North East England

Introduction

North East England is colder and drier than the rest of the country. Attractions in this area include the port city of Newcastle, ancient cathedral city of Durham, the remote Cheviot hills, the Wear valley and Kielder Water.

Local Government areas

Counties:

• Northumberland county
• County Durham
• Tyne and Wear

Unitary authorities:

• Newcastle upon Tyne
• North Tyneside
• Gateshead
• South Tyneside
• Sunderland
• Hartlepool
• Stockton-on-Tees
• Middlesbrough
• Redcar and Cleveland

Cities and towns

• Newcastle
• Gateshead
• Sunderland
• Durham
• Middlesborough
• Hartlepool
• Chester-le-Street

Getting There

By Plane

Newcastle International Airport (NCL) handles both flights within United Kingdom and to several international destinations in Europe, Africa and North America. The airport can easily be reached from the Newcastle Central Railway station by a direct service and journey takes around 30 minutes.

To/from the airport

• Rail: Airport station on the Tyne and Wear Metro is directly connected to the terminal through an indoor walkway. The station is the northern terminus of the green line with frequent, direct services to Newcastle (22 minutes) and Sunderland (55 minutes) city centres.
• Road: The Airport is connected to the A1 trunk road by the A696 dual carriageway. A regular bus service also runs from the airport to Newcastle and southeast Northumberland. A half-hourly service links the Airport to the nearby villages of Ponteland and Darras Hall, as well as Newcastle City Centre, on Monday to Saturday only, with the last journeys around 6:00pm. Service 74A operates a limited service to the city centre at other times.

By Boat

From the Netherlands

• DFDS Seaways between IJmuiden and Newcastle.

Norway

• Colorline between Newcastle and both Bergen and Stavanger.
• Fjordline between Newcastle and both Bergen and Stavanger.
• DFDS Seaways between Newcastle and Kristansand.

Sleep