An Overview of Leicester City, UK

chillibreeze writer — Genevieve Pimenta-D’Costa

Need an editable PowerPoint map of England

Situated at the heart of the county of Leicestershire, Leicester city is the 10th largest city in England, and amongst the most culturally diverse outside London. Its central location combined with a strong transport infrastructure offers you convenient access to the major cities in the UK, while most of Europe is within a day's travel.

This vibrant city is a visitor’s delight. From one of the most unique shopping experiences to lively cultural and nightlife scenes, besides a whole lot of attractions and places to dine, drink or dance the night away, you’ll never have a dull moment in Leicester. Here’s a round-up of some of the popular attractions in and around town, to help you make the most of your visit to this fascinating city.

Attractions: Whether you’re with family or just going solo, whether you fancy a relaxing day out or something faster paced, rest assured you’ll be spoilt for choice. There are museums, heritage attractions, gardens, leisure parks and many more to choose from, for all ages and tastes, in this beautiful English city.

Given the city’s distinction as a centre of technology, you can pack into your itinerary a delightful day of ‘infotainment’ at The National Space Centre, UK's only attraction dedicated to space science and astronomy; Leicester's Museum of Science & Technology; Leicester City Fire Brigade Museum; The Royal Infirmary Museum; and The National Gas Museum, each featuring displays that have redefined the technology of its time - past and present.

Other museums in the city include the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery with its dinosaur skeletons and German Expressionist art; Newarke Houses Museum, which - as the name suggests - contains exhibits of 20th century Leicester homes; and Jewry Wall Museum, for glimpses of Leicester’s past, from prehistoric to medieval times.

If you’re with kids, then make sure you treat them to some heritage attractions like the Clock Tower; Leicester Castle; The Magazine Gateway and Great Central Railway, which is Britain's only double track main line steam railway.

On a clear day, you could head off for some fun-n-family time at one of the many family destinations in Leicester. The Meridian Leisure Park; Monks Rest Gardens; Watermead Country Park; Gorse Hill City Farm; and Tropical Birdland, to name a few, are located in and around the city.

The city is also home to a number of other gardens like the University Botanic Gardens and Sheath Hedges Wood, where you could enjoy a peaceful stroll.

And if all this isn’t enough and you’re still looking for something more thrilling, then again, you are in the right place, considering Leicester’s reputation as one of the UK’s most haunted cities! Just for the fun of it, you could take part in public or private Ghost Nights held around the city and test your threshold for fear.

Shopping and Entertainment: Along with a vibrant nightlife comprising stylish restaurants, bars, clubs and curry houses, the city is home to a thriving cultural scene. It hosts a number of festivals and events round the year, all guaranteed to keep you happily occupied.

For die-hard entertainment buffs, there are plenty of good theatres where you can catch the latest movies with The De Montfort Hall being amongst the popular multi-purpose arts and entertainment venue in the city.

Taking great pride in its status as one of the UK’s best shopping destinations, Leicester offers you retail therapy at its best.

From Leicester Market, home to the largest covered market in Europe; the Indoor Market and Beaumont Leys Market, to St Martins; The Haymarket Centre; The Shires, Leicester's largest shopping centre; The Stoneygate Shops and the busy Belgrave Road, which is famous for stores selling everything from sarees, spices, jewellery and authentic Asian food, it’s ALL well worth the visit - if not for the shopping, then definitely for the experience!

Getting There

Centrally located at the heart of England in the East Midlands, Leicester with its excellent road, rail and air connectivity is easily reachable from all parts of the UK.

By Road

Leicester is a 2 hours drive from London, 1 hour from Birmingham and 2 hours from Manchester. Two major motorways (the M1 and M69) connect Leicester to London, Birmingham and the north.

By Train

Leicester is on the East Midlands Trains line from London St. Pancras to South Yorkshire. A direct train journey from London takes 75 minutes.
With the opening of St Pancras International Station, you can reach Paris or Brussels in just 4 hours with Eurostar and thereon access the rest of Europe.

By Coach

National Express offers national coach services to Leicester with the journey time from London to Leicester just under 3 hours.

By Air

The East Midlands Airport in North Leicestershire, near Castle Donington is just a 30 minute car-drive from Leicester, while Birmingham International Airport is 45 minutes away.

The Skylink bus gets you to and from East Midlands Airport and Leicester in less than an hour. This service operates hourly during the day and for most hours during the night.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in August, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Mumbai-based writer Genevieve Pimenta-D’Costa has over 13 years experience in developing, editing and managing content for Travel, Healthcare, HR, Finance, Internet and Lifestyle industries. She has worked with leading PR agencies including Burson-Marsteller and IPAN (JWT network), and has also freelanced for reputed media houses. She has been writing exclusively for UK-based companies in the last few years, giving her a global perspective of the different aspects of content-writing.

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