Durham’s Cathedral, Castle and village

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
5
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
4
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
55 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
341st/454
Top 80%
continent
Europe
country
UK
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$20 ($10-$20 in 2021 prices)
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Castles / Fortresses Christian site Local villages
All Tags
Bridges Old town UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐
Summary

The famous travel writer Bill Bryson, after seeing half the world, was gobsmacked when he saw Durham and wondered why no one had told him about it before.  So much so that he decided to become Chancellor of Durham University and says, “If you have never been to Durham before, go there at once. Take my car, it’s wonderful.”  Easy to see why – the setting with the magnificent Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle perched high on the tight meander of the River Wear is just stunning and is complemented by the small narrow streets that branch off all through the nearby town

 

An easy day trip from Newcastle (see here for tips on Newcastle – A day in Newcastle), one of the key stops on the main east coast line that runs through the UK, and a must if in this part of the world

 

Top tip – be sure to walk around the river right by the waterfront.  The best bit is from Framwellgate Bridge to Prebends Bridge, but you can also walk all the Elvet Bridge

Highlights
durham-cathedral-aspect-ratio-900-675

#1 The views over the immense nearly 1000 years old Durham Cathedral. A bastion for Christianity in the medieval period and impressive in its scale and setting even today

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#2 The walk along the tight loop of the River Wear bend, and allowing you to be quickly transported from the winding town streets to being surrounded by trees and nature

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#3 The pretty cobbled Durham streets all branching away from the Cathedral and Castle. A superb Old Town feel

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#4 Durham Castle and the lucky students that get to call it home for a year

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other pretty Old Towns

A day trip to York
⭐⭐

Wandering Dubrovnik’s Old Town City Walls
⭐⭐

A long weekend for Lisbon and the surrounding gems of Sintra and Cascais
⭐⭐⭐

Wandering Ljubljana’s Old Town and Castle
⭐⭐

A few days in Penang for George Town and beaches
⭐⭐

Trip to Colonia del Sacramento from Buenos Aires
⭐⭐

Nights out and soaking up Havana
⭐⭐⭐

Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town
⭐⭐⭐

Soaking up Antigua
⭐⭐

A couple of days in Arequipa
⭐⭐

2 days stopover in Quito
⭐

Stepping back in time in Malta
⭐⭐⭐

Salamanca’s Old Town
⭐⭐⭐

Historic Seville
⭐⭐⭐

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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