Moving to the city, or moving within it? Here is what we would show someone on their first weekend, from the people who spend every day driving around it.
Free to enter, and home to the fastest car on earth. The Thrust SSC and Thrust2 land speed record cars are both here, alongside the largest collection of British-made road transport anywhere. If you have just moved to the city with children, this is the first weekend sorted.
The bombed shell of the old cathedral stands beside Basil Spence's 1962 replacement, and the two together are the single best thing to show a visitor. Go for the Sutherland tapestry and the Piper baptistry window, stay for the fact that the ruins are still consecrated ground.
Next door to the cathedral, free, and consistently better than a free regional gallery has any right to be. The history galleries are the quickest way to understand why the city looks the way it does.
Around 120 acres ten minutes from the city centre, with the memorial itself at the heart of it. The park is the reason people pay a premium to live in Earlsdon and Styvechale, and on a Saturday morning it is where half the city seems to be.
A converted industrial yard off Far Gosford Street housing independent shops, a brewery, street food and a record shop. It is the closest thing the city has to a creative quarter, and it is a five minute walk from the CV1 flats.
Fifteen minutes south, and one of the most substantial castle ruins in England. The Elizabethan garden has been reconstructed to the 1575 design, and the walk up from Kenilworth town is a good introduction to CV8 if you are househunting there.
The southern terminus of the Coventry Canal, restored and walkable, with the towpath running north towards Hawkesbury Junction. Worth knowing about if you are moving to Foleshill or Longford and want a route into town on foot or by bike.
Five miles east on the Brinklow Road, with a lake, formal gardens and 500 acres of woodland. It is the standard Sunday walk for anyone living in Binley, Walsgrave or Brandon.
Coventry does not give itself away on a first visit. The ring road, the postwar rebuild and the flyovers put a lot of people off before they have found the medieval streets behind the Cathedral or the Georgian terraces in Spon End. Spend a weekend properly and the city makes far more sense.
If you are househunting, our area guides and postcode pages set out what the housing is actually like street by street, which is the part the estate agent listings tend to skip.
We move people into this city every week, and we know which streets need a parking suspension before you do.
