Please could I have ideas for hotel and restaurants in Durham

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Hi all,

I am thinking of a city break to Durham, always wanted to go.

Do you know the area and recommend any hotels that will not break the bank but are nice?

We would also need ideas for eating out too, dp not fussed about Indian food, an Italian would be lovely!

Thank you x

Depends what you define as not breaking the bank. prices can really vary in Durham if there's something on in the city such as graduation week or freshers week. Have a look at the Radisson, Royal County and Hotel Indigo. Rooms can vary in size in the Indigo as it's a converted old building. Check parking facilities and prices if you're driving.
19Twenty bar & grill was good food.
La Spaghettat for Italian
Turkish Kitchen also nice

We stayed in Hotel Indigo and would again. Good location and parking.

Hotel indigo sounds promising, i will have a look 😊.

will also look at those restaurants and make sure we stay clear of freshers week etc!

thank you both x

The Whitechurch is superb for food. Also Nadon Thai and a Turkish place called Akarsu.
Durham is knee deep in places to eat so you won’t go hungry!
The Radisson Blu is a good place to stay. If you’re driving, Durham is a nightmare for parking but there’s a council car park close to the Radisson where you can park overnight cheaply. It’s a small city so you can walk almost everywhere and won’t need your car much.

We stayed in an Air BnB in Durham last year. It was fab. Rudy’s is great for pizza. For coffee the cathedral coffee shop is really good. Don’t go for the shopping though….its just full of charity shops

The rabbit hole or zen are nice for food. Hotel try Durham town house. You MUST go on the rowing boats while you’re there!

Flat white kitchen, Vennels, Whitechurch all very good for brunch.

Bells (fish and chips) on the marketplace for traditional fish and chips and people watching.

Course and Faru for more of a fine dining experience.

Walk along the river, Crook Hall, Seaham is quite close and is a nice seaside town.

And obviously the cathedral and castle!

Thank you all for the great ideas, much appreciated.

I will have a look when I get sat down tonight.

I had no idea Durham had a castle!

The castle is a university college. If you go outside term time you can sometimes stay in the rooms.

Have a lovely time if you do make the trip, it’s a compact but beautiful city and the cathedral and castle are world heritage sites.
Pop back if you have any other questions :)

I don't know about hotels, I live here so not needed them. Restaurant you've got Coarse and Faru for "posh" things like Cellar Door for next step down and lots and lots of very nice mid range types including Rabbit Hole, Akarsu. You'll struggle to go too wrong really.

Cafés I love Vennels and Leonard's. Never actually been to Flat White because it always has a huge queue of students outside! Been going to Vennels since I was a student here so over 20 years now and the staff still recognise us and ask after the kids even if it has been a couple of years between visits.

What do you want to do?

You can potter around the cathedral, do a castle tour, walk along the river to the old Durham Gardens, visit Crook Hall National Trust and go to the archaeology museum and the Oriental museum all in walking distance of each other and the centre. Check the website for castle tours before booking because the castle is one of the colleges of the university and students live there so you can only go in on tours and there are times when tours are limited or not available for obvious reasons.

You need to visit Beamish museum too, it's wonderful. You can drive or get the bus right to the entrance.

Vennels is good but not half as good as it was 20 years ago!

Radisson blue

The cakes are smaller! They used to be the size of my head. DH used to scoff those giant pavlovas and banoffee pies in the blink of an eye as a 20 year old student. Still lovely though.

Isla by Coarse is hands down the best restaurant in Durham. Crush wine bar for drinks recommended by the Swedish owner, 33 (bar) for late night cocktails (look on their instagram 33_Durham for the code; it’s less naff than it sounds)

don’t bother with Zen, it’s insanely over rated

There are loads of good restaurants. My favourite was a lebanese restaurant on they up to the cathedral, there also an amazing Indian up that way too (but much closer to the Cathedral)