Things to do in Durham
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Durham
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, gardens full, rowing on the river, long evenings, with Regatta and graduation in June.
Second best month, harvest Teesdale, students return and rates ease after August.
Good shoulder months, blossom in April and Book Festival plus autumn colour in October.
Miners Gala on the second Saturday and Kynren opens, peak rates and the fullest city.
Warmest month but student empty centre, families fill Beamish and Hamsterley.
Coldest, darkest and cheapest, with an empty cathedral and bare gardens, boats off the river.
Dark and cheap outside Lumiere festival dates, which are crowded, cold and magical.
Christmas festival and markets early in the month, then cathedral services and a quiet turn of year.
What's on
- Durham Miners' Gala Second Saturday of July (10 July in 2027)
The Big Meeting, bands and banners process to the Old Racecourse with a cathedral service at 3pm.
- Lumiere Durham Four nights in November in festival years
Light installations and cathedral projections across the peninsula, ticketed early evening in past editions.
- Kynren Summer Saturday nights, roughly July to September
Open air night epic at Bishop Auckland, best Saturdays sell out in a short season.
- Durham Regatta A weekend in June
Racing through the city arches with the whole town on the Wear banks and bridges.
- Durham Book Festival October
The city autumn literary festival, a good reason to time an October trip.
- Durham Christmas Festival Early December
Christmas markets and festival weekend in the historic centre, book rooms ahead.
Best things to do in Durham
Durham Cathedral
The finest Norman cathedral in England, free to enter, with Cuthbert shrine, Bede tomb and a tower climb above the river.
Durham Castle
A Norman castle students still live in, seen on a guided tour through the Great Hall and the ancient Norman chapel.
Oriental Museum
A calm, free university museum of Egypt and Asia that deserves a morning and almost never crowds.
Crook Hall Gardens
Interlinking walled gardens around a medieval hall, with the cathedral framed at the end of the garden.
Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens
A vast former seminary of chapels, halls and gardens west of the city that stays peaceful while the centre queues.
Durham University Botanic Garden
Eighteen acres of woodland, bamboo and tropical glasshouses, the city best easy nature hour near the Oriental Museum.
Durham Riverside Walk
The free riverbank loop that earns the postcard view of cathedral and castle from Prebends Bridge.
Durham Market Hall
The Victorian indoor market behind the Market Place, best for local produce, crafts and a cheap grazing lunch.
Where to stay in Durham
The Bailey and Palace Green
short romantic first visit
Cobbled peninsula streets by the cathedral with very little stock that books first and scarce parking.
Old Elvet
best all round base
Five minutes flat walk from everything, quieter than the peninsula, with the city best central hotels.
City Centre and Walkergate
value and train arrivals
Chain hotels, the Gala and the shortest walk to the station, less atmospheric but best value per step.
Resort ring outside the centre
drivers, celebrations and touring
Golf, spa and castle stays at Ramside, Lumley and Seaham for car based trips across the county.
Think twice about
- Gilesgate and Sunderland Road corridor
Car oriented sprawl of roundabouts and trading estates, a long dull uphill walk from the peninsula on foot.
- North Road station strip at night
The student night out route, loud until clubs empty at around 2am in term time if you are a light sleeper.
- A1(M) junction and Durham Services hotels
Headline rates ignore daily taxi and bus costs into the centre, so the saving rarely survives the trip.
Best restaurants in Durham
Faru
Durham fine dining summit, a calm open kitchen tasting menu with a Sunday lunch locals treat as the insider booking.
Coarse
A relaxed tasting menu off North Road that cooks at fine dining level while undercutting its formality and price.
Zen
The city reliable big night out for Thai and pan Asian food in generous portions in a glamorous room.
Akarsu Turkish Restaurant & Grill
Careful Turkish grilling by the river, with feta filo parcels and tender lamb that reviewers name unprompted.
Rio Brazilian Steakhouse - Durham
A rodizio feast of continuous tableside carving built for groups and celebrations near Walkergate.
Turtle Bay Durham
Caribbean food, cocktails and the happiest group room in central Durham, where the party starts at dinner.
Flat White Kitchen
Durham brunch institution for pancakes, ham hock Benedict and coffee, worth the weekday queue on Elvet Bridge.
Vennels Cafe
A historic courtyard cafe off Saddler Street famous for banoffee pie, scones and the giant beef stottie.
Outdoor things to do in Durham
Browns Rowing Boats
Hire a wooden rowing boat by the hour and row the cathedral reach of the Wear yourself in season.
Prince Bishop River Cruiser
An hour sightseeing cruise with live commentary and a bar, the easy way to see cathedral and castle from the water.
Finchale Priory
A ruined priory in a grassy river bend reached by a wooded Wear walk, the locals picnic escape from the city.
Beamish, The Living Museum of the North
A 500 acre open air museum of towns, a pit village and a real mine, a full walking day that needs arriving at opening.
High Force Waterfall
The Tees drops 21 metres in one sheet at High Force, best walked with Low Force and the Wynch Bridge in a four mile loop.
Hamsterley Forest
Graded mountain bike trails with hire, plus family walking trails, in the county flagship adventure forest.
Ramside Hall Hotel, Golf and Spa
Two championship courses, the Prince Bishops and Cathedral courses, five minutes from the centre in a 350 acre estate.
Seaham Hall
The Serenity Spa above the Heritage Coast, paired with free coast path walking and sea glass hunting below.
Best hotels in Durham
Seaham Hall
A Georgian house hotel above the sea whose Serenity Spa is the county true luxury stay.
Lumley Castle Hotel
Sleep inside a 14th century castle above the Wear, with a knights restaurant, library bar and afternoon tea.
Ramside Hall Hotel, Golf and Spa
Durham resort stay with two golf courses, a five pool spa and treehouses, five minutes drive from the centre.
Hotel Indigo Durham
The best central boutique stay, in the former Old Shire Hall with a domed bar, five minutes from the cathedral.
Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County
The classic riverside hotel on Old Elvet where the Miners Gala bands play to the balcony, with river view rooms.
Radisson Blu Hotel, Durham
A modern riverside hotel with a pool and cathedral views, a ten minute bridge walk from the Market Place.
Premier Inn Durham City Centre (Walkergate) hotel
The budget pick that gives up nothing on location, beside the Gala and five minutes from the Market Place.
Travelodge Durham
The drivers budget pick with free parking at Gilesgate, best for a touring trip where the hotel is only a bed.
Is Durham expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | £65 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | £115 a person |
| Splurge | £260 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Durham Castle: a few days ahead
- Gala Theatre and Cinema: a few days ahead
- Walkabout Durham: weeks ahead
- Beamish, The Living Museum of the North: a few days ahead
- Ramside Hall Hotel, Golf and Spa: weeks ahead
- Seaham Hall: weeks ahead
- Kynren: weeks ahead
- Auckland Palace: a few days ahead
- Book Faru weeks ahead and Coarse ahead always, and mid tier restaurants ahead for Fridays and Saturdays.
- Book Beamish in school holidays, Kynren best Saturdays early, and castle tours at least the day before.
- Book hotels earliest for graduation, freshers, Miners Gala, Lumiere and Christmas market weekends.
- Book Seaham spa treatments and Ramside weekend tee times well ahead.
Is Durham safe?
- Emergency number is 999 and non emergency police is 101.
- Use lit bridges and streets after dark instead of unlit river paths, and obey riverside flood closures.
- Wear shoes with grip for wet cobbles and steep Bailey and station climbs.
- Keep hold of drinks and each other in the North Road and Elvet Bridge nightlife until 2am.
Durham travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not treat Durham as a half day photo stop, the city rewards slowness and punishes the checklist.
- Do not assume the castle is walk up, tours are limited and vary with university use.
- Skip hurried Market Place food frontages when Zen, Akarsu, Vennels and the market hall are minutes away.
- Do not drive into the centre on Miners Gala day or a Lumiere night, use park and ride.
Getting around Durham: public transport and more
- Walk the centre but expect steep hills and slippery cobbles, and take a station taxi with luggage.
- Arrive by train, twelve minutes from Newcastle and under three hours from London, with the cathedral view on arrival.
- Hire a car only for Beamish, Teesdale, the Wall and the coast days, and use park and ride for the city.
- Use the AD122 bus for Hadrian's Wall in season if you have no car, and allow longer timings.
Who Durham suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Durham your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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