City Guide: Reading

Reading is a showpiece of the best global music.

A location for the world's oldest music festival, Reading becomes packed with visitors both ordinary and famous to the city for impressive shows by musical geniuses like the Nirvana, The Prodigy and so on. It means that in August, Reading transforms into a destination of sell-out gigs and fully packed hotels.

Booked.net can take the hassle out of organising accommodation for you. Be it a room in cheap hotel in Reading to luxury offers all are available at our website. Check them out with maps, photos and secure forms.

Along with vibrant music scene stands its tight links to world literature. Reading is a crucial point for creative works by the famous author Oscar Wilde who was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the city's jail. His works chart his tragic life from his earlier children stories, to the suffering captured in his later works. Consequently, Wilde even swapped his famous name for a new pseudonym according to the cell number C33 where he spent two years captive.

But Reading is not only about culture, but politics too. It served as a haunt for parliament during plague or rebellion in London. And in its early years the city concentrated forces on trade in cloth and with time it evolved into a fashionable center in England. The economy greatly suffered from the English Civil War and was never back to former business again and instead technology processing and insurance took their place.

Even though business in the area makes Reading a far cry from tourist-focused, but it worth a visit for its cultural splendor. If you want to indulge in culture than you should take time for sightseeing.

Attractions include;

• Reading Abbey Ruins & Forbury Gardens, a beautiful garden sandwiched between the park and the river Kennet

• Museum of Reading traced the history of the region from the Roman city and so on

• Basildon Park, a Palladian mansion built in 1776-83

• Mapledurham House and Watermill, an impressive neighboring area with the old-world charm

• Silchester Roman Town has archeology remains from the early roman times

When attractions make you tired, you should benefit from the city's riverside location. Sitting between the Thames and Kennet Rivers, Reading is a perfect water playground especially when it comes to cruises. In addition, the city is famous for its shopping, but if this is not your thing, the main street is still a place to see.

From its shopping to cultural splendor, Reading is a great place to explore with Booked.net.