Canterbury Attractions

Book a Canterbury hotel in the home of the mother church of all England. Canterbury Cathedral was famously the scene of Thomas Becket’s murder and the city is also where yellow-trousered funster, Rupert the Bear, was created.

Historic Canterbury

Canterbury Cathedral was a Second World War target during Hitler’s Baedeker Blitz when the Luftwaffe bombed cities based on their entries in guidebooks – yes, really. The cathedral towering over the city has been a place of worship and pilgrimage since the seventh century. Outside the city walls the ruined St Augustine Abbey, founded in AD597, is the ancient burial ground for the kings of Kent.

Art and museums in Canterbury

The Canterbury Tales set in the atmospheric St Margaret’s Church in the city centre brings Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century pilgrims’ stories to life. Visitors walk through mocked-up rooms full of talking medieval figures and some alarming “realistic smells”. Round the corner at the Canterbury Roman Museum you can handle 2,000-year-old artefacts and explore a re-created market.

Quirky things to do in Canterbury

The Rupert Bear Museum, part of the Canterbury Museum, is the only one of its kind in the world dedicated to a sole bear. Here you can have a go at illustrating stories of the dapper Nutwood denizen.

Events in Canterbury

Book a Canterbury hotel in time for the annual Canterbury Festival in October, the biggest cultural event in Kent featuring theatre, comedy and music. In late November, stalls from all over the continent bedeck Dane Johns Gardens for the Christmas-themed Euro Fair where you can pick up anything from eco-friendly tinsel to a huge plastic Santa.

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