Things to do in Leeds, England

Stuart Forster suggests some of the top things to do in Leeds, England.

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Leeds is the most populous city in West Yorkshire. It offers plenty to do during a weekend break. It’s a hub for the arts, sports and also shopping.

The restoration of former industrial buildings along its waterfront has helped give the city an upbeat vibe. Here are numerous points of interest and, come nightfall, Leeds has plenty of buzzing pubs and cocktail bars, and there’s a dining scene studded with gems.

Where to eat in Leeds

The Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants 2025 includes The Swine Bistro in Headingley and Bavette. Located in Horsforth, Bavette also has a Michelin Bib Gourmand award. The Ox Club at The Headrom and Forde, in Horsforth, are also listed in the Michelin Guide.

The Royal Armouries Museum

The Royal Armouries Museum, by Leeds Dock, displays a part of the United Kingdom’s expansive national collection of arms and armour. Looking up in the stairwell of the Glass Tower reveals creatively arranged breastplates and weaponry.

Over five floors, you can see weapons from around the planet, including suits of medieval armour, items for hunting and Samurai equipment from Japan.

Short films plus interactive, touch-screen exhibits help explain the use of weapons and tactics during key battles. Throughout the day, actors play characters and tell stories based on the experiences of soldiers.

Shoot crossbows at the range on the museum’s upper floor.

The Henry Moore Institute

Passionate about sculpture? Make sure you schedule a visit to The Henry Moore Institute, named after the Yorkshire-born sculptor known for his semi-abstract bronze artworks. The free-to-visit gallery is at The Headrow, in the city centre, and is open from Tuesday to Sunday.

To see more sculptures, you could also head outside of the city to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park or The Hepworth Wakefield, the other nodes of what is known as the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle.

Leeds Art Gallery

Leeds Art Gallery stands next to The Henry Moore Institute. Moore’s Reclining Woman: Elbow stands by the gallery’s entrance. Even if you’re not an art fan, it’s worth browsing the information available at Visit Leeds, on the ground floor, to learn more about things to do and see in West Yorkshire.

The Victorian building hosts sculptures and paintings of the Leeds Collection, including Scotland for Ever, by Lady Elizabeth Butler, depicting a charging cavalry unit in red tunics.

The gallery’s ornate Tiled Hall Café is an attractive spot to sit and savour snacks and refreshments.

Elland Road football stadium

Elland Road is the 37,890-capacity home stadium of Leeds United Football Club. The club won the 2024-25 EFL Championship meaning Leeds will host Premier League fixtures during the 2025-26 season. Champions of England three times, Leeds was the last club to win the English title before the introduction of the Premier League.

A statue depicting Billy Bremner, the Scotland international who captained Leeds during the club’s glory days of the late 1960s and early 1970s, stands with arms raised high outside the ground, which is about two miles (three kilometres) from the city centre.

Want to see behind the scenes? Book a guided tour of the stadium, including the dressing rooms and head out of the tunnel leading onto the pitch and the pitch-side dugouts.

Thrackray Museum of Medicine

The family-friendly Thackray Museum of Medicine (closed on Tuesdays) is within the grand building that opened in 1861 as Leeds Union Workhouse, a place to house the needy. It is the largest independent medical museum in the UK.

Themed displays, over two floors, convey how medical treatments have evolved since the Victorian era, when common illnesses and treatments differed markedly from today.

The museum’s collection totals more than 47,000 artefacts relating to medicines and medical equipment. Allow two hours to explore the 11 galleries

Visiting means an opportunity to see brutal-looking surgical tools and gain insights into the discoveries of vaccines and antibiotics.

The Tetley

This Art Deco building, dating from the 1930s, was formerly the corporate headquarters of the Tetley Brewery. It features a wood-panelled room with a long table and leather-backed chairs at which Tetley’s directors sat during board meetings.

Kirkstall Brewery aims to restore The Tetley to “a landmark of Yorkshire brewing culture”.

Roundhay Park

Roundhay Park sprawls over nearly 300 hectares (700 acres), including two lakes, in the northeast suburbs of Leeds. The landscaped parkland once formed part of a country estate that was repurposed as a public park as long ago as 1872. The refurbished mansion at its heart is now an events venue with a restaurant.

The park has served as a venue for music festivals and concerts. It is a popular place for walking, running and sporting activities. Angling is permitted in Waterloo Lake, which is also used by canoers.

A section of the park hosts Tropical World, a popular attraction landscaped to provide habitat for creatures normally seen in warmer climes.

Leeds Waterfront Heritage Trail

Waterways once provided the most convenient means of transporting goods, so following the Leeds Waterfront Heritage Trail is a way of learning about industrialisation and urban growth in this part of Yorkshire. The four-kilometre trail runs along the River Aire between Granary Wharf, behind the railway station in the city centre, to Thwaite Mills Watermill. It passes the Victoria Bridge, Leeds Dock and The Calls (now the location of several stylish restaurants, including Shears Yard and The Aire Bar).

Information boards with maps and diagrams hold details about the history of bridges and buildings. They include warehouses from the time of the Industrial Revolution.

The Victoria Quarter

If shopping in boutique stores and upscale department stores sounds like a dreamy way of spending a day, make a beeline for Leeds’ restored Victoria Quarter, which was designed by the architect Frank Matcham.

The naturally lit County and Cross shopping arcades feature patterned wrought iron and mosaic flooring. Designer stores such as Coach, Ted Baker and Vivienne Westwood operate within the Victoria Quarter. The building that was formerly the Empire Theatre is now the Leeds base for Harvey Nichols.

The Victoria Gate, a contemporary interpretation of Matcham’s Victorian-era designs, is home to the largest John Lewis store outside of London.

Not a shopper? It’s worth strolling by for the architecture. The ceiling of Queen Victoria Street also happens to be the biggest stained glass window in the country.

Trinity Leeds shopping mall

Enjoy hunting for bargains? Then plan time to browse among more than 120 stores in Trinity Leeds, an airy, multi-level shopping mall in the heart of the city. Its name is derived from the adjacent Holy Trinity Church, a place of worship dating from the Georgian era.

The mall has a choice of over 40 places to eat and drink, including a rotating selection of street food-style businesses at Trinity Kitchen. You may be able to dine on the likes of tortillas, American-style ribs and a fusion of British and Indian street food. Guest food trucks operate for eight weeks at a stretch, meaning regular changes to the culinary offerings.

Looking for entertainment? The multi-screen Everyman cinema shows mainstream movies, independent films and live broadcasts.

Spotting owls in Leeds

Look up in Leeds and you’ll spot owls. Owls, which symbolise wisdom in this part of the world, appear on the city crest and buildings across the urban core. The city’s current coat of arms was settled upon in 1836 and features three owls.

The Leeds Owl Trail has details of the locations of owls and introduces their stories. They appear on locations including the railings by municipal offices, on the city library and at Millennium Square. Trail maps are sold at the Visit Leeds shop and are an innovative way of viewing urban facades.

Hotels in Leeds

Having visited the city several times, I can vouch for the availability of some outstanding accommodation in Leeds.

Search for hotels in Leeds using this map:

Books about Leeds

Interested in visiting Leeds and knowing more about the city (and its famous football club)? You can buy the following books from Amazon by clicking on the links:

111 Places in Leeds That You Shouldn’t Miss by Kim Revill.

Further information

Discover more things to do in and around the city on the Visit Leeds and Leeds Museums and Galleries websites.

The Welcome to Yorkshire website is a source of ideas about nearby things to do.

Thank you for visiting Go Eat Do and reading this post about things to do in Leeds. If you enjoyed this post, I hope you’ll enjoy others, including my look at the nearby Piece Hall in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Photographs illustrating this post are by Why Eye Photography.

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A version of this post was published on Go Eat Do in March 2019.