It was my first trip to Chester, but as I walked around I started to feel a sense of déjà vu. It was like someone had taken the best bits from cities around the UK and spliced them together. The Roman walls could’ve been from York, the riverside from Bath, the cathedral from Canterbury and the canals from Birmingham. It was like a highlights reel from my weekend breaks.
Chester’s location means it could easily be overshadowed by bigger, brasher neighbours Manchester and Liverpool. But this city has plenty of character, history and style of its own, and packs a lot into a small space. So here’s my 48-hour itinerary for the perfect weekend in Chester.
Read more: 10 Great British weekend break ideas
How to spend a weekend in Chester

Chester’s black and white buildings
Friday evening
Check into the Roomzzz Chester City, a modern apartment-style hotel located close to the racecourse. Each room comes with a mini-kitchen with a hob, fridge and dishwasher if you want to whip up your own food. There’s also a ‘grab and go’ breakfast included, where you can help yourself to pastries, fruit, juice and coffee. Rooms start from £60 a night.
Or if you want to splash out, then head to the Grosvenor. This place is a Chester institution, set in a historic black and white building right in the heart of the city. It’s real old-fashioned luxury, from the top-hatted doorman and the lobby with its crystal chandeliers to the Michelin-starred restaurant and spa and thermal suite. Rooms start from £135 a night.
Have dinner at Upstairs at the Grill, a two-storey New York-style steakhouse near the racecourse. As you’d guess from the bame they specialise in steak, with a range of different cuts of local meat dry-aged for five weeks. If you’re not a steak fan there are dishes like rump of lamb, Canadian lobster and slow-baked cauliflower steak on the menu too.

Chester cathedral
Saturday morning
Start the day with a big breakfast and get your comfy walking shoes on for a circuit of the city walls. The first walls were built by the Romans back when Chester was a fortress known as Deva Victrix, and they’ve been extended over the years. Chester’s city walls run for two miles in a circuit around the old city, passing medieval gates and towers along the way.
You pass under the ornate Eastgate Clock, built on top of a bridge to celebrate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. It’s England’s second-most-photographed clock, beaten only by Big Ben’s clock tower. There are some remnants of Chester’s Roman history around too, including Britain’s largest Roman Amphitheatre and fragments from the old Baths in the Roman Gardens.

Inside the cathedral
Next head inside Chester’s most imposing building – the cathedral. It started life as an abbey before becoming a cathedral in 1541, and you can climb the tower for one of the best views of Chester. There are a couple of different tower tours. There’s a 30-minute tour (£6 per person) at 12.30pm and 3.30pm which visits the tower and bell-ringing chamber. Or a one-hour tour (£8 adults or £6 children) at 11am and 2pm, which also goes up into the cathedral galleries.
Then walk just around the corner from the cathedral for lunch at the Chef’s Table on Music Hall Passage. This independent restaurant’s interiors are simple and stripped down so the focus is all on the food. Their website lists all the UK suppliers they get their ingredients from, which are turned into tasty dishes like spiced cod loin and confit abalone mushrooms. A set lunch costs £18 for two courses or £22 for three, with gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan options.

Refuelling and a Chester sunset
Saturday afternoon
Chester is home to the original medieval version of a shopping mall – the Rows. These double-decker shops are unique to Chester (and a good place to hide out if it happens to rain). Each black and white building has a layer of shops or restaurants on the ground floor, then another level raised above them. The shops are perfect for browsing, with a mix of High Street favourites and local independents. Or if you’re a serious shopper then head just out of town to Cheshire Oaks – a big designer outlet village which has over 145 fashion brands.
Have a pre-dinner drink in the Secret Garden at Oddfellows hotel, with cocktails in summer and hot toddies and an outdoor fireplace in winter, before dinner at Porta. This cosy tapas bar under the Northgate Bridge is owned by the brothers who set up popular deli-restaurant Joseph Benjamin next door. The menu includes traditional tapas dishes croquetas, patatas bravas and lentil and chorizo stew, plus a selection of Spanish sherries, wines and cavas.

The Rows
Sunday morning
Take a morning boat trip on the River Dee (adults £7, concessions £6.50 and children £2.50, with a discount if you book in advance online). Their half-hour city tours departs at least once an hour from The Groves. They take you upstream under the Queen’s Park suspension bridge, past Grosvenor Park and through the meadows. Along the way you get background on the city’s history as well as some great views – keep an eye out for kingfishers and cormorants too.

The River Dee
Next talk a walk along the Shropshire Union Canal, which runs along the edge of the city. The canal runs for around 60 miles from Ellesmere Port on the River Mersey through Staffordshire and Shropshire to Wolverhampton. The towpath walk passes Chester’s city walls as well as converted industrial buildings, and warehouses, locks and narrow boats.
Then refuel with Sunday lunch at Artichoke in a former mill on the canalside (it gets busy though so it’s a good idea to book a table in advance). If it’s sunny, grab a spot outside by the water, or head inside where it still has the original bare bricks and iron columns from its days as a warehouse. As well as a choice of roasts there are Mediterranean-style salads and pizzas on the lunchtime menu, as well as a selection of craft beers and an immense gin list.

Along the Shropshire Union Canal
Sunday afternoon
Finish off your weekend in Chester with a trip to the zoo. Chester Zoo is on one of the largest zoos in the country with over 20,000 animals (entry for adults costs £24 and children £20 on the gate, but you can save about 30% if you book online in advance). The zoo is just outside the city and if you don’t have a car it takes about 20 minutes on the number 1 or X8 bus.
Chester Zoo was founded in 1930 and focuses on conserving endangered species and keeping the environment as natural as possible. You can visit the Elephant House, a Black Rhino reserve, Monkey Island and the Realm of the Red Ape, and there are lots of activities for kids. There’s a monorail to take visitors around the site as well as a boat trip through islands which are home to endangered species from South East Asia, including Sumatran tigers and Malayan sun bears.

Chester city walls
Have you visited Chester? Do you have any tips to add on what to see, do and eat?
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40 Comments
backpackinginheels
December 14, 2016 at 3:48 pmNice to see someone review somewhere different in the UK! I’m from the North so really pleased to see you write up Chester. Great pics too. x
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:41 pmThank you! Have so many great cities across the UK it’s tough to pick which one to choose next but I’m planning on heading to explore some more places in the north soon.
Darlene
December 14, 2016 at 4:28 pmLooks like a fascinating place. Must check it out!!
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:37 pmIt’s a nice weekend spot with a good mix of things to do – and some lovely scenery!
anael2011bensalhem
December 14, 2016 at 4:43 pmCool
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:35 pmThanks!
restlessjo
December 14, 2016 at 9:14 pmA nice review, Lucy. It’s a long while since I spent a weekend in Chester and the weather was indifferent but it is a city with a lot of character. I’m off to see what you recommend in York. 🙂
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:34 pmThe weather does make a difference in my feelings about a place, luckily we had some lovely late autumn weather this time!
beingbuttons
December 14, 2016 at 9:29 pmThink I definitely need to add Chester to my list of places to visit next year – it sounds like a combination of all my favourite places! I fell in love with the zoo a long time ago, but don’t remember actually seeing the city itself.
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:33 pmChester is lovely – perfect weekend break size and lots of nice bits to wander around and stop for tea and cake so it’s a nice relaxing weekend!
Heyjude
December 15, 2016 at 12:16 amLooks like another place I need to add to the list. Possibly with Liverpool as I haven’t been there either! You pack in a lot during your weekends Lucy! The New York style steakhouse is very tempting. I do like a really good steak and they are not easily found.
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:28 pmI do try to see a lot! I’ve done a one-night trip to Liverpool but would like to see a bit more sometime, the UK city break list never gets any shorter…
Kate
December 15, 2016 at 9:53 amI’ve never heard of Chester, but it’s so charming and quaint! Might need to pencil it in for an upcoming day trip!
Kate | http://www.petiteadventures.org/
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:26 pmIt definitely deserves to be more well known – hope you enjoy it!
Tanja
December 15, 2016 at 4:49 pmbeautiful town!
Lucy
December 17, 2016 at 9:24 pmThanks, it’s a lovely place!
Jaillan Yehia
December 19, 2016 at 6:52 pmWow Chester looks gorgeous! Since moving back to the UK I’m obsessed with local breaks and I really want to head North now 🙂
Lucy
December 20, 2016 at 6:05 pmI do love a good British weekend break! Have so many more places I’d like to explore, lots of them in the north too.
Thomas
December 20, 2016 at 1:20 pmSeems like I have to go to Chester 🙂
Lucy
December 20, 2016 at 6:05 pmYou should, it’s a great place!
Kathryn Burrington
December 20, 2016 at 1:55 pmThat does sound like a perfect weekend! I’ve never been to Chester but having read this I know I’d love it.
Lucy
December 20, 2016 at 6:21 pmI’m sure you would, it has some great places to explore – and is so photogenic!
Esmee's Photography Blog
December 20, 2016 at 3:20 pmI like your photos! Seems even more beautiful if it snows 🙂
Lucy
December 20, 2016 at 6:22 pmThank you! Yes I bet it would be gorgeous in the snow.
Sara
December 20, 2016 at 8:43 pmI enjoyed reading your guide to Chester. I hadn’t heard of the Rows. It makes me want to go and explore!
Lucy
December 22, 2016 at 6:20 pmThe Rows were great – I’m not normally much of a shopper but it was really nice place to browse.
thebritishberliner
December 20, 2016 at 9:11 pmIsn’t Chester just the best?
I’m originally from Manchester, but my family moved to Cheshire about 30 odd years ago! Even though I live in Berlin, I did my Masters at Chester University. It was just so lovely taking river walks, and jumping on the Roman Wall near my faculty! 😀
Lucy
December 22, 2016 at 6:20 pmWhat a great place to study! It’s such a lovely place.
Sara Dobak
December 21, 2016 at 4:37 pmI shamefully admit to only having had half an idea where Chester even was, before reading this – and you’ve done it again, Lucy – i.e. inspired me to visit SO much more of the UK as soon as possible. 🙂
Lucy
December 22, 2016 at 6:22 pmMy mission is complete then! It’s been so nice discovering places that aren’t so well known and finding out all the great things they have to offer. Here’s to lots more in 2017.
Travel Candy
December 21, 2016 at 7:13 pmI’ve never considered Chester at all for a weekend break! But it looks gorgeous! I will have to go and check it out – thanks Luce. xx
Lucy
December 22, 2016 at 6:23 pmI know you love a good weekend break and Chester is definitely worth checking out! x
alison abbott
December 22, 2016 at 3:43 pmYou’ve certainly covered all the bases with a great variety of activities. Chester Cathedral looks so pretty, I’d love to visit!
Lucy
December 22, 2016 at 6:24 pmThanks, it’s a surprisingly diverse place for a small city – and the cathedral is gorgeous.
Suzanne Jones
December 27, 2016 at 12:33 pmI went to Chester zoo as a child but have never explored the city. My UK city break list has just grown a little longer…!
Lucy
December 28, 2016 at 12:24 pmIt’s definitely worth a spot on the list!
Agness of a TukTuk
January 11, 2017 at 12:43 pmIt really amazes me to see unique and stylish structure such as The Rows, its like you’re in a movie set and the director calling in for a cut. What an explicit view of The Rows.
Lucy
January 12, 2017 at 4:16 pmSo unusual aren’t they!
Sneh
October 20, 2018 at 7:01 amHey Lucy!! Amazing post .. i also visited Chester over the recent weekend and covered it on my blog!!
This is indeed a beautiful city!!
Lucy
October 25, 2018 at 7:23 amThanks it’s a great city isn’t it!