American heading to Newcastle and Edinburgh (and maybe York)

[americaninboston]

Hello mumsnet!! I'm an American heading to the UK with my spouse and 4 year old son this summer. (I posted back in the fall, and ya'll were SO helpful in figuring out our plans!)

We're flying in and out of Edinburgh and have 7 nights in August. We're not renting a car, so everything will be via public transit. I'm currently thinking either:

1. 5 nights in Newcastle (with day trips to the coast / castles) + 2 nights in Edinburgh (I don't think we can afford more re: the Fringe Festival)
2. or 3 nights Newcastle, 2 nights York, 2 nights Edinburgh

I'd rather not move around too much, but is 5 nights in Newcastle too much? (We'll definitely be heading to Tynemouth, Bamburgh, and/or Alnwick)

And - do you have any recommendations for hotels or apartment rentals in Newcastle, York, or Edinburgh?

Have you booked your accommodation in Edinburgh? It gets incredibly busy when the festival is on!

@americaninboston the youth hostel association in York is lovely. Very family friendly, lovely riverside walk into York or there is a regular bus service.
Edinburgh is beautiful but very very busy during the fringe festival.
Have an amazing time x

5 nights in Newcastle without a car is too long in my opinion. Alnwick nor Bamburgh have a train station. Northumberland is very beautiful, however some places really are quite remote without a car.
I personally would do 3 nights Edinburgh, 2 Newcastle & 2 York.

I would do two full days in Newcastle, one day going to Newcastle city centre and the other tynemouth/whitley bay. If you’re travelling with a 5 year old you won’t get much done on travel days.

I'd definitely spend more time in York than Newcastle.

The coast near Newcastle is nice but I can't think of a huge amount of interest in the city centre. I live within day trip distance and have recently been doing day trips by train across northern England, I couldn't find much to do in Newcastle to make it worth the trip.

But if you like history and picturesque streets, Durham might be worthwhile and is a little south of Newcastle, so easily accessible by train if you're using Newcastle as a base.

York is a famously interesting historical city, so you can easily fill a few days there.

A word of warning about train travel. If you don't book in advance it can be very expensive. The ticketing system is also quite complex with tickets for fixed trains or flexible ones, which are usually more expensive, but not always as the pricing system is often silly in that a flexible single ticket costs £x, but the return costs £x+1.

Scotland has different pricing and rules that are more passenger friendly but I don't know if this still applies if you're travelling to England (some laws and policies apply across the UK and sometimes there are differences in England, Scotland, also Wales and Northern Ireland).

There are some passes that might be worth investigating

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/north-east-round-robin/

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/tyne-tees-day-ranger/

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-offers/promotions/north-country-4-in-8-day-rover/

It might also be worth buying a family railcard as you can save the cost in one or two journeys.

There's a website called seat61.com that explains the ins and outs of train travel that might help.

Is there a reason to not rent a car? You could get to the more interesting places far more easily with one. The train journey from Edinburgh to Berwick is lovely, you could rent a car from there to make things a little easier.

5 nights in Newcastle definitely too much. There’s lots to do in York for such a small city and it’s beautiful

Getting about in Northumberland (Bamburgh/Alnwick) is not impossible without a car but will definitely take up a lot of your time and not be very convenient.

Do you desperately want to go to these places? If not I would spend less time in Newcastle and spend some time in York.

You can take the train from Newcastle to Alnmouth, which is a lovely place on the Northumberland coast , and close to Alnwick. Train fares have been simplified recently so returns can’t be cheaper than singles! Use Trainline to book and keep bookings all together. I might be inclined to overnight in Alnmouthon my way from Edinburgh to Newcastle. You can do Alnwick and Bamburghfrom there. Either by bus or local taxi.

You can get a bus from Newcastle to Alnwick very easily (Haymarket bus station), or Alnmouth has a train station and is just a couple of miles from Alnwick.

There is (or was) a ‘Coast and Castles’ bus route which is worth investigating, too.

I would check availability of accommodation in Edinburgh before anything else. There's a good chance everything is booked out already in August.

If you want to visit a lovely Scottish seaside town near Edinburgh you could look at north Berwick. It’s 30 mins on the train into Edinburgh and you might find accom cheaper there rather than trying to stay in Edi during the festival.

Definitely spend some time in York. I love York. It is very pretty and has loads to see and do for all ages.

I would start off with an open top bus tour then visit as many places of interest that you wish to. If you are tired after wandering around you can get a boat trip on the Ouse.

I have a soft spot for Newcastle as DD was a student there. I love the city and it has some hidden gems. Definitely get the metro out to Tynemouth. The market in the station at the weekends is worth a visit.

Edinburgh in August is very busy and expensive, but if you can get accommodation then you can't not visit. I recommend doing Mary King's Close, Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood House and the Royal Yacht Britannia. Again, I would do the bus tour first to get an idea of the city.

You have chosen three brilliant places to visit. Although, I think it is rather ambitious to do all three in the space of a week and would probably give Newcastle a miss as both York and Edinburgh have a lot to offer.

Don't underestimate how much of your first day will be written off due to jetlag either.

If the attraction of Newcastle is access to Northumberland, id get off the train in Berwick or Alnmouth, and skip the Newcastle stop.

York is fabulous.

I've recently been to all 3. Edinburgh is horrendously expensive at that time and accommodation is hard to find.
Two days in Newcastle is enough. We did a bus trip to Holy Island and Bamburgh and the Discovery Museum was great. Sadly the minute we stepped off the train we were harassed by scroungers and this continued during our stay.
York is by far my favourite of the three. Loads to do so I'd spend most of my time there.

If you're planning to travel on the LNER train it gets very booked up.

I’m from Newcastle and love it here but it doesn’t have enough to keep you busy for all of that time without a car. I’d do the second option with the two nights in York too or iI’d use Newcastle as a base and have a day in York, a day in Leeds etc etc.

While you’re here though I definitely recommend the Northumberland coast - Holy Island is worth a look if you’re into history, just check the tide times. And Beamish is a bus trip from Newcastle but it’s brilliant.
if you like music, look up the glass house in Gateshead. You can walk there from Newcastle and there’s often much more interesting people playing than at our city hall or our arena. And if you’re wanting a beach day, Cullercoats is really nice and on the metro line.

Oh and if you’ve got a little one, I’d take the bus to Alnwick and go to Lilidorei and Alnwick Castle too.

The railway museum at York is fantastic and a 4 year old would love it. York Minster is wonderful but perhaps not if you are 4years old but plenty of other things to see and do. The Grand Hotel is fabulous, walking distance from the station and very near to everything else.

Consider North Berwick beach or walk up the Berwick Law. It's an easy ramble.

Depending on budget there is a taxi company based in North Shields called East Coast Taxis and Tours, they do day packages to all the Northumberland sites, mostly for cruise ship passengers but anyone can book them.

That said, York is great (I live between York and Newcastle), so maybe Newcastle, and then a couple of nights in York?

When booking trains, make sure that as well as a ticket, you have an actual seat booking. Depending on the type of ticket, it's very possible to not have one, eg an off-peak or open return. I've seen it more than once on long distance trains on popular routes where families of tourists have got on with open first class tickets, only to find first class is completely full with people on Advance tickets with seat reservations.

@americaninboston I grew up near Newcastle and have American family who have adored their visits to the North East over the years. Lack of car makes this a bit more interesting but still very doable. Is there room in your budget for the odd Uber to make things quicker easier on occasion? York is also fabulous so either itinerary works. If you shared your interests e.g. history, outdoorsy, coastal etc i can make some more tailored suggestions.

Whilst I don't have a particular apartment to recommend I would second PP suggestion to consider an apartment in Tynemouth. It's connected to newcastle city centre and main railway via the Metro light railway service. Tynemouth has great beaches, upmarket independant shops and restaurants and is very family orientated. You can also head up the coast either walking or bus to Whitley Bay and Cullercoats to experience traditional British seaside town and amusements

In addition to the train route the x18 Arriva bus service that runs up the coast from Newcastle to Berwick could also be very helpful to you to access more of the northumberland coast. Have a look at some of the stops https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/find-a-service/x18-newcastle-to-morpeth-alnwick-seahouses-and-berwick.
Craster via dunstanburgh to low Newton by the sea is a spectacular walk.
Warkworth village, Bamburgh and it's spectacular castle, Beadnell and Seahouses. From the Seahouses you can get a boat put to the Farne Islands to see seals, Puffins etc.

Some other ideas in Newcastle for you.
Quayside walk up through Ouseburn, Ouseburn city farm for the little one along way and rich in the cities industrial heritage.
Jesmond Dene

Travelling west out of newcastle take a look at Corbridge town, and my favourite Hadrians wall spot for visitors interested in Roman history is definitely Vindolanda museum and archaeological dig site.

Where ever you stay you'll have a fabulous time. I'm biased but firm in my belief that Geordies are the friendliest people in the UK with great crack that can only be beaten in Ireland. You may already be familiar with the accent but if not get do some research as American family have been completely bamboozled by strong Geordie and Northumberland dialects on occasion historically.

2 nights in Edinburgh isn’t really enough for sightseeing but with accommodation prices in August it’s probably a good compromise. The downside is that sightseeing is harder due to the shear number of visitors in the city. I don’t think I could spend 5 nights in Newcastle as a tourist, you’d be better moving bases to Northumberland.

You can get a bus from Newcastle and visit Hadrian's wall. I think Beamish museum is on a bus route too. So although not loads to do in Newcastle city centre, it would be quite central to visit the local area. There is a friendly Facebook page called 'north east days out' which has loads of recommendations and advice. They can help with bus routes and places to visit too

York is wonderful! It does get busy but so much to see and do and very compact to get around on foot/public transport. The national Railway museum is great (and free) and a boat trip down the Ouse is a nice way to see the city and get local knowledge. Edinburgh is extremely busy in summer, traffic is awful and congested and Princes St (the main street) is not so nice these days. It will be expensive to stay there