Things to do in Northumberland: 10 days out, priced

Northumberland is castle country, with a coastline most of England would charge a fortune for. What it does not have is one obvious place to start, or a single ticket that covers any of it. Prices run from free to nearly £30 a head, and a couple of the best-known attractions are partly closed this year.

Every price and opening time below was checked against the venue’s own website this week. Three things apply across most of the list and are worth knowing before you book:

• VAT on days out has been cut from 20% to 5% until 1 September 2026. English Heritage, the National Trust, Alnwick Castle and others are passing it on, so you are paying less now than you will in the autumn.
• Booking online is nearly always cheaper. The gap is around 10% at most of these venues, and up to 25% at some English Heritage sites.
• Northumberland residents get 25% off the gate price at Alnwick Castle, and anyone arriving by public transport gets 20% off. You cannot use both, but both need only proof at the gate.

The ten, at a glance

Alnwick Castle

The Percy family seat, Hogwarts on screen, and the county’s biggest paid attraction. The pricing is unusually worth reading before you book.

• Summer Savings online: £19.25 adult, £10.15 child (5 to 16), £56.18 family (2 adults and up to 4 children). Valid 25 June to 1 September 2026, reflecting the VAT cut.
• Standard online: £22.00 adult. On the gate: £24.45 adult.
• Children under 5 go free. Under-16s must be with an adult.
• Every online ticket is a season pass, valid 12 months from your first visit with unlimited return visits. Tickets bought at the admission office can be upgraded on the day at no extra cost.
• Northumberland residents: 25% off the gate price, with proof of residency and photo ID.
• Green travel: 20% off if you arrive by bus or train and show a valid ticket.

Castle grounds open 10:00 to 17:00 with last entry 15:45; the State Rooms 10:30 to 16:30; the Great Kitchen 10:30 to 16:45.

Note that an Alnwick Castle ticket does not include The Alnwick Garden, which is a separate charity next door with its own gate and its own prices.

The Alnwick Garden

Best value on this list if you have children, because of one unusual rule: children go free, up to four per booking.

• Garden day ticket: £18.80 adult with Gift Aid, £17.05 without. Children 0 to 16 free, up to four; a fifth child is £6.55.
• Garden plus Lilidorei combined: £21.25 adult, £17.45 per child aged 3 to 16.
• Lilidorei alone, from 1pm: £17.45 for both adults and children.

Open every day 10:00 to 18:00 until 30 August, then 10:00 to 17:00 from 31 August to 23 October. Prices quoted are the online rates running 25 June to 31 August 2026.

The Poison Garden, the Grand Cascade and the treehouse restaurant are the things people come back for.

Bamburgh Castle

The one on the postcard, sitting on its dune above the beach.

• Online: £17.46 adult, £8.75 child (5 to 16), £51.19 family (2 adults, up to 3 children).
• On the gate: £19.95 adult, £10.00 child, £58.50 family.
• Accessibility rate £14.65 adult, £4.00 child, reflecting that not all of the state rooms are reachable.
• Parking is £6 a day at the castle car park up the hill, or at the Glebe and Moor Field car parks in the village. The village car parks close at 5pm. No campervan parking at the castle from 1 June to 31 August.

Last entry to the castle is 4pm. Worth planning around: the castle closes from Monday 9 to Friday 13 November 2026 while the Christmas installation goes in.

Cragside, Rothbury

The first house in the world lit by hydroelectricity, in a thousand acres of rhododendron and lake. The most expensive ticket here, and the most to walk round.

• £29.70 adult with Gift Aid, £27.00 without. £14.90 child (5 to 17) with Gift Aid, £13.50 without.
• Family (2 adults, up to 3 children): £74.30 with Gift Aid, £67.50 without. One adult and up to 3 children, £44.60 or £40.50.
• Under-5s and National Trust members free.

On a typical August day the estate entrance opens 10:00 to 16:00 and the house 11:00 to 16:00, so the house is a shorter window than the grounds. Prices above run until 1 November.

Hadrian’s Wall: Housesteads and Vindolanda

The Wall runs across the south of the county and the two best stops are a few miles apart.

Housesteads Roman Fort is the most complete Roman fort in Britain, run by English Heritage. Advance online £13.60 adult with donation, £12.32 without; £6.80 child (5 to 17). On the day £16.00 adult, £8.00 child. Open 10:00 to 17:00. Book online by midnight the day before to get the lower price, and look for extra savings on Fridays and Saturdays. Free to English Heritage members.

Roman Vindolanda is a separate charity, not English Heritage, and runs both the Vindolanda fort and museum and the Roman Army Museum. Both are open 09:30 to 17:30, last admission 16:30. Buy through the Vindolanda Trust’s own site. Note that a Vindolanda ticket and an English Heritage membership do not cover each other.

Warkworth Castle and Lindisfarne Priory

Two English Heritage sites at the same price, at opposite ends of the coast.

Warkworth Castle and Hermitage sits in a loop of the River Coquet above one of the county’s prettiest villages, ten minutes from Amble. Lindisfarne Priory is on Holy Island, reachable only across the tidal causeway.

Both are £11.90 adult advance online with donation (£10.79 without), £14.00 on the day; £5.95 child advance, £7.00 on the day; family (2 adults, up to 3 children) £29.75 advance. Both open 10:00 to 17:00. Free to members.

Before Lindisfarne, check the tide. The causeway floods twice a day, and the published safe crossing times move by roughly an hour every day. Our Northumberland roads and travel page has the current crossing windows and the 30-minute rule that goes with them.

The Farne Islands

Puffins, guillemots and one of England’s largest grey seal colonies, run by the National Trust and reached by boat from Seahouses.

You need two tickets, which catches people out:

• The National Trust landing fee. £13.00 adult in April, August and September; £17.00 in the May to July peak. Child (5 to 17) £6.50 off-peak, £8.50 peak. Family £32.50 off-peak, £42.50 peak. Under-5s and NT members free.
• The boat from Seahouses, a separate operator’s ticket. A non-landing sail runs from about £22 for 90 minutes; an Inner Farne landing trip is around £32 plus the landing fee.

Inner Farne opens around 10:15 to 15:35 in August. Staple Island is closed to the public in 2026, so if a listing offers you a Staple Island landing, it is out of date.

Woodhorn Museum, Ashington

The county’s own story rather than its castles: a former colliery on the edge of Ashington, with the Ashington Group “Pitmen Painters” collection and the county archives.

• £11.00 adult with the optional donation, £10.00 without.
• £10.00 concession (over 60s, disabled visitors, student and Max Card holders), £9.00 without donation.
• Under-18s free. Accompanying carers free.

Open daily during Northumberland school holidays. Check the vehicle gate closing time before you leave your car.

Free things to do

Northumberland’s best asset costs nothing. The coast between Amble and Berwick is largely free to walk, including the beaches below Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh. Druridge Bay runs for seven miles of sand behind the dunes north of Cresswell. Inland, Kielder Water and Forest Park puts a huge reservoir inside a working forest, and both the lakeside and the forest tracks are open to walk and cycle without a ticket. The skies over the Northumberland National Park are among the darkest in England, which is why Kielder Observatory is where it is.

One thing to check first: Kielder Castle is currently closed for major renovation works, so do not plan a visit around the visitor centre there.

Getting around without a car

The reopened Northumberland Line puts Ashington, Bedlington and Blyth within about half an hour of Newcastle for a flat £2.40, and Alnmouth station is the railhead for Alnwick, 25 minutes from Newcastle. Remember the 20% public-transport discount at Alnwick Castle. Full times and fares are on our Northumberland train times page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest big day out in Northumberland?

Woodhorn Museum in Ashington at £11.00 adult, with under-18s free, is the cheapest ticketed attraction here. If you have children, The Alnwick Garden is arguably better value again, because up to four children go free with each adult ticket.

Do Northumberland residents get discounts?

At Alnwick Castle, yes: 25% off the gate price with proof of residency and photo ID. Most other venues price the same for everyone, though National Trust and English Heritage membership pays for itself quickly if you visit more than two or three of their sites.

Are attraction prices lower this summer?

Yes. VAT on days out was cut from 20% to 5% until 1 September 2026, and English Heritage, the National Trust and Alnwick Castle are all passing it on. Alnwick Castle’s adult ticket is £19.25 rather than £22.00 during that window.

Is Staple Island open in 2026?

No. Staple Island is closed to the public for 2026. Inner Farne landings are running, at around 10:15 to 15:35 in August.

How much does it cost to visit the Farne Islands?

Two tickets. The National Trust landing fee is £13.00 adult in August (£17.00 in the May to July peak), and the boat from Seahouses is separate, from about £22 for a non-landing sail or around £32 for an Inner Farne landing trip.

Do I need to book Hadrian’s Wall in advance?

You do not have to, but it is cheaper. Housesteads is £13.60 adult advance against £16.00 on the day, and English Heritage advertises savings of up to 25% for booking early. Book online by midnight the day before your visit.

Can I visit Holy Island at any time?

No. The causeway floods twice a day and is impassable between the published safe crossing periods. Check the official times for your date and allow 30 minutes on top.

Sources

• Alnwick Castle opening times and ticket prices for admission, the Summer Savings window, the residents’ and green travel discounts and opening hours.
• The Alnwick Garden opening times and prices for garden, Lilidorei and combined tickets and the free-child rule.
• Bamburgh Castle visit us for online and gate prices, parking charges, last entry and the November closure.
• Cragside (National Trust) for admission and opening times.
• Housesteads Roman Fort prices and opening times (English Heritage) for advance and on-the-day prices and the VAT cut.
• Warkworth Castle prices and opening times (English Heritage) and Lindisfarne Priory prices and opening times.
• Farne Islands (National Trust) for landing fees and Inner Farne opening, and Billy Shiel’s Farne Islands boat trips for boat prices and the Staple Island closure.
• Woodhorn Museum visit for admission and opening.
• The Vindolanda Trust for Vindolanda and Roman Army Museum opening hours.
• Visit Northumberland: Kielder Water and Forest Park for the Kielder Castle closure.

Prices and opening times were checked at each venue’s own website in August 2026. Seasonal prices change, and the VAT reduction ends on 1 September 2026. Confirm before you travel.