With East Anglia's amazing history, it's no surprise to us that Lonely Planet has chosen the region as one of their top 30 must-visit places in the world to see in 2025 – and the only one in the UK.

Here's some of the sights they've highlighted to see…

10 Norwich

The UK's best-preserved medieval city with its fabulous Norman castle and cathedral, ancient market and Guildhall, Norwich has cobbled streets to explore in Tombland, Elm Hill and by the river. With two universities, the city is a buzzy, youthful place with music and arts venues, great independent shops and restaurants, and more brilliant pubs than you'll be able to visit in a weekend.

9 Cambridge

Probably the world's best-know university city, Cambridge offers superb museums and college tours, as well as punting on the Cam.

8 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 on the Broads National Park. Historic? Yes, because, incredibly, they're also man-made, the result of inundated medieval peat diggings.

7 Suffolk Wool Towns

Medieval market towns with wonky half-timbered merchants' houses at Clare, Cavendish, Kersey, Long Melford and Hadleigh. They're 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. To see the biggest group visit Lavenham with The Swan, Crooked House and Little Hall.

6 Stately homes

The earlier wealth of East Anglia lives on in majestic stately homes, many of them looked after by the National Trust like Ickworth, Oxburgh, Blickling and Felbrigg. Then there's Royal Sandringham, arty Houghton and Holkham with its sustainable agenda and wonderful beach and pine forest.

5 King's Lynn

With more Graded buildings than York, King's Lynn is one of the most historic towns in the UK. A member of the Hanseatic League, King's Lynn is a microcosm of a time when East Anglia had closer economic relations with Europe than the rest of the UK.

4 Great Yarmouth

The east coast's favourite seaside resort, Great Yarmouth was transformed by Dutch engineers creating the harbour we see today in the 18th century. Since then there's been no looking back and the town has its famous Golden Mile on a wonderful four-mile long sand spit, but there's history to revisit at Time & Tide Museum and across the town.

3 Sutton Hoo

Seen The Dig, with Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan? Sutton Hoo is where the story is set – the burial ship and treasure of King Raedwald. It's an atmospheric environment with many of the burial mounds left untouched and in the distance, the sight of the River Deben where the Anglo Saxons would have set sail to deter Viking insurgents.

2 Burgh Castle

The biggest remaining Roman site in the UK, Burgh Castle takes you back 2000 years to a time when Breydon Water would have been very different. Pastureland and marshes today, then it would have been a huge estuary, two miles wide at the sea, and navigable all the way up to Norwich and the ancient settlement of Venta Icenorum.

1 Bury St Edmunds

Named after England's first patron saint, Bury St Edmunds is an historic gem with its Georgian town centre, National Trust Regency theatre, Norman cathedral and abbey gardens. The largest of the Suffolk Wool Towns, it's a vibrant market town with a reputation for being dog-friendly and having fabulous local restaurants.

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025 hardback book features stunning photography, local advice and essential experiences for each of the destinations on this year's list.  It can be purchased from shop.lonelyplanet.com or where all good books are sold at £14.99. For more information on Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025 visit: lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel. 

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Notes to Editors

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About Visit East of England: The Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) for Suffolk and Norfolk. It supports the visitor economy of the region which is worth £5.5billion and employs more than 100,000 people. Visit East of England also operates the Visit Suffolk and Visit Norfolk consumer websites and social media channels.

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