England · Region

North East England

Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland's castles and empty beaches

mattbuck (category) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

England's least-crowded corner and arguably its most dramatic. Hadrian's Wall runs the width of the country; Northumberland strings castles — Bamburgh, Alnwick, Dunstanburgh — along beaches that are usually empty; Holy Island cuts itself off twice a day with the tide; Durham's Norman cathedral sits in a river loop; and Newcastle-Gateshead brings the bridges, the Baltic and the nightlife.

Best time: May–Sep for the coast; Oct–Mar for dark skies and the aurora chance

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