Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon takes 1 day to see: Shakespeare's Birthplace, a 16th-century half-timbered house where the playwright was born, in a morning walk, and Holy Trinity Church, where he's buried, by the River Avon, in the afternoon. April-October is best. It's mid-priced by British standards. It's Shakespeare's birthplace, and the Royal Shakespeare Company still performs his plays year-round at its own riverside theater, making the town a must for any lover of English literature.