Leeds, GB

A small French bistro in the leafy suburb of Horsforth that was crowned Britain's best local restaurant by the Good Food Guide and carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Think proper steak frites, offal done well and a tight, confident menu in a room that seats only a few dozen. Worth the trip out for a long, unhurried dinner.

A live-fire grill restaurant inside Headrow House, built around a custom solid-fuel oven that does the heavy lifting on Yorkshire produce. Whole cuts of beef come out for sharing and the Sunday roast is among the best in the city. Industrial-cool room, no theatrics, just smoke and good meat.

A small Chapel Allerton kitchen doing refined modern British cooking with a hard focus on seasonal local produce and minimal waste. Menus are short and change often, and the room is relaxed rather than starchy. The neighbourhood spot people in north Leeds quietly rate as the best in the area.

The Leeds-born original of an all-vegetarian Gujarati street-food and craft-beer concept that has since spread across the north. Small sharing plates like vada pav and okra fries are cheap, bold and built for grazing alongside the in-house and guest beers. Loud, casual and one of the easiest crowd-pleasers in the centre.

A Keralan seafood-leaning restaurant in the city centre that has held a Michelin recommendation for years and outclasses the curry-house norm. The cooking leans on coconut, curry leaf and properly cooked fish rather than heavy gravies. The room is small and unflashy, which keeps the focus on the plate.

A modern Goan and regional Indian restaurant with Michelin-experienced chefs that opened in Headingley and quickly became the suburb's favourite. The lamb xacuti and the spiced fried squid are the dishes regulars order on repeat. Sister site in Chapel Allerton, but this is the original.

A family-run Italian in Meanwood working a small-plates, Venetian cicchetti-style format rather than big mains. Plates are designed to share and the kitchen runs tight and consistent enough that locals treat it as a special-occasion regular. Snug room, deep Italian wine list for its size.

A relaxed city-centre Italian on Merrion Street doing cicchetti and small plates with a properly Italian feel, from cured meats to handmade pasta. It is the easy, mid-priced option for an Italian dinner in the centre without the chain feel. Good for a casual date or an after-work table.

An unfussy Chinese restaurant on North Street that locals and chefs name as the best Chinese cooking in Leeds, with no concession to city-centre polish. The menu rewards ordering off the regional and Sichuan side rather than the safe stuff. Plain room, serious food.

A long-running Thai restaurant in Chapel Allerton that has been listed in the Good Food Guide repeatedly and named among the country's best Thai kitchens. The cooking is more careful and aromatic than the average Thai high-street spot. A warm, busy neighbourhood room in one of Leeds's best eating-out suburbs.

A long-standing independent Mexican on Harrogate Road in Chapel Allerton, one of the few in Leeds doing proper tacos and Mexican plates rather than Tex-Mex fast food. Cosy, colourful and reliably busy with locals. Strong margaritas and a kitchen that has held its own for over a decade.

A Horsforth small-plates restaurant from a Masterchef: The Professionals finalist, sitting on the Michelin guide and trading on Mediterranean-leaning sharing dishes with a Yorkshire streak. The roasted cod with chip-shop curry sauce is the signature wink. Bright, modern and a draw in its own right out in the northwest suburbs.

The relocated home of the much-loved Swine That Dines, now a bigger bistro in Headingley doing inventive modern British plates across day and evening service. The kitchen built its name on bold, well-priced cooking and a loyal following that moved with it. A neighbourhood all-rounder for brunch through dinner.

A vegetarian Punjabi street-food trader that grew out of Kirkgate Market into a small sit-down spot, beloved for its thali and samosa chaat. Everything is cheap, fresh and made with real care, which is why it draws a queue at lunch. The market-stall lunch upgrade locals send visitors to.

The cafe that kicked off Leeds's independent coffee scene, tucked by the station on New Station Street and pulling some of the most consistent espresso in the city. There is a tight brunch menu too, but the coffee and the steady locals' crowd are the draw. The default meeting point for anyone who takes their flat white seriously.

A Headingley bakery that went viral for outrageous American-style cakes and cookies, most famously the towering chocolate cake nicknamed Bruce. Slices are huge, sweet and unapologetic, and they sell out fast. A sugar pilgrimage rather than a sit-down affair.

The easy flagship walk in north Leeds, a flat circuit of Waterloo Lake through one of Europe's largest city parks. The full lake loop is a couple of miles on good paths, with the Upper Lake and Canal Gardens as quieter add-ons. Accessible, family-friendly and the local default for a green hour.

A roughly seven-mile green corridor running from Woodhouse Moor near the centre out to Golden Acre Park, following beck, woodland and old mill sites. You can do the whole thing or split it into three manageable sections. The best moderate walk that starts within reach of town.

The flat towpath that leaves the city from Granary Wharf and the Dark Arches under the station, heading past locks and old mills toward Kirkstall and beyond. Easy, traffic-free and a good way to reach Kirkstall Abbey on foot. Urban-industrial scenery that shifts to riverside green as you go.

A wooded ridge above Otley at the northwestern edge of the region, with steeper, rougher paths than the city parks and a big payoff at Surprise View over Wharfedale. Trails range from short woodland loops to longer climbs, so it suits walkers wanting more effort and a proper viewpoint. The closest thing to hill walking inside the Leeds orbit.

A lake-and-arboretum park at the northern edge of the city, the natural endpoint of the Meanwood Valley Trail and a gentle walk in its own right. The path around the lake is short and flat, with botanical planting and woodland fringes. A calm, easy green stop that pairs with the longer valley trail.

The national collection of arms and armour, housed in a purpose-built museum on the waterfront and free to enter. Galleries run from medieval jousting armour to firearms and Asian and Oriental collections, with live demonstrations and combat displays through the day. Easily the best free family attraction in the city, and good for hours indoors.

A free Victorian gallery with a strong holding of 20th-century British art, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, who both have deep Leeds links. The connected Tiled Hall Cafe is one of the most beautiful rooms in the city. A compact, high-quality stop in the civic quarter.

One of the UK's leading producing theatres, recently redeveloped, putting on its own ambitious productions alongside touring work. Two main auditoria mean there is usually something on across drama, new writing and bigger shows. The serious end of theatre in Leeds, and a reliable evening out.

A grand 1878 theatre and the home of Opera North, hosting touring West End musicals, ballet, opera and big-name plays under an ornate Victorian ceiling. The building itself is part of the experience. The place for a dressed-up night at a large-scale show.

The world's longest-running music hall, a tiny, gilded Victorian gem that still stages variety, comedy and music in an intimate room. Charlie Chaplin and Houdini played here. The most characterful small venue in the city for a one-off evening.

The UK's largest independent medical museum, set in a former workhouse beside St James's Hospital, with hands-on galleries that run from grimy Victorian Leeds to modern medicine. The recreated 1840s street and the immersive set-pieces make it surprisingly gripping. A strong, slightly off-centre indoor option for older kids and adults.

An indoor tropical attraction on the edge of Roundhay Park, packed with butterflies, meerkats, reptiles and rainforest planting under glass. Small and warm, it is built for families and works as a rainy-day pairing with the park outside. Low-key fun rather than a major zoo.

The taproom of one of Leeds's flagship craft breweries, set in a Grade II-listed flax mill in Holbeck, the old industrial heart of the city. Beers pour straight from the source alongside pizza and a steady events calendar, with brewery tours at weekends. The default craft-beer evening for anyone who likes their pints with provenance.

A multi-floor bar, live-music and food venue in the Northern Quarter, with street-food kitchens downstairs, a gig room upstairs and a rooftop terrace. It hosts live music, comedy and film alongside the drinking and eating. The all-in-one evening spot for the younger, going-out crowd in the centre.

A contemporary art space in the art-deco former headquarters of Tetley's Brewery, on the South Bank near the Royal Armouries. Galleries of changing modern art sit alongside a bar and cafe in the preserved 1930s rooms. A free, low-key culture stop with a good building to match.

A ruined 12th-century Cistercian monastery sitting in a riverside park about five kilometres northwest of the centre, and one of the most complete medieval abbeys in the country. You can walk straight into the roofless nave and climb the spiral stairs that survive in the tower. Free to wander, and the Abbey House Museum across the road recreates Victorian Leeds streets if it rains.

One of the largest covered markets in Europe, a Grade I-listed Victorian hall where Marks & Spencer started as a penny bazaar. Hundreds of stalls run from fishmongers and butchers to a row of cheap, excellent cooked-food traders. This is where locals actually shop and eat lunch, not a tourist re-creation.

A pair of restored Edwardian shopping arcades designed by theatre architect Frank Matcham, with mosaic floors and the largest stained-glass window in Britain spanning the roof of Queen Victoria Street. It now holds designer shops and a few cafes, but most people come for the ironwork and glass overhead. A two-minute detour off Briggate that rewards looking up.

Cuthbert Brodrick's 1864 domed trading hall, a Grade I-listed oval with a glazed roof that floods the interior with light. The old corn-trading floor is now ringed by independent shops, a barber or two and small food traders. Worth stepping inside even for ten minutes to see the dome from the central floor.

A Tudor-Jacobean mansion on a vast estate about eight kilometres east of the centre, with a working rare-breeds farm and Capability Brown parkland. The house holds a strong decorative-arts collection; the grounds are free and good for a half-day with kids. Birthplace of Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots' husband.

A grand Victorian parish church (St Peter's) near The Calls, rebuilt in the 1840s on a site of worship that goes back over a thousand years. The interior is unexpectedly soaring, with a renowned choral tradition and the carved Anglo-Saxon Leeds Cross inside. A calm stop a short walk from the market and the river.

A 1933 art-deco civic building with twin towers topped by gilded owls, fronting the open expanse of Millennium Square. Less famous than the Town Hall but more reliably open as a city backdrop, and the square hosts markets, festivals and an outdoor screen through the year. A good orientation point in the civic quarter near the museum and art gallery.

A social-history museum opposite Kirkstall Abbey, best known for its recreated Victorian streets of shops, pubs and houses you can walk straight into. Small, hands-on and genuinely good with children, it makes a natural pairing with the abbey ruins across the road. A rainy-day companion to a Kirkstall walk.