picnic, or a pram-friendly walk.

A short, sharp escarpment loop from the Leckhampton car park up to the Devil's Chimney rock and along the open hilltop with town laid out below. Around two and a half miles with one steep pull and big payoff views. Best for a quick leg-stretch with the best vista close to town.

A National Trust and Wildlife Trust spur of the escarpment south of town, with waymarked loops over grassland and beech woods to a viewpoint over the Severn Vale and an Iron Age hillfort. Gentle gradients and well-marked paths make it easy with kids. Best for a relaxed couple of miles with a big view and some history.

A wooded loop east of town linking Dowdeswell Reservoir with the ancient Lineover Wood, roughly four miles of reservoir paths and steep climbs through old beech and lime. Quieter than the famous escarpment trails and lovely in bluebell season. Best for a moderate half-day in the trees away from the crowds.

A loop over Cleeve Common, the highest point of the Cotswolds, with windswept grassland, a golf course, an Iron Age fort and views to the Malverns and Wales on clear days. Choose a shorter two-mile circuit or stretch it past four. Best for an open-sky walk where the weather makes the day.

A classic point-to-point stretch of the Cotswold Way from the market town of Winchcombe up onto Cleeve Common, taking in woodland, hilltop grassland and the remains of an Iron Age fort. Around five miles one way with a sustained climb. Best for keen walkers wanting a proper half-day on the national trail.

The town's free art gallery and museum, best known for an internationally important Arts and Crafts collection alongside local history, archaeology and a decent cafe. It is the obvious rainy-day stop in the centre. Best for an hour or two indoors, especially with the Arts and Crafts rooms.

A lovingly restored 1891 Frank Matcham theatre, all gilt and red velvet, staging touring drama, dance, comedy, opera and the big Christmas pantomime. It is the town's main stage and the building alone is worth the ticket. Best for an evening out with proper old-theatre atmosphere.

The grand Edwardian civic hall on Imperial Square, home to concerts, comedy, West End touring shows and the hub of the literature and jazz festivals. The main auditorium with its organ and chandeliers is a fine room to see a show. Best for a varied night out across music, comedy and spoken word.

The spiritual home of British jump racing, set under Cleeve Hill, host of the Festival and the Gold Cup and open for guided tours of the Hall of Fame and stands on non-race days. It is a bucket-list day out for racing fans and a surprisingly good tour for everyone else. Best on a race day for the spectacle, or a quiet tour off-season.

The birthplace of composer Gustav Holst, run as a hands-on Victorian house museum from the below-stairs kitchen up to the parlour, with the piano he composed The Planets on. Small, personal and staffed by people who clearly love it. Best for a quiet hour and anyone into music or social history.

A 1935 art deco open-air pool in landscaped grounds, with a heated main pool, a paddling pool and lawns built for a long summer day. It is a seasonal local institution that fills up the moment the sun is out. Best for a sunny day with kids or anyone who likes a proper outdoor swim.

An award-winning real-ale pub near Sandford Park with a constantly rotating board of cask and craft beers, a courtyard and no frills beyond the drinking. It is where local beer enthusiasts actually go. Best for an evening of proper ale with a knowledgeable bar.

The grandest Regency building in town, a columned 1830 spa hall modelled on an Athenian temple a mile north of the centre. You can walk into the domed auditorium for free when no event is on, and the mineral spring still runs from the ornate pump. Best paired with a loop of the surrounding park and lake.

The town's most handsome quarter, a grid of Regency villas, independent shops and the famous Montpellier Walk lined with caryatids, the stone maidens standing in for columns between the shopfronts. It is where locals bring visitors to wander, browse and stop for a drink. Best on foot, drifting between the gardens and the side streets.

The only medieval building left in town, a parish church in continuous use for over eight centuries and a patchwork of styles added across the years. The Victorian stained glass and the carved stone details reward a slow look, and it sits in a quiet churchyard a step off the High Street. Good for a calm twenty minutes between shops.

The town's wide tree-lined boulevard of Regency facades, flower beds and the Neptune fountain, running down to Imperial Gardens. It is the spine of the centre and the address of the smartest shops and the war memorial. Best for an unhurried stroll that ends in the gardens.

A small, leafy public garden in the heart of the Montpellier quarter, with mature trees, a bandstand, a cafe and a community art gallery. It is where locals decompress between errands and where festival marquees go up in season. Best for a sit-down with a coffee or a quick break with kids near the play area.

The formal flower gardens between the Promenade and the Town Hall, with bold seasonal bedding displays and lawns that fill up the moment the sun appears. It is the open-air heart of the festivals, with marquees in literature and jazz season. Best in late spring and summer when the beds are at full tilt.

A lone spike of limestone left behind by old quarrying, jutting from the escarpment above Cheltenham with the whole town spread below. It is a short steep climb from the road and a local rite of passage. Best at clear-day golden hour for the long view over the Severn Vale.

The terraced birthplace of composer Gustav Holst, kept as a working Victorian home from below-stairs kitchen to upstairs parlour, with the piano he wrote The Planets on. It is small and personal, run by enthusiasts who fill in the stories. Best for a focused hour and anyone curious about everyday Victorian life.