Sitting on the east side of Tiananmen Square, the National Museum of China is one of the largest museums in the world, covering both Chinese history and art, from ancient artefacts to modern works. The exhibitions are vast, so you could easily spend a full day here, though most visitors focus on a few sections that interest them. English signage is available in key areas, but a guide or audio tour can help make sense of the collection.

Step back in time at the wartime air-raid shelters and experience the sights and sounds of Britain’s Home Front. Visitors can walk through original tunnels, carefully re-equipped to show what daily life was like during the 1940s, and follow the stories of locals through clear, well-curated displays and an audio guide. First opened in 1939, the shelters were the largest purpose-built civilian air-raid shelters in the country, originally designed for 3,850 people and later expanded during 1940–41 to hold up to 6,500. Cut directly into the sandstone cliffs beneath the town centre, the mile-long network offers a rare look at wartime engineering and civilian life. The site reopened in 1996 as a visitor attraction after restoration by Stockport Council and has since become one of the town’s most important museums. Today, it works as both a memorial and an educational space, giving a direct sense of how communities lived through the air raids.

Ordsall Hall is Salford's 'hidden gem'. Dating back over 600 years, it is one of the region's finest examples of an Elizabethan black and white half-timbered manor-house. Wander back through time, soaking up the atmosphere of its fully-furnished Great Hall and Star Chamber Bedroom. Get the low-down on Tudor lifestyles; maybe reminisce in its Victorian showcase and kitchen, or unearth the wealth of new discoveries to be made in its exciting and informative family events and exhibitions programme.

Once considered the most magnificent of China’s imperial gardens, Yuanmingyuan was filled with palaces, lakes, and pavilions, as well as rare plants and artworks collected from across the empire. It was destroyed in 1860 by British and French troops during the Second Opium War, and again suffered damage in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. What remains today are ruins — stone foundations, broken archways, and scattered carvings — set among lakes and quiet parkland.