Visit Durham

Durham by night – Photo © Graeme Peacock

Travel

By road

Durham is just two miles from the A1 motorway, between London and Edinburgh. For the city centre, leave the A1 at Junction 62 and follow signs to the city centre. There are three Park & Ride sites around the city: at Belmont, Howlands and Sniperley. You can find exact information at www.durham.gov.uk.

The peninsula will be closed to traffic during the Festival between 5pm and midnight. Please try, where possible, to use public transport or come to the festival on foot. If you need to drive, please do try to travel with friends and family so that your car is full!

Please also use the Park & Ride services wherever possible. An extended service will operate, with the last shuttle buses leaving the centre of Durham at 10:10pm.

By rail

Durham train station is 10 minutes’ walk from the city centre. Trains run frequently to Manchester (2 ½ hours), York (45 minutes), Birmingham (3 hours), Edinburgh (1 ½ hours), Sheffield (2 hours) and Leeds (1 ½ hours). There are also direct cross country links to Scotland, the Midlands and the South West and trains run from London up to 14 times per day. You can find out exact times and journey details by going to www.nationalrail.co.uk.

By air

Both Newcastle and Durham Tees Valley airports are around 30 minutes’ drive from the city centre and have regular domestic and international flights. Visitors can get from Newcastle Airport (www.newcastleairport.com) to Durham by rail or metro, and there is a free Sky Express bus service that runs between Durham Tees Valley (www.durhamteesvalleyairport.com) and Darlington, which also has good links to Durham.

By bus

There are many coach and bus links to Durham from the local towns and from further away. You can find details of particular buses at stagecoachbus.com and nationalexpress.com. There is also a Cathedral Bus (numbers 40A and 40B) which runs between the Freemans Place Car Parks to the Cathedral: tickets cost 50p and are valid all day. Please note that the Cathedral bus will be re-routed via Prebends Bridge to The College during the Festival. The last bus will depart The College at 10:30pm.

Staying in Durham

Durham has a range of accommodation options both in the city centre and in the surrounding countryside. We have also negotiated a special 15% discount on travel and hotel accommodation with the tour operator Superbreak – visit www.superbreak.com/lumiere after the 14th October to book, or go to www.visitcountydurham.com for more accommodation ideas.

Tourist attractions

Durham is a veritable haven of places to see and things to do. For a full low down go to www.visitcountydurham.com, or here are some excellent attractions to get you started:

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The Almshouses

Situated right next to the Cathedral, the Almshouses were founded in 1666. The building was given to the University after its founding in 1832. It has been used as a café and gallery since the 1960s. While the gallery features paintings and sculptures by Eric Marrion, the café has an informal and friendly atmosphere with a menu that changes daily.

Visit the The Almshouses website

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Where to eat

Durham has a huge choice of restaurants and cafes to choose from. In addition to chain restaurants such as Bella Italia, Pizza Express, The Slug and Lettuce, La Tasca, Nando’s and Hide, there are numerous local restaurants that come highly recommended. For a wide range of snacks and meals in beautiful historic surroundings try the Cathedral's Undercroft Restaurant. For local, fresh produce in magnificent industrial surroundings try the Oldfields Restaurant or The Pumphouse. For fine dining in style there’s the County Restaurant, which has an AA Rosette, and Gourmet Spot, which is chasing a Michelin star. If you want to venture outside the city centre Bistro 21 is a charming converted farmhouse. For those of you craving non-British food El Coto serves tapas and Zen provides Asian food inspired by traditional recipes from Thailand, China, Vietnam and India.

For more ideas of where to eat, visit www.visitcountydurham.com.

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