Please give me your Chester top tips?

[Chipsandchesses]

Where to eat? What to see? What to do? I’m going for a couple of days with my sister soon, I have no idea where to start….

Definitely walk the walls, really cool and you can see a lot of different Roman ruins.

The zoo is very, very good if you like zoos.

Along the river Dee is nice. You can hire a pedalo if that’s your sort of thing and it’s nice weather. There are some lovely pubs along the water.

The cathedral is re-starting its At Height tours soon - I am planning my annual visit... the walking tours are also good, there's the "standard" one, Roman, medieval and ghost tours. If it's a race weekend then the races, or there's the zoo. Walk the walls. Boat trip or hire a paddle boat.

Market is great for food, Melttown just opened, Joseph Benjamin/Porta, Hypha, Stile Napoletano, Hickorys by the river, La Fattoria, Moules a Go Go, Da Noi... all excellent.

Chester is full of coffee shops, bars and jewellers but we have so many great historic sites, it's beautiful

Go to 39 Bridge Street, I think its a cafe. And ask to look in their basement.

A boat ride along the river is lovely. You get to see a lot of very expensive, beautiful houses and a bit of history too!

We live quite near Chester and go there for an ice cream and a ride along the river, just for the sake of it.

There's a fab pub called The Albion. Despite being a theme pub the food is lovely. Proper hearty fare. That said the two times I've been there it was winter. Not sure what the summer menu would be like. Assuming it's still open.

We love Chester! Just popped there today.

The high street isn't too decimated after covid, so it still feels nice. Loads of nice places to eat. Charity shops are great if that's your thing. Everything is pretty compact and not too spread out.

The races might be on when you visit. Definitely walk the walls. Trip on the river. Grosvenor Park Open air theatre is lovely. Storyhouse theatre. Breakout rooms. Nice pubs. Walk the Chester Rows. Bus tour.

One word of warning atm though. They are doing major road works in the city centre, so if you are driving in be aware of very long queues. Our 40 minute trip today took 2 hours! But other than that, enjoy!

The Albion is still open 😀
I live here OP, my top tip would be to try to pre book for food/drinks etc (and basically anything you want to do) as everywhere is pretty busy. You’d need to pre book the zoo if you’re not members. What are you into and whereabouts are you staying OP?

Make sure you take your drawers 😉

Lovely garden out the back of the cathedral. Make sure you have a look

Just hopping on to ask if Chester is nice for shopping? Sorry OP

Just in case you are going at the end of the month, the Chester Food and Drink festival is on 28th to the 30th of August and it is usually a great event.

THe mill hotel.

If it is running the restaurant cruise along the canal.

The museum for history.

North Wales not far away.

www.millhotel.com/

If you like Italian food, Chester has one of my favourite Italian restaurants – La Fattoria in Lower Bridge Street. Always busy and food always fabulous.

Grosvenor Park and down by the river is lovely for a wander, walk the city walls, visit the zoo (the best in the country IMO).

Oh and I don’t like shopping but even I like browsing in the shops in the Rows.

It's worth going just for the ice cream.

Kuckoo is a fab cocktail bar on watergate Street.

Story House is worth checking out, they often have theatre in there.

The townhouse is a Nice hotel on lower bridge street, they have bar restaurant with an excellent "secret garden" beer garden

Hickories on the River dee is lovely. There is lots along the river, inc.cafes etc. The boathouse is nice, it is a chain but the food it consistently nice, the Riverside beer garden is nice and they have nice if pricey Riverside rooms.

Chester zoo is fab.

Shopping in town is lovely, you can spend a nice day mooching around. Cheshire oaks is also nice for shopping but get there early as parking gets busy there, there is also a cinema there with lots of restaurants.

The cathedral is pretty.

Other nice eateries imo are commonhall street social, the botanist, the architect, the pied bull, the coach and horses. Groupon have an amazing for Dough Dough which is does probably the best pizza around imo.

Oh and blue planet is at cheshire oaks also

Oh and if driving in on a weekend come in on the a55 then A483 and park at the courts, it is £5 a day on the weekend, but the main thing is you can get in and leave Chester without getting involved in the road work malarky

If you’re driving and not staying in the city the park and ride is excellent - only £2 for a return ticket and you don’t have the hassle or expense of parking in the city.

Alexander's have a tribute festival. Not sure what their live music is usually like but we went one year and it was bloody brilliant.

You need to go for cocktails in Oddfellows and try to get in at Hickories but that's if you like large portions it great!! And there's bar lounge and their restaurant across from it there steak is amazing👍