Newcastle, Durham or Alnwick to explore in and around Northumberland?

[SoSaidTheLlama]

I want to explore Northumberland and the surrounding area by public transport. Car isn’t an option.

Would it be best to stay in Newcastle, Durham or Alnwick?

I’m tempted by Alnwick but concerned that like Durham it may be too small to visit for longer than one day and that Newcastle would have better transport options.

Which would you recommend?

TIA

Where do you actually want to go? What are your must see places?

If you want to explore Northumberland I wouldn't stay in Durham, it's a bit too south.

It does depend on what you want to see in Northumberland and which parts of it. Staying in Newcastle could mean a lot of driving to locations each day.

I'd stay in Morpeth - if you're relying on public transport, lots of the buses to scenic places go from there (Warkworth, Cragside, Alnwick, Rothbury), plus it's a lovely town in its own right. There's the train too. For the same places from Newcastle, you'd have to get the bus to Morpeth in any case and it takes much longer.

Morpeth is a good shout as someone above suggested. I'd also consider Seahouses. Alnwick is small and Durham is about an hour and 20 min drive to Craster (used as an example) so obviously longer on the bus.

Have a look at Morpeth as a base, it’s more central amongst those places with decent transport links (and is a nice place too, a little less tourist trail) - it has a train station with trains to Newcastle and Durham, regular buses to Alnwick and to coast towns.

Cross posted with others!

I had actually missed no car in the first post, but was thinking about Morpeth even with a car for shorter travel.

Probably Newcastle for better transport links. Whitley Bay/Cullercoats/Tynemouth are all nice and on the metro.
You could do a day trip to Durham but probably wouldn't stay there a whole week

Newcastle. Then Durham and Northumberland and easily doable by public transport.

Morpeth is a lovely town, my sister lived there many moons ago. We are hoping to go up and explore the area next year. We didn't spend enough time there when she lived there. There is also a great coastline to explore.