Not to miss

Harrogate Turkish Baths

Plunge into Harrogate's past as you splash into the fabulously tiled Turkish Baths in the Royal Baths Assembly Rooms. The mock Moorish facility is gloriously Victorian and offers a range of watery delights - relax in a steam room or sizzle in a sauna. A visit should linger on for at least two hours, but call first as the opening hours are complicated.

Harlow Carr Botanical Gardens

It's a huge green thumbs-up to Harrogate's gardeners - the Harlow Carr Botanical Gardens has some of the most beautiful flora you'll ever see. Indulge the flower-fanatic within and get yourself to this northern showpiece of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Mercer Art Gallery

Another surviving spa building, the Promenade Room provides a stately space for this elegant gallery, which houses continually changing exhibitions of fine art from the 19th and 20th centuries - one of the highlights of 2007 was a retrospective of the work of artist William Powell Frith (1819-1909).