Sunderland sits on the coast of northeast England at the mouth of the River Wear, a former shipbuilding city that has reinvented itself around its waterfront. The city built more ships than anywhere else in the world for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and that industrial heritage is still visible in the docks and the terraced streets climbing the hills on both sides of the river.
The National Glass Centre on the north bank of the Wear is the main cultural draw — Sunderland was a major glass-making centre for three centuries, and the building itself is a striking piece of modern architecture. The Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens in the city centre is free and well worth an hour, particularly for the tropical winter garden. Roker Pier and the beaches at Roker and Seaburn stretch north from the harbour, backed by promenades and parks.
St Peter's Church in Monkwearmouth dates from 674 AD and is one of the oldest churches in England; it was part of the twin monastery that produced the Venerable Bede, the father of English historiography. For industrial heritage enthusiasts, the Ryhope Engines Museum south of the city preserves Victorian beam engines in working order. Out west, Hylton Castle is a fourteenth-century gatehouse linked to Lewis Carroll.
Sunderland is not a tourist city, but it rewards a visit if you are interested in industrial heritage, early medieval history, or simply want a bracing walk along the northeast coast. Newcastle is 25 minutes away by Metro.