One Day in Newcastle: The Perfect Local Itinerary

I’ve lived in Newcastle for more than ten years, and if a friend told me they only had one day in Newcastle and it’s their first time, this is exactly where I’d take them.

And it is a charming city, if you are here for football, extreme day trip or a weekend, this is what I would show someone who had one day in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Everything in this walking itinerary for Newcastle is walkable from Central Station or you can take a metro. Also family friendly, Newcastle Upon Tyne is not very big, and there are places to go and visit if you have kids as well.

If you want a guided option rather than doing it yourself, there are good walking tours of the city centre. In summer, the Newcastle Beer and Prosecco Bike Tour is also fun.

Additionally, I have a list of suggestions on where to eat in Newcastle City Centre if you fancy having food not suggested here. I hope it helps you plan your own trip! Also will be recommending some tours and experiences along the way.

One day itinerary to Newcastle Upon Tyne

Here’s a simple version of what you can do in a day in Newcastle, do read on for further directions and things to do, and I’m going to write this in a list format so it’s easy for you.

• Start at the Monument, visit the Grey’s monument
• If you are going up the monument then it would take about an hour or so.
• Once you are done at Grey’s monument, go to Bigg Market cathedral, and go at the back and see the Vampire Rabbit.
• Then to the Castle keep next to it.
• Then either go to Quayside and wander around and go to Ouseburn and also the Baltic (free entry modern museum) or go to Blackfriars, next to Chinatown.
• If you choose Blackfriars, you can go to Grainger market after for food.
• Then head up to St James Stadium
• Then definitely go down to Quayside after, walk the millenium bridge.
• If you have time, walk to Ouseburn, there’s a number of independent shops and restaurants, and a petting farm.
• and depending on your schedule and your interests from the above, you can also take the metro (do a day ticket if you plan on coming back to the city centre), and head to Tynemouth, and have a wander around the coast, have seafood at Riley’s fish shack.
• Then back up to city centre.
• If you can fit Angel of the North or if that what interests you, then I have instructions on how to get there at the end of this post if you don’t drive

This is of course a guide to help you plan your day, the following are more information and how to get to places from Central Station assuming you arrive from the station. Feel free to mix and match and plan your day accordingly. Most things to do here don’t take too long for each spot.

There are also walking tours of Newcastle City centre if that is more helpful.

There’s a 90 minute Old Newcastle Walking Tour – FREE castle entry tour you can go for, or Guided City Walking Tour of Newcastle – both are highly regarded.

Starting at Newcastle Central Station

I’m going to assume you’re arriving by train into Central Station or even if you arrive by plane, you can get the metro from the airport into the city centre itself (either Haymarket, Monument (Greys monument), or central station).

Grey Street and Grey’s Monument

Head out of the station and turn right. Cross the road where Starbucks is on your left and walk straight up Grainger Street, continue on up and you’ll reach Greys Monument.

On the way up you’ll pass a little church on the corner on your right, easy to miss but its free to wander around the ground, though sometimes be bit weary of the people in the garden.

Before that you’ll notice the stone statues of men lining the street, quite random but don’t be alarmed. They tend to become the official backdrop for every hen and stag do photo in the North East or on a night out.

When you reached Grey’s Monument. It’s almost like a square with a lot of turn around and one street looks back down Grey Street.

It curves downhill toward the Tyne river where the Quayside is, Georgian architecture buildings on both sides, and the Theatre Royal on your right.

BBC Radio 4 listeners voted it best street in England in 2005, and it still is very pretty!

I have a full guide about Climbing up Grey’s Monument and you can get one of the best views of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

The Central Arcade

Off Grey Street, tucked between the buildings, is the Central Arcade and most people walk straight past the entrance.

We are not doing that today. There are 3 entrances, one is next to Knoops.

It is a covered Victorian shopping arcade with a mosaic tile floor and a glazed dome roof and it’s stunning inside.

It’s not very big or long either, there are shops here and more to come soon I hope. There was a big music shop that’s been here for ages but has sadly closed down.

If you are here around Christmas time, the Christmas decorations in the Central Arcade is just a beaut.

Grainger Market

If Grey’s Monument behind you, go down the path where Black sheep cafe is and Bluebell cafe on the left, and keep walking down, you will come cross Grainger Market on the right.

There’s literally about 6 to 8 entrances, and this market has been open since 1835.

If you’re here before 11am, you can get breakfast from one of the food stalls inside. And while you’re in there, find Midsommar Bakery, a little Swedish micro-bakery run by a Swedish-Geordie couple that has become quietly one of the best things in the market. Get a cinnamon or cardamom bun.

Also look out for Pumphreys Coffee, which has been roasting since 1750, and North Shore Coffee if you want something more speciality.

Oh and do try the Geordie bangers, they are so lovely and their sausage rolls are so big, tasty, and flaky, and they have hot dogs too.

They are closed on Sundays mind.

I have a full list of things to do and places to eat in Grainger Market

Visit the Medieval parts of Newcastle City centre

From Grainger market, head slightly downhill toward St Nicholas Street and you will find The Castle, the Cathedral, the Vampire Rabbit, and Bigg Market are all within five minutes of each other.

Bigg Market

Best way is to first go to Bigg Market which is about 5 minutes from anyone of the entrances of Grainger Market. Around the corner from Wendys.

The Bigg Market is not a market any more but it has been the centre of things for nine hundred years. The name comes from a type of barley sold here from medieval stalls.

The temperance fountain in the middle was built in 1894, and now it is more known as a party street, with restaurants, lots of bars, hooters, and munchies.

On weekday mornings it is quieter and easier to appreciate the listed buildings and the age of the place. And also lovely to sit outside in one of the restaurants during a sunny day.

During the evenings especially weekends, it can get wild here, and I mean that, really mean it. I once saw a guy being piled on by 10 security guards and he was still fighting them.

Moving on to St Nicholas Cathedral.

St Nicholas’ Cathedral

And on the bottom of the Bigg Market, walk to the end of the street, you will find St Nicholas Cathedral and a statue of Queen Victoria outside.

Inside the cathedral, there is a monument to Admiral Lord Collingwood, baptised and married here, who took command at Trafalgar after Nelson fell. The floor ledger stones are four hundred years of Newcastle history.

It is free to enter and you can have a wander around. Sometimes they have some event going on here.

The Vampire Rabbit

Walk around to the back of Cathedral Buildings on Dean Street. You are looking for the ornate door facing the east end of the Cathedral. Look above it.

The Vampire Rabbit has been there since 1901. Painted jet black, blood on its teeth and claws. Nobody knows definitively why it exists. The most believable theory involves the architect and a friend whose surname was Hare. Another says it was put there to scare off grave robbers from the Cathedral churchyard.

I love that nobody knows. It is a hundred-year-old snarling rabbit behind a cathedral and Newcastle has quietly made it a landmark. To be fair, I never knew about it till a friend of a friend wanted to go see it and we were like eh what? So now you know.

The Castle Keep and Black Gate

From the cathedral and walk down away from the cathedal, you will find the castle that Newcastle Upon Tyne is literally named after.

The Normans built a new castle here in 1080 and the name stuck for nine centuries. The Keep standing now was completed in 1177.

Between the Keep and the Black Gate, there is a Victorian railway viaduct built straight through the medieval complex in 1849. The engineers did not let a 700-year-old castle slow them down. The train still runs through the gap.

You can buy a ticket that covers both buildings and climb to the top of the Keep for views over the Tyne and the bridges. In Spring, the Spring blossom tree is in full bloom outside.

• Address: Castle Garth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1RQ
• Open: 10am to 5pm daily. Last entry 4pm.
• Admission: £13.50 adult. Valid 365 days so you can come back.
• Allow 40 to 60 minutes including the climb. Quiet on weekday mornings.

Blackfriars

From the Castle keep, walk back up towards the Gate (a big glass building), and a 5-minute walk from Bigg Market, and we shall head towards the Blackfriars.

It’s set in a friary that dates back to 1239, which makes it one of the oldest surviving medieval buildings in the city and believed to be the oldest dining room in the UK.

If you’re here on a Sunday, this is where I’d send you for lunch, their Sunday roast is consistently rated one of the best in Newcastle Upon Tyne, served in a 13th century refectory with original wooden beams and a cloister garden.

Just book ahead because it sometimes fills up fast. Sunday lunch runs 12pm to 5pm and three courses with a couple of drinks for two comes in at very reasonable money between 20 to 30 per person.

Chinatown and the Chinese Arch

Newcastle’s Chinatown is one of only five in England which I didn’t realise till making this guide, which is something most people don’t know (me as well).

It’s not the biggest mind, the main street is called Stowell Street, packed with Chinese and East Asian restaurants and tea shops (bubble tea) and if you are eating, I like Sky for sharing dishes and also Phoenix is great for dishes and I prefer their Dim Sum.

If you want quick and easy, then Chinatown express oppoist the Chinatown Gate is a good one, been here for ages, and I always get the sweet and sour pork and thai style fried rice.

From Blackfriars, the back of the restaurant in the grassy bit, you can walk to Stowell street, it is connected.

At the bottom of Stowell Street, look out for the remains of the medieval town wall running along the boundary of the area, it’s one of the few surviving stretches in the city.

Don’t forget to take a picture of the Chinatown Gate on the opposite side of the wall.

Then walk up to the top of Stowell Street toward St Andrew’s Street where the Chinese Arch is. Built in 2004 by craftsmen from Shanghai, it stands 11 metres tall, flanked by two stone guardian lions, and it faces directly toward St James’ Park at the top of the hill.

Lunch

By now it is probably around lunchtime or just after.

If the Grainger Market is open and it should be weekday and Saturday till about 4pm 0well 5pm but most closes up early), and you skipped breakfast there, you could go back.

The Grainger Market Bakery does a stottie. If you do not know what a stottie is, it’s a very big round bread and it’s very local, especially with pease pudding.

You could go for Grainger Market food tour or pick a spot from one of these restuarants in my list of restaurants in Newcastle Upon Tyne depending on your taste and budget.

Afternoon

St James’ Park

Now let’s head up to St James’ Park, Newcastle’s famous 52,305-seat football ground.

Newcastle United have been here since 1892. Built into a hillside so the Leazes End towers above the surrounding streets.

If you are a football fan, book a stadium tour. 90 minutes, players’ tunnel, dressing room, and the highest point of the ground with city views. The guides usually know things about the place that are not on Wikipedia. Rooftop tours run in summer.

• Tours: 12:30pm and 2:30pm weekdays. 11:30am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm weekends.
• Not available on match days or the day before.
• Book at newcastleunited.com.

Of course you’ll have to visit The Strawberry Pub opposite the stadium for a pint. And wander in Newcastle United merch shop and Shearer’s bar outside as well.

Haymarket, Newcastle University, and the Hancock Museum

From St James’ Park, you walk down toward Haymarket and into the University area, which is one of those parts of the city that feels slightly separate from everything else, grand Victorian and Edwardian buildings, wide streets, a bit more breathing room than the city centre.

The Great North Museum Hancock is right on the University campus on Barras Bridge and it’s completely free. Walk up from the Civic centre and you’ll have to cross the road.

There’s a life-size T-Rex skeleton, a huge interactive model of Hadrian’s Wall, mummies from ancient Egypt, and a planetarium for an extra £1.

The building itself is Victorian civic architecture. Allow at least an hour, longer if you have children or a genuine interest in natural history and archaeology.

While you are near the Civic Centre, you can have a look at the gothic statue of the Tyne God.

Late Afternoon: The Quayside

Walk south and downhill from the Monument toward the river. About fifteen minutes from Grey Street, mostly downhill through Grainger Town.

The Quayside is where Newcastle Upon Tyne actually started. Before the Victorian city expanded up the hill, this riverbank was everything, the coal trade, the merchant houses, the reason the place existed.

The view east from the riverbank toward the Tyne Bridge, the High Level Bridge, and the Millennium Bridge lined up together is the one that ends up on every Newcastle postcard.

Walk across the Millennium Bridge. If you time it right you might even see it tilt open for passing boats. And it lights up at night.

Also look out for the seven bridges, and usually you will see them on the train coming into Newcastle Upon Tyne central station, and this is when you know you are home (for me at least).

The Bridges

The Tyne Bridge was completed in 1928 and designed by the same firm that designed Sydney Harbour Bridge, which opened four years later. Who influenced who is a matter of ongoing gentle dispute between Newcastle and Australia.

The High Level Bridge upstream was designed by Robert Stephenson and opened in 1849, the first bridge in the world to carry road and rail on separate decks. The Millennium Bridge is the tilting pedestrian bridge that rotates for river traffic. It won the Stirling Prize for architecture in 2002.

Walk the Quayside and Cross to Gateshead

Walk east along the riverbank. Bessie Surtees House on Sandhill is a pair of 16th-century timber-framed merchant buildings, free to visit on weekday mornings, and one of the finest examples of Jacobean domestic architecture in England.

If you happen to be here on a Sunday, the Quayside Market runs along the riverfront with local produce, crafts, and street food.

Cross the Millennium Bridge into Gateshead. Go into BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art on the south bank.

Take the lift to the rooftop terrace. The view back across the river to Newcastle from here is the best photography position in the city and most people never find it. It’s Free of course and no booking required.

Evening

The Quayside has the concentration of bars and restaurants the city is known for. For a drink before dinner, The Crown Posada on The Side is a Victorian pub with stained glass and real ales that appears on every best-pubs-in-England list.

For dinner, you can go for The Broad Chare on Broad Chare for proper pub food at a high level (brown crab on toast, pig cheek) or Pan Haggerty on Queen Street for traditional Northumbrian food in a room that books fast at weekends.

There’s also the red house that serves pie and mash, so good! proper comfort food.

Ouseburn

I’m adding this as an option as well, from BALTIC you can walk along the riverbank east to the Ouseburn, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes and is a lovely walk.

Ouseburn is Newcastle’s creative quarter, a Victorian industrial valley that now has independent bars, music venues, studios, and a different feel from the city centre.

The Cluny and the Tyne Bar are both great pubs for a drink if they’re open.

Have a gelato on a warm day, bakeries and they have loads of independent shops and restaurants here as well.

When you’re done, either walk back up the hill into the city centre and it’s uphill or grab a bus back up from the Ouseburn road or Uber.

If You Have More Than One Day in Newcastle

If you have another day or if you want you can fit this in to your one day, as Tynemouth is only about 20 minutes on the Metro.

On Sunday, there’s also a market in Tynemouth metro. It’s a whole town by the sea.

There’s priory ruins on a headland, the famous Riley’s Fish Shack on the beach (lovely but pricey mind), and one of the best half days near any UK city.

I have a whole guide to Tynemouth if you want to know what to do in Tynemouth.

Another day trip would be to Durham, which is 15 minutes by train and has one of the finest Norman cathedrals in Europe on a peninsula above a river gorge.

Beamish Museum,

It’s about half an hour from Newcastle.

It’s an open-air living museum where entire streets from the 1820s, 1900s, and 1950s have been reconstructed brick by brick.

It’s quite fun to see people acting like the 1800s and living in it vibe. Go North East bus 28 runs directly from Newcastle city centre and gets you 25% off admission, but book online in advance especially in summer.

The Angel of the North

Just south of Gateshead on the A1, Antony Gormley’s 20-metre steel angel with a 54-metre wingspan sits on a former colliery site and the icon of Newcastle Upon Tyne. It’s free, open all hours, and there’s a small car park on site if you are driving.

How to get to the Angel of the North from the Newcastle city centre:

• Catch the Go North East 21 bus from Newgate Street or Eldon Square Bus Station.
• The bus goes towards Durham.
• Get off at Angel of the North or the nearby Durham Road stop.
• Journey time: 15–20 minutes. From the bus stop it’s only a 2–5 minute walk to the sculpture

Whatever you do in Newcastle Upon Tyne, I hope you have the best time, and enjoy the city I call home.

Questions People Ask about Newcastle Upon Tyne

Courtney xx

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Read more Newcastle Upon Tyne itineraries and food recommendations:

Want to explore Newcastle’s food scene further? Here are some guides that might help:

Complete Guide to Grainger Market : Deep dive into Britain’s Favourite Market with all the best food vendors

25 Things to Do in Newcastle Upon Tyne : My complete guide to the city including more food recommendations

Newcastle Match Day Guide : Where to eat and drink before NUFC matches (trust me, you need this)

9 Best Bakeries to try in Newcastle Upon Tyne : Find out the bakeries to get the best croissants, pastries, doughnuts, and sourdough

Things to Do in Tynemouth : Including Riley’s Fish Shack, one of the best seafood spots in the North East

Climbing up Grey’s Monument : Climbing Grey’s Monument: Is it worth it and the Costs?

Riley’s Fish Shack Review: The Famous Riley’s Fish Shack in Tynemouth: Is it worth it?