Best places to visit around the English city of Durham and the wider county (plus video guide)
All you need to know about the top family attractions in Durham
Durham is a wonderful county in north-east England, with loads for families to do, stunning scenery and excellent food and drink.
It’s the perfect place for a family getaway with city, coast and countryside all within one county.
Here are some of the best places to visit if you are visiting Durham City and the wider county and don’t miss our video too.
Durham Cathedral (Durham City)
Durham City is lovely to walk around and at its heart is this magnificent cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site, which has been in use for almost 1,000 years.
But Durham Cathedral has also been used in several movies including the first two Harry Potter films – the Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets.
The Cloisters served as Hogwarts’ quadrangle and outdoor corridors including the scene where Ron has a spell backfire and pukes up slugs.
And the Chapter House was used as McGonagall’s Transfiguration class.
This part is usually closed but we managed to see a bit of it by peering through the keyhole!
If you are eight and over, you can buy tickets to climb the cathedral tower – there are 325 steps to get to the top where there are great views of the city.
Food: The cathedral has a nice restaurant, the Undercroft, serving light lunches including sandwiches, cakes, baked potatoes and quiche, plus they do meal boxes for children.
Cathedral entry cost: Free, £5 suggested donation.
Tower cost: £5.50 adults and £2 children.
Address: Durham Cathedral, Palace Green Town Centre, Durham, DH1 3EP.
Palace Green Library (Durham City)
Also in the city, near to the cathedral’s main entrance on the Green, is this small museum.
It contains treasures detailing the history of Durham dating back more than 2,000 years. There are also rooms dedicated to the history of the Durham Light Infantry and another with information about Durham’s UNESCO World Heritage status.
Palace Green Library
And there’s a children’s trail you can collect at reception for them to do.
Cost: Free.
Address: Palace Green Library, Palace Green, Durham, DH1 3RN.
Riverside walks (Durham City)
There are some beautiful riverside walks around Durham. We started from Framwellgate bridge along the River Wear in the city centre and headed towards Prebend’s Bridge.
Once there you can head up the hill towards the cathedral or for a longer stroll, keep going alongside the water around the bend in the river and take the Elvet Bridge into the city centre.
It is a one-mile flat walk from Framwellgate Bridge to Elvet Bridge.
There is also this Durham Riverside Walk plus lots of trails around Durham Cathedral along Woodlands and Riverbanks.
Our hotel the Radisson Blu Durham was on the river and was a great base to explore from: Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham City Centre – review and guide
Browns Boats (Durham City)
You can hire traditional, hand-made rowing boats to explore the River Wear from Browns Boats. The river is nice and wide so ideal even for novice rowers.
The team at Browns will give you advice and guidance on where to go and how to row safely before you get on board.
The boats have one seat at the front and two at the back with the oarsman in the middle.
In an hour you have time to head in both directions along the river.
Cost: Adults £8, children £5 (plus £10 refundable deposit).
Address: Browns Boats, The Boathouse, Elvet Bridge, Durham, DH1 3AF.
Dig for Sea Glass at Seaham Hall beach (Durham Heritage Coast)
It’s a strange sight to arrive at the beach at Seaham Hall, everyone is either stooping over as they walk or sitting and digging at the sand.
They are hunting for sea glass and it’s strangely addictive.
So, what is sea glass? It is coloured gems found along the shore.
They are formed from bottles, jars and other discarded glass which have been weathered, smoothed and rounded into frosted glass.
Our haul was mostly green and white in colour but there was the odd blue, yellow and even pink find.
Parking: There are steps down to the beach from the free car park above.
Address: Seaham Hall Beach Car Park, SR7 7AF.
Locomotion railway museum (South Durham)
Locomotion museum has all sorts of different trains from the national collection of railway vehicles.
It’s in the town of Shildon, which was the world’s first railway town.
Highlights include peeking inside a Royal Train which carried Edward VII’s wife and a game where you test your reaction times on railway signals.
Looking at the royal carriage
There are locomotives from different eras from the 1830s onwards with a huge variety including cattle carriages, 19th century fire engines and more.
Food: There is a small cafe but you can also bring picnics to eat inside or out.
Cost: Parking and entrance to the museum is free.
Address: Locomotion, Shildon, County Durham, DL4 2RE.
Beamish (North Durham)
Beamish is a living, working museum, where the staff are dressed up to bring to life people and places from the past.
You can experience life in the 1820s, walk around a 1900’s town, a 1900’s pit village, a 1940’s farm and a 1950’s town.
Our highlights included dressing up for an Edwardian family portrait and our daughter having her hair styled in a 1950’s hair salon.
You can get around the sprawling site by tram or old-fashioned bus and buy food from places like an Edwardian bakery or a 1900’s sweet shop.
Tickets are booked in time slots at 10am, 11am and 12noon, try to get 10am as it seemed to get busier later. If you arrive after 1pm you don’t need to reserve a timeslot. We were among the first to enter and went straight to the hair salon first for our daughter and managed to get an appointment straight away.
Food: There are various takeaway and sit-in places to eat, we bought some delicious savoury pastries from a takeaway in the mining village.
Cost: Payment includes membership for a year, it costs £21 per adult, £15.50 for students and seniors aged 60 plus and £12 for children (aged 5 to 16). Family reductions start at £37 for one adult and two children.
Address: Beamish Museum, Beamish, County Durham, DH9 0RG.
Raby Castle (Durham Dales)
This is one of England’s best medieval castles and was built in the 14th century.
The grounds of Raby Castle include a scenic deer park with lakes.
A real highlight here is The Plotters’ Forest, a woodland adventure playground for children.
Raby Castle (Credit: Visit County Durham)
Food: Take a picnic or enjoy lunch or a snack at the Yurt Cafe.
Cost: Raby Castle opening times and prices
Address: Raby Castle, Staindrop, DL2 3AH.
High Force Waterfall (Durham Dales)
This spectacular waterfall drops 21 metres (70 feet) into a pool below, in the Durham Dales.
High Force Waterfall
It’s a relatively short and well-maintained woodland walk for the reward you get at the end.
The sight and sound is spectacular although be careful with children as the viewpoint is down steep steps and on rocks in the River Tees.
We parked at the High Force Hotel, paid at the kiosk in the car park and the children took part in a dinosaur trail too.
We took a longer, steeper, circular walk back round and didn’t see anyone else this way at all.
Cost: Adults £2.50, children under 16 £1, children under five free.
Parking at hotel: £3.
Food: There is a kiosk in the car park selling snacks and drinks or you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner at High Force Hotel.
Address: High Force, Forest-in-Teesdale, DL12 0XH.
Where to stay
With so much to see and do around Durham, you will need a good base to stay. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel in a great location in Durham City on the River Wear: Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham City Centre – review and guide.
And read all about our Durham trip here: We enjoy an action-packed family break in delightful Durham.
Radisson Blu Durham
This is Durham
For more great ideas, visit the county’s official tourism website This is Durham.
Telephone: 03000 26 26 26
Email: visitor@thisisdurham.com
RELATED STORY: We enjoy an action-packed family break in delightful Durham
RELATED STORY: Radisson Blu Hotel in Durham City Centre – review, guide and video tour
*We enjoyed complimentary accommodation and access to attractions for the purpose of this review, all views are our own.