A UK city people might often overlook for a staycation is Hull – but a man who has been to every city in the country says it should be top of your list.
Travel guide creator Peter Naldrett recently compared Hull to Liverpool, each having an important maritime history yet the latter having more tourists visit.
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Peter, who visited every UK city while researching his book, Bright Lights, Big Cities, said fans of Liverpool are likely to enjoy a weekend trip to the Yorkshire city.
Talking exclusively to the Sun Newspaper, he said: “If you like Liverpool, try Hull.
“Hull sits at the other end of the trans pennine trail to Liverpool and there’s lots of similarities between the two.
“They both have a maritime history and a filled with lots of free museums.
“There’s quite a lot going on in Hull but for some reason it doesn’t pull visitors unless they have a reason for visiting.”
While Hull may have been the butt of a joke or two in previous years, the northern city has been experiencing something of a renaissance.
Hull was crowned the UK city of culture in 2017 and, more recently, it was named one of Time Out’s best places to visit in 2024.
And just like Liverpool, where Robert Pattinson’s The Batman was filmed, the city has enjoyed a taste of the showbiz lifestyle, with its Old Town being used as a backdrop for blockbusters and hit Netflix TV shows like The Crown and Bodies.
The city is now so popular with film and television directors, that the city has launched It Must Be Hullywood – a walking trail where visitors can find out exactly where their favourite show was filmed.
Acclaimed film director Steve McQueen isn’t a stranger to Hull, choosing to use the city as the backdrop for his new movie Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Graham.
Actress Caroline Quentin, known for her roles in Men Behaving Badly and Jonathan Creek, is just another one of Hull’s fans.
Its cobbled high street has featured in everything from Enola Holmes 2, starring Millie Bobby Brown and ITV’s Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman.
Another important attraction is The Deep, a huge aquarium overlooking the Humber Estuary.
The attraction is listed as the top thing to do on Hull’s TripAdvisor list and has won plenty of awards over the last 15 years.
Inside the aquarium, visitors will be able to see sharks, turtles, penguins, and the UK’s only Green sawfish.
But the Deep isn’t the city’s only famous landmark, there’s also the Humber Bridge, which holds the record as the longest single-span suspension bridge that can be walked or cycled over in the world.
Other local attractions include the Streetlife Museum of Transport, a free exhibit that transports visitors to the 1940s, and the East Riding Museum of Archaeology.
Several of the city’s maritime attractions are currently closed for refurbishment, including the Spurn Lightship and the Maritime Museum.
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There are plenty of other museums and galleries to visit in Hull, including the Hull & East Riding Museum of Archaeology, which does a fantastic job of engaging children with the wonders of archaeology.
It houses Roman mosaics, the only dinosaur bones to have been discovered within East Yorkshire, and a life-sized replica of a woolly mammoth.
Visitors can book a free guided tour of both the museum as well as the other museums in the Museum Quarter.
Meanwhile, Ferens Art Gallery, which is located alongside Queen Victoria Square, is often thought as one of the country’s best regional art galleries.
The unassuming building houses a huge collection of paintings from the Dutch Masters – thanks to its links with the Netherlands from the old trade routes – although its standout piece has to be a giant inflatable artwork of Jason and the Argonauts by Jason Wilsher-Mills.
Hull was also crowned the UK’s cheapest place for beers last year, with pints for as little as £4 in the city.
The city boasts masses of great pubs, including the Lion and Key, an old-school-style boozer where proper pub grub is served.
Unlike other UK city breaks, hotels in Hull are relatively affordable.
Sun Online Travel found rooms at the Holiday Inn Express from £60 per night.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
What is it like to visit Hull?
EARLIER this year, travel reporter Hope Brotherton visited Hull to discover what the underrated city break had to offer, here’s what she thought…
Armed with a map of the It Must be Hullywood Trail, I made a beeline for the cobblestone high street to ogle at the filming locations.
Despite sets and props being added, it was easy to imagine the hit TV shows playing out before my very eyes.
Visitors to Hull can download a guide or grab a leaflet to follow the It Must Be Hullywood Trail at their own pace.
Long before it gained popularity as a top filming location other celebrities also found themselves heading to Hull, including The iconic TV star Timmy Mallett.
The ’90s TV presenter and I have something in common – we’ve both climbed Hull Minster 170 steps to reach its roof.
While Timmy Mallett treated Hull locals to a rendition of the hit song, ‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ on the church bells, I climbed Hull Minster for its panoramic views for just £7.50.
The grand medieval building, which was built more than 700 years ago, was England’s largest parish church until recently, when it became a minster.
Gasping after climbing the 150-foot church tower’s 170 steps, we were rewarded with a bird’s eye view across the Humber Estuary.
The view was magnificent, thanks to the sun finally showing its face in 2024 on my weekend break.
Paying to tour the tower was the only time I found myself reaching for my purse on my bargain weekend getaway in Hull, as the other attractions in the old town are completely free.
Hull used to be a wealthy English port town, fuelled by trade routes with the Dutch in the 13th and 15th centuries,.
You can still see that in the imposing, Dutch-influenced architecture buildings that line the streets of the quaint Old Town.
The city was heavily bombed in WW2, but they rebuilt some buildings brick by brick, and in parts you feel like you could be in Dickensian London… with a Netherlands twist.
To avoid aimlessly gazing at buildings, I booked myself onto a free guided walking tour.
The tours are led by some of the most enthusiastic locals I’ve ever met.
My own tour guide Dave, who has lived in Hull for more than 80 years, took me all across the city at a pace that left me out of breath – despite being 50 years his junior – and taught me more than a museum exhibition ever could about the area, in just 60 minutes.
Little details, like the lines worn into the Old Town’s cobblestones from hundreds of years of horse and cart traffic, would have totally passed me by otherwise.
Another market town is home to England’s oldest castle.
And here’s a UK market town set to be popular this year.
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