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?

I’d include York. From Newcastle you can go up the coast and over to Hadrians Wall. York there is plenty to do within the city. Edinburgh will be chaotic and busy but you can do the Castle etc if you prebook and the Museum of Scotland is great and free.

Holiday inn in Edinburgh is located next to the zoo.

York is beautiful. You can easily catch a bus from there to Whitby/Robin Hood’s Bay or Helmsley. If you want a steam train ride check out Pickering/Goathland. These are some of the most magical places for little kids. And buses are free for under 5s and £3 for adults.

York Youth Hostel is good. Whitby and Boggle Hole (Robin Hood’s Bay)Youth Hostels are also both lovely for families.

Newcastle is okay but you might run out of things to do?

It’s very easy to get a train down to London too. We live up North, in Hull, it’s a couple of hours on the train direct, so we’ve explored the Natural History Museum, V&A, British Museum etc.

We often stay at Premier Inns. They can be really inexpensive, especially if you avoid Fri/Sat nights. And they all do family rooms.

Have a lovely trip.

I’d stop at Durham for a day and explore the cathedral and castle. The Marco Pierre white restaurant is nice. There is a train station and it’s on the main line between Newcastle and Edinburgh. Sadly there’s a fair bit of poverty in the surrounding villages now but the city itself is beautiful!

Holy Island/ Lindisfarne worth a visit but the nearest train station is Berwick upon tweed then it’s a bus or cab.

you only need one day in Newcastle itself - you’ll be ok if you’re doing day trips from there but I wouldn’t say for five whole days.

Oh yes and if you can get a bus so beamish museum that would be fun! It’s a living Victorian museum

People saying accommodation is expensive in Edinburgh are right but there are lots of towns on a short train ride outside, look at linlithgow, polmont Larbert, Falkirk. Would need to balance cost of train ticket each day with potentially cheaper accommodation. If I was coming halfway across the world, I'd not spend five days in Newcastle compared to two in Edinburgh. There are fantastic beaches and castles in Northumberland but harder without a car. From Edinburgh you can go to North Berwick etc by train and also lots of castles and historic sites eg Stirling. There's also Portobello beach and Crammond beach in Edinburgh.

To be honest, with the limited time you have and no car I would probably skip Newcastle altogether and concentrate on York and North Yorkshire as there are so many more things to do - York itself, Castle Howard, Whitby, Fountains Abbey etc, many or most of which you can get to by train / coach trip etc. For reference I'm originally from the Newcastle area and now live in North Yorks.

Bamburgh castle

I know Newcastle and York and would also concentrate on York. The city is beautiful and you could have some amazing days out from York giving you a real feel of rural UK. For example the Coastliner bus over the moors to Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay. There are day trips to the Yorkshire Dales as well which are so beautiful and traditional. York is a really special place.

You can forget Edinburgh if you haven't booked any accommodation yet! I would personally split my time between Newcastle and York and do day trip/s to Edinburgh from Newcastle if you really want to come.

And it's called public transport in the UK, not transit.

Second the considering hiring a car. It will make life much easier. You could stay outside Edinburgh and get the park and ride in for a day or two. I love the Kelpies in Falkirk too (there is the falkirk wheel too depending on what you are interested in).

York is lovely, very busy and also quite expensive to stay.

I like Whitby (Dracula's castle),

I've not been to Alnwick but want to go and see the castle (Harry Potter!) and a few other places. Berwick looks beautiful from the train.

Durham is nice too, know pp said Beamish - good if you like history

No-one is coming on holiday to stay in Polmont! Behave. 😂

LNER trains are the ones you want from London. They are red and grey / white / silver, a bit like the Virgin livery.
They leave frequently from London Kings Cross station (next to St Pancras, North London) and whizz up the East Coast Mainline from London to Edinburgh, stopping at all the places you have mentioned.
They are government owned and so if they are delayed, you get an automatic refund.
Download their app and sign up to 'Delay Repay'.
Booking in advance is cheaper.
Beware the 'only travel on this exact train' ticket if you want flexibility. Having said that, I always buy these as they are cheaper. If your train is cancelled you are generally allowed on any other train, just ask the staff.
First class is great, often not much more £ and you get food and drink.
ALWAYS reserve your seat, it's free and the trains can get v busy.
There's another UK app for trains called TRAINLINE that does split ticketing, but I rarely find it cheaper than directly with LNER.
There's an app called SEATFROG that has first class seats available to buy as an upgrade once you have booked your tickets, this can be bargainous and worth the free food and drink.
It might be worth only hiring a car when you arrive in a city if you want to look around.
Oh, and the LNER also travel past Edinburgh Waverley station up to Inverness - it's breathtaking scenery and definitely worth a night's stay in my opinion. Other than that, when you cross the border into Scotland it becomes ScotRail.
Edinburgh Waverley is a big station and the most confusing layout in the world (think Escher drawing). Also freezing wind.
York Station has stairs and it can be a rush to change platforms if you have lots of luggage / small children.
York museum has the Hokusai Japanese prints exhibition on at the moment and they're great.
If you hire a car, parking in York is expensive (think £20+ a day) but there are lots of car parks. Marygate is roomy and close to the centre.
Have a LOVELY time.

Who said anything about London?

They're flying into Edinburgh and are looking to spend a week in York/Newcastle/Edinburgh and Northumberland. Why would they go anywhere near London?

Of the 3 Newcastle is less touristy and I suspect that your visit there is possible due to a family link there? It’s a beautiful old city and more representative than either Edinburgh or York. I visited York last year, hadn’t been for years and although it was lovely it was full of hen parties ( the equivalent of bachorlarette parties). We were actually there for my sisters hen party and were shocked that it had become a popular destination for hen parties. She is 60 and we are very out of the loop re such events. We stayed at Malmaison, it has a superb roof top restaurant with views over the city.

I am from Yorkshire and York would not be my first choice it is a beautiful country with a wealth of places to visit.

Newcastle is a provincial city so much more typical of a normal UK city. There is a good metro system for getting around, you can stay outside of the city and use it to travel into the city centre. There are some beautiful Georgian market towns surrounding it and well worth hiring a car to take in the beautiful countryside around it.

For anyone with Uk heritage Liverpool is another place to visit. Compact with lots of social and cultural history and the place where many Americans started their journey to the US.

Ive just got back from a long weekend in York, and also had 3 nights in Edinburgh last year with my (young) adult sons. I would put both of these above Newcastle (and I like Newcastle, have family there etc).
Both have so much to do (prebook as much as you can, even if it's free entry, I can see the Railway museum having queues if you havent got a timed, free ticket for example).
York City centre got busy in late afternoon/early evening the weekend we just spent there, with stag/hen groups so if you are thinking of evening wanders or Central pub-type meals then midweek would probably be better.

There's excellent public transport in Newcastle.

Metro, bus, main line rail and an airport. You can get down to Sunderland and beyond, out to the coast and the airport on the Metro. There are buses out to the coast and areas to the north and south of the city.

The city itself is very walkable and compact with a lot to do and see. You can reach York and Edinburgh for a day trip by train easily as well.

We stayed here with visiting Canadian family a couple of years ago and loved it - Alnmouth is a stop on the mainline train from Edinburgh south, tho it's a taxi ride into the village from the station. Coastal walks are amazing and if you are HP fans Alnwick castle is a must.
Last summer we ate here on a trip to the area - I think you would need a car to access - but great food in a classic pub setting on the coast to boot

Sorry ate here last summer - highly recommended

Thanks everyone for the tips! Super helpful.

The main reason we’re not hiring a car is because we’re not comfortable driving on the other side of the road (and also want to avoid dragging a car seat along if possible).

Also, we picked Newcastle because it seems less touristy than Edinburgh and York, which seem like they will be super crowded. I’m not totally tied to that, though!

I understand the OP's reluctance to drive. I wouldn't be comfortable driving "on the other side of the road "

We found anywhere within an hour of Edinburgh in August was either fully booked or horrendously expensive. We ended up in Dunfermline 😪

Thanks for this! Is there a neighborhood that would make most sense to stay in if we plan on taking day trips to the coast and maybe to Beamish and Hadrian’s Wall?

So helpful! My husband will definitely want to visit Hadrian’s Wall.

I live near Edinburgh and I'd say stay in central Glasgow and visit Edinburgh for the fringe
It's much cheaper in August and there's plenty of hotels right beside the train station. Train is 45 mins. Then you get 2 cities for 1. You could 3 or 4 days then and hen head down to Newcastle and York.

Oh yes, Beamish Museum is great!

OP, you’re getting a weirdly firm steer away from Newcastle here, but I think the people insisting you go to York instead are being quite narrow in what they regard ans interesting/worth seeing. Both places are good for a couple days’ sightseeing, though they are quite different cities. York is historic and pretty, but will be rammed in tourist season, especially around The Shambles and the Minster.

Newcastle is buzzy and post-industrial - also historic, but less “kings & bishops” and more British industry and regeneration, with arty neighbourhoods like Ousbourn and a city centre with lots of shops & restaurants. The Quayside area (river side) has a great walkway and there are usually markets and beer gardens along it during the summer. As someone else has mentioned, the coast at the mouth of the Tyne river is lovely and easily reached by metro - go to Tynemouth or Whitley Bay to enjoy the seaside and the markets. And if you want a dose of historically pretty, charming cathedral city & castle as well, you can get a train to Durham and be there in 10-15mins. (The cathedral is where the Venerable Bede is buried, if that sort of history appeals to you!)

Heading north from Newcastle by train, Morpeth is a lovely town with lots of independent shops. And further up the coast, Berwick-on-Tweed is a little run down these days but a fascinating day trip. It was a wealthy military town during the Regency and the architecture is impressive. It also features a very old bridge that James I was reputed to have crossed when travelling south for his coronation. Not somewhere to stay, but worth seeing if you’re at all into history.

The Northumbrian coast is gorgeous but my main concern would be transport. We did a week in the NE a few years ago as a family but we stayed in Seahouses and rented a car to explore the beaches, Bamburgh Castle, Lindesfarne (Holy Island), Craster, Dunstanburgh Castle, etc. You’ve had a couple of people chip in to talk about buses, but I think if you’re based in Newcastle it could be quite tiring shelping up & down the coast on buses. Most of the pretty coastal towns and villages aren’t on the train line, sadly. If you did have a car even more beautiful spots would open up - Alnwick & its castle is also well worth the visit.

So: I would say that I’d you’re very strictly sticking to public transport, you could split your time between Edinburgh, Newcastle, Morpeth, Berwick-on-Tweed, Durham, and York and get a good sense of the region and its role across several points in history. If you could drive around the coast though, you’ve have more than enough to see just sticking to Newcastle & surrounds.