Durham, GB

A small, warmly run room tucked in a courtyard off North Road serving a seasonal modern-British tasting menu that changes constantly. The cooking punches well above the price and the wine pairings are unusually thoughtful, which is why it tops most locals' lists for a special meal.

A relaxed, no-dress-code take on fine dining on Elvet Bridge built around a multi-course tasting menu that does not take itself too seriously. Vegetarians are looked after as a matter of course rather than an afterthought, and the value against bigger-name tasting menus is the talking point.

A modern-European restaurant in a thirteenth-century riverside building on Saddler Street, with a candlelit stone cellar below and outdoor tables looking over the Wear. The fixed-price menus are the smart order and the setting does a lot of the work for a date.

The daytime sibling of Coarse, a bright minimalist room doing brunch and sharing plates that show the same kitchen pedigree. The giant crumpet loaded with 'nduja and a fried egg is the order people come back for, and Sunday lunch here is a quieter alternative to a pub.

A light, airy all-day spot running truffle toast and buttermilk pancakes into smash burgers, steak frites and a busy Sunday lunch. It is the city-centre default for a long, sociable brunch with a group, with plenty of seating inside and out.

A coffee shop and brunch room in a restored seventeenth-century townhouse on Elvet Bridge, pouring beans from an independent roaster and turning out ricotta pancakes that have a following. It has been the locals-and-students favourite for years and the queue out the door is the proof.

A small family-run cafe smothered in plants, baking several batches of scones a day on the premises and pulling proper specialty coffee. It is the kind of friendly, unpretentious spot regulars guard, and a good escape from the busier brunch chains nearby.

A deli and cafe up on Claypath where the in-house baker turns out some of the best sourdough in the North East alongside cakes, pastries and takeaway coffee. Locals come for the bread and stay for a relaxed lunch with good music and a lively room.

A long-running Thai and pan-Asian kitchen tucked off Court Lane with a palm-filled urban-jungle dining room and a rotating cocktail list. The lunch deal is a steal and the room is more glamorous than the residential setting hints at.

An opulent Cantonese-fusion restaurant on a residential street, all velvet and dark wood, known for its dim sum and crispy duck pancakes. The styling leans romantic, which makes it a popular pick for a date or a slightly dressed-up dinner.

An honest, generous Lebanese kitchen near the train station turning out mezze, charcoal skewers and shawarma at student-friendly prices. The vegetarian spread is unusually deep, which makes it an easy group choice when everyone wants something different.

A small, intimate Indian restaurant by the market place with an award-winning kitchen and a menu that runs from slow-cooked homestyle curries to tandoori and biryani. It is the locals' pick for a curry in the centre, well-spaced tables and careful cooking rather than a conveyor belt.

Durham's longest-running independent Italian, a lively, slightly chaotic Saddler Street fixture doing honest pasta, pizza and antipasti at fair prices. Generous portions and a friendly buzz make it a reliable group dinner that students and families both keep coming back to.

A traditional village pub in pretty Shincliffe just outside the city, with a proper bar on one side and a restaurant on the other. Locals come for the steak-and-ale pie and a hearty Sunday roast, and there is a good beer garden plus a menu for the dog.

A proper tearoom near the centre serving fresh homemade cakes, scones and a long list of loose-leaf teas in vintage bone china. It is the spot for afternoon tea or a cake-and-pot stop, with the cheese scones and lemon drizzle the regulars' picks.

One of the smallest gin bars anywhere, sixteen seats inside a Tudor building right by the river, pouring more than 250 gins plus cocktails and a good cheeseboard. It is a snug, characterful spot for a slow drink, and the riverside terrace is the place to be on a sunny evening.

The flat circular path that loops the wooded peninsula below the cathedral and castle, reached by steps down from Elvet and Framwellgate bridges. It is the easiest way to swap the busy streets for the calm of the river, with the famous Prebends Bridge view on the south bank.

A well-loved circular along the River Wear at the edge of the city, threading Pelaw Woods nature reserve and out to Old Durham before crossing back along the far bank. It is mostly easy with a gentle rise, and far quieter than the central riverbanks.

A countryside circuit south of the city linking the riverside path with Houghall woods and meadows, taking in the kind of green space most visitors never reach. Rolling and varied underfoot, it is a satisfying half-day with woodland, water and open field in one go.

The big-day-out option: a Forestry-managed pine and mixed woodland near West Auckland, about a 40-minute drive, laced with becks, gorse and waymarked trails of increasing length. The Three Becks route is the meatier walk, with the forest also a draw for mountain bikers and families.

A bracing cliff-top walk on the Durham Heritage Coast about a half-hour east, running south from Nose's Point above Blast Beach with sea views, wildflower grassland and seabirds. The contrast with the inland river walks is the whole point, and the old beaches still turn up sea glass.

A short circular through ancient woodland on the east bank of the Wear, just over the footbridge from the cathedral peninsula. The kind of 30-minute escape locals use on a lunch break, with bluebells in spring and a steep step or two for variety.

A Woodland Trust regenerating wood and meadow about three miles south of the city, with a circular path along the Wear and a hilltop view back toward the cathedral towers. Quieter, dog-friendly, and far less walked than the central river path.

A reclaimed colliery site about 10 miles northeast of Durham, now an open country park with a stocked fishing lake, surfaced paths suitable for buggies and wheelchairs, and the start of the Hetton Lyons cycle network. The flattest, easiest family walk within striking distance of the city.

A vast open-air living museum about a 20-minute drive north, where costumed staff run a recreated 1900s town, a 1940s farm, pit cottages and a 1950s street you walk through and ride trams between. It is an easy full day and one of the best family outings in the region.

The university's museum of the art and archaeology of Asia and North Africa, the only one of its kind in the UK, covering Egypt, China, Japan, the Himalayas and more. It is compact, free and rarely crowded, an ideal rainy-hour stop that is genuinely child-friendly.

The university's exhibition galleries on Palace Green between the cathedral and castle, holding rotating shows plus the permanent Museum of Archaeology and the Durham Light Infantry collection. It is a small, low-key cultural stop right in the World Heritage heart of the city.

The city's main theatre and independent cinema near the market place, programming touring drama, comedy, music and pantomime alongside a screen for films. It is the obvious evening option in town, with a spacious bar and good sightlines in the main house.

A Grade I medieval hall wrapped in five acres of themed garden rooms, now run by the National Trust, with walled, Shakespeare and silver gardens, a maze, orchard and ponds. There are framed views to the cathedral and a cafe in the grounds, making it a calm half-day a short walk from the centre.

The original Durham gin maker, now with a city-centre bar and tasting room where you can do a distillery tour, a cocktail masterclass or a make-your-own-gin session. It is the adult-leaning evening or rainy-afternoon experience, hands-on and led by people who clearly love the spirit.

A family-run rowing-boat hire by Elvet Bridge that has put people on the Wear for generations, with sturdy boats the owners build themselves. Taking the oars under the bridges and cathedral is the cheap, simple, genuinely fun way to see Durham from the water.

The most complete Norman cathedral in England, raised over the shrine of St Cuthbert and the tomb of the Venerable Bede, with rib-vaulting that changed European architecture. The scale of the nave is the thing people remember, and the cloisters doubled as a film location that draws a steady stream of fans.

A Norman fortress that became the palace of the prince-bishops and is now a working Durham University college, so students actually live inside it. You can only see the Great Hall, Norman chapel and black staircase on a guided tour, which is led by students who know the building inside out.

An eighteenth-century stone bridge below the cathedral where you get the postcard view of the towers rising over the wooded river gorge. A verse by Walter Scott is carved into the parapet, and the spot is quietest early or late when the day-trippers thin out.

A slim concrete footbridge from 1963 by engineer Ove Arup, who rated it his own favourite work and chose to have his ashes scattered here. It links the peninsula to the Brutalist Dunelm House and is a quiet draw for anyone who cares about twentieth-century design among all the medieval stone.

Roofless thirteenth-century priory ruins set in a loop of the River Wear a few miles north of the city, free to enter and rarely busy. It started as the hermitage of St Godric and later became a retreat for the monks of Durham, and the riverside meadow makes it a good picnic stop.

A restored Victorian park on the hill behind the railway station whose battery lookout gives one of the widest views of the cathedral and castle across the rooftops. Locals come for the bandstand, the gardens and a cafe in the old lodge, and it is far less trodden than the riverbanks.

Twenty-five acres of woodland gardens on the city's southern edge, with glasshouses for desert, Mediterranean and tropical plants plus a wildflower meadow and an arboretum. It is an unhurried half-day for plant lovers and families, and the tropical house has a button that makes it rain indoors.