If you’re here for the weekend, follow our top tips to make the most of your visit, and have a weekend to remember.

Day 1

Start your visit with some retail therapy – with big name brands and high street favourites as well as a vibrant indoor market, fantastic independent shops, art galleries and antiques stores Plymouth is the region’s capital for shopping. Visit Drake Circus to get your shopping started before taking a wander into the City Centre.

Grab lunch at Plymouth Market, home to some wonderful food from Nepalese cuisine to some of the best Asian cuisine you’ll find in the city.

In the afternoon, wander the historic cobbled streets of the Barbican and walk in the footsteps of adventurers of the past, including Sir Francis Drake, Charles Darwin and the Mayflower Pilgrims who left Plymouth in 1620.

No visit to Plymouth is complete without a trip on the water, hop on the ferry from the Barbican and make your way round to Royal William Yard, the former naval victualling yard that is now home to a range of restaurants, shops and art galleries, the perfect spot for a glass of wine and dinner before taking in a show at Theatre Royal Plymouth, Plymouth Pavilions or the Barbican Theatre

Day 2

Enjoy some fresh air on your second day, out on the water.

Spend your morning enjoying a cruise of the Sound with Plymouth Boat Trips, see the historic Naval dockyards or take a trip over to the idyllic Cawsand and Kingsand. If being active on the water is more your thing, head over to the Mount Batten Watersports & Activities Centre and hire a kayak or stand up paddleboard.

Eat lunch at Rockfish, enjoy some spectacular seafood by famous seafood chef Mitch Tonks.

Spend the afternoon at the National Marine Aquarium, discover the wildlife that lives in the waters surrounding Plymouth and learn more about the marine environment.

For dinner, book yourself in to the Barbican Kitchen, owned by the Tanner brothers and based at the historic Plymouth Gin Distillery. After your meal, enjoy a cocktail in the distillery Refectory Bar, rumoured to be the place where the Pilgrims spent their last night before sailing to America on the Mayflower.

Day 3

Start your final day with a walk along the South West Coast Path, which encompasses a stretch of stunning Plymouth waterfront.

Take a dip in Plymouth’s famous art deco salt water swimming pool Tinside Lido and work up an appetite for lunch. With plenty of cafes and restaurants along the Hoe foreshore you’ll be spoilt for choice with somewhere to refuel with a beautiful sea view.

Before you head home take some time on Plymouth Hoe, home to one of the finest views in the world (well we think so anyway). Get your selfie at the top of Smeaton’s Tower and take a walk along the Hoe Promenade, with views of the Sound on one side, and the Naval War Memorial on the other.

Don’t forget to find the ‘Beatle Bums’ set into the grass on the Hoe to recreate your own version of the famous four’s postcard worthy photo.