Experience the best of Sheffield

Sheffield spreads across hills where five rivers meet, and its name was made by steel and cutlery. That industrial past fills the Kelham Island museum, the old works along the Don, and the Cutlers' Hall. The centre has been reshaped around the Winter Garden, a large glasshouse of tropical plants, the Millennium Gallery, and the Peace Gardens, whose fountains play in front of the Victorian Gothic town hall.

The Peak District National Park starts at the city's western edge, and the Derwent reservoirs, where bomber crews rehearsed the Dambusters raid in the Second World War, lie a short way out. Chatsworth House and the limestone dales of Derbyshire are further south-west, and the Botanical Gardens, with their Victorian glasshouse pavilions, are a calm corner of the city. The Crucible Theatre stages the World Snooker Championship each spring.

Pubs in the Kelham Island district pour local ales, and Ecclesall Road and Division Street are lined with independent cafés and curry houses. The city's pop heritage includes the Human League, Pulp and the Arctic Monkeys. Late spring and early autumn are the best seasons for the moors and edges just beyond the suburbs.