_Why East Anglia is a 'must visit' Lonely Planet location

It’s no surprise to us that Lonely Planet chose East Anglia as one of their top 30 must-visit places in the world – and the only one in the UK.

If you don’t know this wonderful region jutting out of the east coast of England, and comprising Suffolk and Norfolk, then let us tell you why it’s been chosen, using Lonely Planet’s criteria of unique experiences, topicality, ‘wow’ factor’, commitment to sustainability, and lesser-known gems offering ‘amazing experiences all-year round’.

‘After the trials and tribulations of the early 2020s,’ says Lonely Planet, ‘many travellers are desperate to escape the modern age, and East Anglia is happy to help out. But this isn’t pre-packed ‘Ye Olde English Village’ experience – history is a living thing out east’.

This is a destination that has a 'Welcome for All, Naturally' vibe, the perfect place to be outside in huge landscapes and under enormous skies.

What are the best things to do in East Anglia?

Let’s answer that question for you…

The Broads National Park

125 miles of navigable, lock-free picturesque inland waterways that are best seen by boat – you can get day boats and cruisers for multi-night visits or hire a canoe or kayak. Stand Up Paddleboarding is popular. You’ll discover a quiet landscape and slower pace of life to enjoy the wildlife, including bitterns, otters and marsh harriers. Incredibly, they’re also man-made, the result of inundated medieval peat diggings. They’re also the only English National Park that includes a city… more of that later.

The Wool Towns

According to Lonely Planet they’re ‘a true taste of old England’. A characterful group of Suffolk medieval market towns with wonky half-timbered merchants’ houses, many of them Suffolk Pink, the best of which is Lavenham – track down Harry Potter’s parents’ home. The Wool Towns are a reminder of a time when the wool trade made this region the wealthiest and one of the most populous in the country.

Then the Industrial Revolution came along and the region had the rest of the country turn its back. Suffolk Pink? It’s our unique medieval paint – a concoction of white lime wash and pigs’ blood.

Lively coastal beach towns

Our more than 130 miles of stunning coast, much of it with glorious sandy beaches but also stunning estuaries, soaring cliffs and saltmarsh, is studded with quaint seaside villages and towns. The former includes Thornham, Brancaster Staithe, Burnham Overy Staithe, Blakeney, Wells-next-the-Sea, Winterton-on-Sea, Walberswick, Dunwich and Thorpeness. The latter includes Sheringham and Cromer, Lowestoft, Aldeburgh, Southwold and Felixstowe.

Norwich

Lonely Planet recommends a ‘night out in Norfolk’s cultured capital to enjoy theatre, live music, art shows and creative dining’. Stay for a few days and enjoy the brilliant market, the largest permanent covered one in northern Europe, the stunning Norman cathedral and castle, our ‘box on the hill’ which has recently had a £25m revamp to turn it into the Royal Palace Reborn.

It’s a very walkable city, with the UK’s first pedestrianised street (London Street), cobbled streets around Elm Hill and Tombland, and lovely riverside views (Norwich is the only city in the National Park).

Food scene

‘Easy Anglia was doing organic, local and seasonal long before I became cool,’ says Lonely Planet.

We mentioned all that coastline so it’s no surprise we’ve got fabulous seafood and shellfish, and superb places to eat them. Cromer has its eponymous crab, tasty and plump because it feeds off the world’s longest chalk reef. Brancaster mussels are sublime. Head to Orford for oysters and smoked fish. Look out for samphire on the menu from our saltmarshes. All along the coast you’ll get fabulous fish and chips from takeaways and in pubs (the fish and chip shop on Aldeburgh High Street is legendary).

Oh, and we have the best malting barley in the UK because it is grown at height (yes, really, on the Cromer Ridge in north Norfolk) and in salty sea frets. It’s where Adnams get their ingredients from. Try a pint or two at the excellent pubs in Southwold close to the brewery. Tours are available.

We have more microbreweries than any other region and we've got superb vineyards.

History

‘A sampling platter of old England, without the usual tourist trinkets’ says Lonely Planet. In our humble opinion, this is ‘England: Origin Story’, with vestiges of five invasions – Romans, Vikings, Anglo Saxons, Normans and the fifth, Friendly Invasion, of more than 350,000 US servicemen and women who transitioned through this region with the Eighth Air Force in World War II – it was recently the feature of a $750m Apple TV+ mini-series from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, Masters of the Air.

Don’t miss Sutton Hoo, site of the burial ship and treasure of King Raedwald; Bury St Edmunds, named for England’s first patron saint, with its Georgian town centre, cathedral and abbey gardens; and our fabulous stately homes and estates, including Royal Sandringham, Ickworth with its Italianate rotunda and majestic Holkham Hall.

Festivals and art

Yes, we’re an arty, festival-loving lot over here, and the evidence is on show! For festivals think the music-dance-comedy-poetry-theatre-literature magnificent melange that is Latitude, there’s the best classical get-together outside the Proms at Aldeburgh Music, the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Shakespeare Festival at Norwich Cathedral and Out There Festival at Great Yarmouth.

Art? Try Houghton Hall’s sculpture garden, Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury, the galleries of Norwich Castle and the Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts (also Marvel HQ in that movie franchise).

Birdwatching

With a coastline studded with Premier League nature reserves, the best birdwatching in the UK is to be found here. Lonely Planet mentions RSPB Minsmere and Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Cley Marshes but there’s also Carlton Marshes, Holme Dunes and Thornham and WWT Welney.

Don’t miss the Snettisham Spectacular on The Wash – it’s an early start, crack of dawn, but you’ll be rewarded seeing tens of thousands of migrating geese rise off the mudflats and head inland to feed and similar numbers of waders doing their aerial dances on the seashore.

Seals

There are seal colonies all along the coast, but the absolute highlight is on Blakeney Spit, where you’ll find the largest colony in the UK when the Greys have their pubs between November-January. You can walk the four-mile long shingle spit from Cley-next-the-Sea but the adventurous way to see them is with a Bean Brothers boat trip from Morston Quay.