Here’s Why I Love You

Dear Newcastle and North East England: Here’s Why I Love You

Because you’re reading these words right now on a travel website, it probably won’t surprise you to learn I’m a travel writer.

So I write about lots of places.

Like:

(all places I’ve lived or places I love).

But today, I’m gonna head home for a while (well, not literally).

I’m from Newcastle, in north east England.

… and because I spend most of my time away from the place, people assume I must hate where I’m from.

But I don’t. It’s one of the best places in the world.

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People from Newcastle are weird

We’re not particularly proud of being British.

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We’re not particularly proud of being English.

But we’re super super (super) proud of being from Newcastle.

(or, to put it another way, we’re super super super proud of being Geordies*)

*a ‘Geordie,’ as you probably worked out, is just a person from Newcastle. But maybe you already knew that.

Anyway, we love everything about being from Newcastle. We love our city, our football team, our accent, our terrible weather, and our working-class roots. I don’t think I’ve ever met any group of people who are more proud of their region.

So, next, I’ll try to justify why:

It’s one of the friendliest places in the world

What a big fat cliché, I know.

But sometimes clichés are true.

And this one definitely is.

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The north east of England is friendly. Very friendly.

We all say hello to each other. We all smile at each other. We’ll all happily make friends with each other. When you see another Geordie in a foreign place, you cuddle and make friends and talk in your local accent to each other, and behave as if you’re long-lost best friends*.

(*which, in a way, I suppose you are).

Sometimes, when I go live in other places, I find it jarring that people aren’t perpetually friendly. Compared to people from Newcastle, people from most other places are pretty grumpy.

We have loads of long-distance adventures

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Including:

• The Coast and Castles Bike Ride: this bike ride runs all the way from Newcastle to Edinburgh, and heads through north east England for about half its length. As you probably worked out for yourself, it includes a lot of coasts and a lot of castles.
• The Northumberland Coastal Path: running from Cresswell (relatively close to Newcastle), all the way to the English side of the England-Scotland border. This is probably England’s most remote coastal walk. It clocks in at 62 miles (100km).
• The Hadrian’s Wall Hike: possibly the most famous long-distance hiking trail in the UK, the Hadrian’s Wall hike runs all the way along an old wall the Romans built back in AD122. Not much of the wall is left these days; but plenty of scenery is.
• The Hadrian’s Wall Cycle Route: similar to the above… but on a bike.
• St Cuthbert’s Way: also measuring in at 62 miles (100km), this is a sort-of-pilgrimage route. It starts at an abbey and ends on a weird only-accessible-sometimes island.
• St Oswald’s Way: another sort-of-pilgrimage route, this one measures 97 miles (156 km). It starts in Hadrian’s Wall territory before heading north, eventually going to the coast, then ending on the same weird island I just mentioned.

The city itself

The actual city of Newcastle is lovely.

There’s not a huge amount to *do.*

(okay I’ve sort of lied: there are things to do, as I’ve already talked about here and here)

But compared to most cities, you won’t find many museums or tourist attractions or whatever. Which is fine, cos most museums are boring anyway.

But the city—despite its lack of sights—is ridiculously charming.

As I’ve covered, people are friendly.

But you also get:

• The famous accent
• LOADS of nightlife venues
• Lots of pubs and restaurants
• People have a 10/10 sense of humor
• Weird tours (well, they’re not all weird)
• A pretty riverside area (with SEVEN(!) bridges)
• The old-school indoor fun of the Grainger Market
• Affordable pubs, coffee shops, and microbreweries
• A big arts scene, with a bunch of independent venues
• Loads of great bike rides you can take right from the city center
• Architecture (in 2002, the iconic Grey Street was voted the best street in England!)

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And it’s ridiculously small and walkable: you can wander from one side of central Newcastle to the other side of central Newcastle in around 20 minutes.

Yep, all that stuff packed into the tiny confines of a 20-minute walk. Told you it was a good city!

Cos of the Ouseburn

Just on the eastern outskirts of Newcastle’s very center, the Ouseburn is the best part of the city.*

*and anyone who disagrees hasn’t spent enough time there.

Or is an idiot.

Or both.

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Anyway, the Ouseburn is a weird little maze of green spaces, independent venues, hip coffee shops, bakeries inside shipping containers (yeah, it’s one of those places), craft-beer-serving pubs, and pretty riverside views. Odder highlights include a petting zoo, a mini riverside area with abandoned boats (at least, I think they’re abandoned), and the best donuts I’ve ever eaten (at Proven Goods).

But I won’t bore you to death with any more details, because I’ve already done that in these guides:

We have hills…

I’ve already talked about some of the long-distance adventures you can have in the area.

(soz for being so repetitive)

But for hiking, the area between Newcastle and the Scottish border (which is around a 75-minute drive in total, so there’s plenty of space) is one of the best regions in the UK.

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It has:

• the lowest population density of any region in England
• the biggest area of protected dark sky in Europe (Kielder, in case you’re curious)
• … and the biggest man-made lake and forest in northern Europe (yep, also in Kielder)

… and the biggest peak in the area is ‘The Cheviot.’ Clocking in at a height of 815 meters (2,670 feet), it’s part of the Cheviots range. I’ve hiked in various parts of this range dozens of times: the VAST majority of the times I’ve been here, I’ve seen no-one else (well, apart from whoever I’m with).

Put all that stuff together, and you get loads of quiet land, loads of remote spots, and loads of places to hike.

I’ve talked more about my favorite close-to-Newcastle hiking spots here.

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… AND beaches

In Newcastle, we have a sort-of-overground-sort-of-underground public transport called ‘The Metro.’

I want you to imagine London’s tube, but worse. But also less sweaty, so that’s good.

Anyway, this Metro system can have you at the beach (from central Newcastle) within about 15 minutes.

The first place you’ll reach is Tynemouth. The next is Cullercoats. Then Whitley Bay.

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All three are small coastal towns with loads of nice places to sip coffee and eat fish and chips and lick ice cream and be really cold (yeah, our weather is pretty terrible, and it’s usually windy or rainy or both).

Anyway, those places are great. But if you head further north, that’s where the real magic happens. We have loads of very-accessible-but-very-quiet beaches, where you’ll often see no-one else.

Some of them are good for surfing. Some are home to castles. Some offer boat trips to puffin-infested islands. Others have hikes between them. Some are just nice for eating food. Anyway, I don’t really like beaches; and even I think we have good beaches.

For more, here are the 10 best beaches in Northumberland… and the 15 best beaches near Newcastle.

It’s affordable

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Okay, Newcastle isn’t as cheap as some other places I’ve lived.

But let’s compare it to London (which is way more expensive than ALL of the UK, but that’s the way I’m gonna illustrate my point anyway)

In London, rental prices are around:

• 1-bedroom apartment in the city center (monthly rent): £2,240
• 1-bedroom apartment outside the city center (monthly rent): £1,640

But, in Newcastle, rental prices are around:

• 1-bedroom apartment in the city center (monthly rent): £1,375
• 1-bedroom apartment outside the city center (monthly rent): £625

See? Newcastle is cheap.

Here are some more cost-of-living stats for the city, for those of you who really really love numbers:

• One-way ticket on local public transport: £2.30
• Regular monthly pass for local public transport: £65
• Meal for 1 at an inexpensive restaurant: £15
• 3-course meal for 2 people at a mid-range restaurant: £65
• Large draught domestic beer in a bar or restaurant: £3.70
• Regular cappuccino in a cafe or restaurant: £3.20

I took all these cost-of-living stats from Numbeo, where you can find the rest of the figures.

(Before we finish this section, promise me one thing: you won’t capitalize on these prices and go buy a house in Newcastle and drive the prices up before I get a chance to buy a place there myself. Deal?)

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Newcastle is the best place in the world and I’ll have a physical fist fight with anyone who disagrees

Okay, I probably went a bit too far with that final subheading. Oopsy.

Anyway, my point is this…

One day, I’ll stop all this perpetual traveling, and I’ll come back home where I belong.

Annnnndddd, that’s me done here. I’ll stop being all proud now.

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And you can go off and get on with your day.

For more of my unsolicited opinions, here are some other articles:

… oh, and if I’ve convinced you to visit my home city and now you want to find a hotel, here are the best places to stay in Newcastle.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being Newcastle’s #2 fan (I’m #1), and thanks for choosing Travelness. And stick with us for more—I promise we’re not always this partisan. See ya!