Travel guide - Wales

Although Cardiff boasts most of Wales' national institutions, including the National Museum, the appeal of a visit lies outside the towns, where there is ample evidence of the war-mongering which shaped the country's development. Castles are everywhere, from hard little stone keeps of the early Welsh princes and the mighty Carreg Cennen to Edward I's doughty fortresses such as Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Harlech . Passage graves and stone circles (such as on Holy Island ) offer a link to the pre-Roman era when the priestly order of Druids ruled over early Celtic peoples, and great medieval monastic houses, like ruined Tintern Abbey , are easily accessible.

All these attractions are enhanced by the beauty of the wild Welsh countryside. The backbone of the Cambrian Mountains terminates in the soaring peaks of Snowdonia National Park and the angular ridges of the Brecon Beacons ; both are superb walking country, as is the Pembrokeshire Coast in the southwest. Much of the rest of the coast remains unspoilt, though long sweeps of sand are often backed by traditional British seaside resorts, such as Llandudno in the north or Tenby in the south.

In terms of the number of tourists they attract, the biggest occasions in the English calendar are the rituals that have associations with the ruling classes - from the courtly pageant of the Trooping of the Colour to the annual rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge universities. In Scotland many visitors home straight in on bagpipes, ceilidhs and Highland Games; such anachronisms certainly reflect the endemic British taste for nostalgia, but to gauge the spirit of the nation you should sample a wider range of events. London's large-scale festivals range from the riotous street party of the Notting Hill Carnival to the Promenade concerts, Europe's most egalitarian high-class music season, while the Edinburgh Festival and Welsh National Eisteddfod are vast cultural jamborees that have attained international status.

Citizens of most European countries can enter the UK with just a passport; EU citizens can stay indefinitely, other Europeans can stay for up to three months. US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand citizens can stay for up to six months, providing they have a return ticket and adequate funds to cover their stay. Citizens of most other countries require a visa, obtainable from the British consular or mission office in the country of application.

Britain is an expensive place to visit. The minimum expenditure, if you're camping, or hostelling, using public transport, buying picnic food and eating in pubs and cafés, would be in the region of £30-40 a day. Couples staying at budget B&Bs, eating at unpretentious restaurants and visiting a fair number of tourist attractions are looking at around £50-60 each per day, and if you're renting a car, staying in comfortable B&Bs or hotels and eating well, budget on at least £80 each per day. Single travellers should budget on spending around 60 percent of what a couple would spend (single rooms cost more than half a double)

As with so many other aspects of British life, attitudes on homosexuality are riven with contradictions. Despite its draconian laws and the sensationalist trash in the tabloid press, England, at least, offers one of the most diverse and accessible lesbian and gay scenes to be found anywhere in Europe. Nearly every town of any size has some kind of organized gay life - pubs, clubs, community groups, campaigning organizations, shops and phone lines - with the major scenes being found in London, Manchester and Brighton. The Scottish scene is lively in Edinburgh and in Glasgow, but pretty much non-existent in the more rural areas. In Wales things are a lot more muted, with few venues outside the main centres of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. We've listed many venues throughout this guide, and you'll be able to pick up a free gay listings sheet in almost any one of them.

In many hotels and B&Bs you'll be offered what's termed an " English breakfast " - or Welsh or Scottish in the respective countries - which is basically sausage, bacon and eggs plus tea and toast. This used to be the typical working-class start to the day, but these days the British have adopted the healthier cereal alternative, and most places will give you this option as well. Traditionally, a " Scottish breakfast " would include porridge - properly made with genuine oatmeal and traditionally eaten with salt rather than sugar, though the latter is always on offer. You may also be served kippers or Arbroath smokies (delicately smoked haddock with butter), or a large piece of haddock with a poached egg on top. Oatcakes (plain savoury biscuits) and a "buttery" - not unlike a French croissant - will often feature.

The combination of an inclement climate and a British temperamental aversion to casual chat makes the simple café a rare phenomenon outside the biggest cities. A growing number of pubs now serve tea and coffee during the day, but in most places you'll attract consternation by asking for a cup; in the more genteel tourist towns - such as Stratford, Harrogate and York - you'll find plenty of teashops , unlicensed establishments where the normal procedure is to order a slice of cake or some other pastry with your tea or coffee. Increasingly common in the big cities are brasseries or equivalent establishments, where the majority of customers are there for a bite to eat, but where you're generally welcome to spend half an hour nursing a cappuccino or glass of wine.

Nothing is likely to dislodge the pub from its status as the great British social institution. Originating as wayfarers' hostelries and coaching inns, pubs have outlived the church and marketplace as the focal points of communities, and at their best they can be as welcoming as the full name - "public house" - suggests. Pubs are as varied as the country's townscapes: in larger market towns you'll find huge oak-beamed inns with open fires and polished brass fittings; in the remoter upland villages there are stone-built pubs no larger than a two-bedroomed cottage; and in the more inward-looking parts of industrial Britain you'll come across no-nonsense pubs where something of the old division of the sexes and classes still holds sway - the "spit and sawdust" public bar is where working men can bond over a pint or two, the plusher saloon bar, with a separate entrance, is the preferred haunt of mutually preoccupied couples, the middle classes and unaccompanied women. Whatever the species of pub, its opening hours are daily 11am-11pm (in quieter spots, closed between about 3pm and 5.30pm), with "last orders" called by the bar staff about twenty minutes before closing time. The legal drinking age is eighteen and unless there's a special family room or a beer garden, children are not usually welcome.