Lancaster is a city and the county town of Lancashire. Its Duchy of Lancaster holds significant estates on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II – who's also the Duke of Lancaster. It's an ancient settlement dominated by Lancaster Castle, Lancaster Priory Church and the Ashton Memorial. It is also home to Lancaster University and a campus of the University of Cumbria.

Places of interest in the locale include Lancaster Cathedral, the Westfield War Memorial Village, Duke's Playhouse, the Judges Lodgings and Milton Park.

The county particularly came to prominence during the Industrial Revolution with Liverpool and Manchester growing into its major cities, whose economies expanded as a result of the trade from the docks and the cotton mills respectively. By the 1830s a massive 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire. Cotton mill towns which developed from this economy include Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan.

The main motorway in the area is the M6 but other motorways, such as the M55, M65, M61 and M66, M62 and M58 also run through it. The county has international airports in Manchester Airport, the third busiest in the UK and Liverpool John Lennon Airport. These cities are also excellent transport hubs in general and their main train stations (Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly) offer fast access to other major British conurbations as well as to a host of other locations.

The county has many universities including for example the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University, Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Bolton, the University of Law, the University of Manchester, the University of Salford, UMIST and Preston University.

There are at least four professional orchestras, including the The Hallé, which is the UK's oldest symphony orchestra and is based at the Bridgwater Hall. The Manchester Arena hosts more than 21,000, is the largest indoor arena in Europe and has been voted the most popular venue in the world. Landmarks include the Blackpool Tower, the Ashton Memorial, Rivington Pike and King Street Mill. Other attractions include Morecambe Bay, the Ribble Steam Railway, Blackpool Zoo and Camelot Theme Pak. Lancashire has given many gems to cuisine such as Eccles Cakes, Ormskirk ginger bread, Faggot, black peas and bury black pudding. It would take many more words to detail how important the county has been musically, whether regarding folk music (for example the number of ballads emanating from the county, take 'The Ballad of Chevy Chase) or contemporary music (the Beatles and many more).