Getting Around Northumberland: Parking, Trains and Buses
Northumberland's towns park for free, its coast charges like a seaside landlord, and bus fares are capped at £2.50 a go. Here's what it all costs, checked on 29 September 2026.
The short answer
There's no single Northumberland car park pass: the council sells a Pay and Display Parking Permit (£337.50 a year on its April 2025 prices) and a £60 Country Park permit, and Northumberland National Park sells a £50 annual Hadrian's Wall Car Parking Pass. Town-centre council car parks in Alnwick, Berwick and Wooler are free (short stays need a £1 disc), while the coast charges 8am to 6pm daily, for example £10.50 all day at Bamburgh or Seahouses. The X18 bus runs the coast from Newcastle to Berwick, and bus fares are capped at £2.50 for adults and £1 for under-22s until March 2027.
Checked 29 September 2026. Dates and prices change, so the council's or operator's link is the one to trust.
The short version, because you're probably reading this in a lay-by with one bar of signal: Northumberland's towns mostly park for free, its famous coast mostly doesn't, and there is no single Northumberland car park pass that covers the lot. There are four passes, from three different outfits. Here's what everything cost when we checked, how to pay, and how to get about by train and bus instead, which on this coast is less daft than it sounds.
How parking works in Northumberland
Four systems, roughly. Towns run on free parking with a paper disc. The coast runs on pay and display, and it isn't cheap. The Hadrian's Wall car parks read your number plate. Kielder does its own thing, as Kielder tends to.
- Council coastal car parks charge 8am to 6pm every day, bank holidays included, with a 72-hour maximum stay.
- Council car parks take the PayByPhone app (or ring 0330 400 7275) with the location number from the sign. The council warns about fake PayByPhone sites and QR codes, so type the code in yourself.
- Short-stay spaces in Alnwick, Berwick, Hexham, Morpeth and Ponteland need a parking disc, £1 from libraries, tourist information centres and the shops named on car park signs. Long-stay car parks don't need one.
Is there a Northumberland car park pass?
Sort of. There are four, and none of them covers everything.
- The council's Northumberland Pay and Display Parking Permit: £108 for three months, £184.50 for six or £337.50 for twelve in its April 2025 charges notice, and the Gazette reported in June 2026 that a 30% rise was approved for the next financial year. The permit page wouldn't load for us, so check which car parks it covers first. At Bamburgh's £10.50 all-day rate you'd need 33 full days to break even.
- The Country Park Parking Permit: £60 for July to June or £32.50 for January to June, per the Druridge Bay page. Pay as you go there is first hour free, £3 up to two hours, £5 after.
- Northumberland National Park's Hadrian's Wall Car Parking Pass: £10 a day or £50 a year from reception at The Sill, valid in all the Park's car parks along the Wall. Hopping between three Roman car parks in a day? The day pass wins.
- Kielder Membership, £40 a year, includes free parking at Kielder, where all day is £6.50. Seven visits and you're in profit.
My rule: don't buy a pass until you've paid for the same car park three times in a month and muttered about it every time.
Town parking: free, with a £1 disc
Genuinely good news: every council car park in Alnwick is free. The short-stay ones need a disc (limits from 30 minutes to three hours), while Dispensary Street, Roxburgh Place, Pottergate New Row and Greenwell Road B, C and E are free all day with no disc. So if you're searching Alnwick parking charges, the town is free and the castle isn't.
Alnwick Castle and Alnwick Garden car park
The castle's main car park, shared with The Alnwick Garden, is off Denwick Lane (the B1340), opens at 9am and costs £3.75 a day. If you'd rather spend that on ice cream, the free long-stay council car parks are a short walk away.
- Price
- £3.75 a day per vehicle
- Parking
- Postcode NE66 1FJ, opens 9am, cards accepted
- Buggy access
- Disabled spaces near the castle entrance, postcode NE66 1NG
- Check first
- Alnwick Castle's season ends in late October, and its own pages disagree on the exact date
Berwick's council car parks are free too, disc for short stays, apart from the railway station. Amble only charges at Turner Street East (first hour free, £3 all day on the council page, though a rise was reported in June 2026). In Wooler, all three car parks are free and nobody asks for a disc. Hexham and Morpeth run the disc system as well, but their council pages came up blank every time we tried.
Coast parking: Bamburgh, Seahouses, Craster and friends
This is where the money goes. The council's coastal tariffs on 29 September 2026:
- Bamburgh (opposite the castle): 3 hours £7, 4 hours £8, 5 hours £9, all day £10.50. Nothing shorter.
- Seahouses (Station Yard): first hour free, 2 hours £5.50, 3 hours £7, all day £10.50.
- Beadnell: first hour free, 3 hours £7, all day £9.50.
- Craster, Low Newton and Newton Steads: 1 hour £3.30 up to £9.50 all day.
- Boulmer: all day £3. The bargain of the coast.
- Free: High Newton, Blyth's Beachway, Mermaid and Ranch Links, Church Point in Newbiggin, and Fountain Head and Old Hartley at Seaton Sluice.
So the south-east coast is free and the north-east coast is priced like it knows it's on the postcards.
Bamburgh village car park
The big road-level car park opposite the castle is the council's: coins, contactless or PayByPhone 804134. The castle's own car park up the hill is £6 a day, card only, and not included in the castle ticket. Its Glebe field by St Aidan's Church (also £6, shuts 5pm) is only open until the end of September. The castle's free buggy runs from its own car park and can't go on the main road, so it won't fetch you from the council one.
- Price
- Council: 3 hours £7, all day £10.50. Castle car park: £6 a day
- Parking
- Village car park NE69 7BJ; the parish council also lists the Links car park (NE69 7AX) and The Wynding
- Toilets
- The parish council lists toilets at the Links car park
- Check first
- The castle car park is card only and for castle visitors
Station Yard car park
The reason people search for free parking in Seahouses: the first hour here costs nothing. An hour gets you fish and chips and a look at the harbour; it doesn't get you a Farne Islands boat trip, so buy the all-day ticket if you're sailing.
- Price
- 1 hour free, 2 hours £5.50, all day £10.50
- Parking
- Council car park, PayByPhone 804141
- Toilets
- Not listed on the council page
- Check first
- Boat trips run long, so don't let a short ticket expire mid-sea
Farne Islands boat trips What you'll see from the Seahouses boats, and when. →
Craster Quarry car park
The car park for Craster and for Dunstanburgh Castle, which has none of its own. Pay with coins or PayByPhone 804138, and bring the coins: the council itself warns that a weak or patchy connection can knock PayByPhone over.
- Price
- 1 hour £3.30, 3 hours £7, all day £9.50
- Parking
- About 60 spaces, coin machines
- Buggy access
- Dunstanburgh Castle is 1.3 miles each way along the coast
- Check first
- Coins, in case the signal won't play
Holy Island parking and the causeway
Yes, you can park on Holy Island: use Chare Ends, signposted before the village. Green Lane in the village is for Blue Badge holders (free) and coaches.
Now the bit that matters more than the price. The causeway floods twice a day. Check Northumberland County Council's safe crossing times for your date before you set off, allow the extra 30 minutes the council tells you to, and never cross with water over the road. We don't print crossing times, on purpose. The council's table is the one to trust, and so is the sign at the causeway that people somehow still ignore.
Holy Island crossing times The council's safe crossing times and what to do if you misjudge them. →
Chare Ends car park
The shortest ticket is three hours at £7, rising to £10.50 for 24 hours (or £21 for 48 if you're staying over). The National Trust says you can pay by card or phone (PayByPhone location 804140). Lindisfarne Castle is about a mile's walk each way, with a drop-off at the castle gate.
- Price
- 3 hours £7 to 24 hours £10.50
- Parking
- Council pay and display; Green Lane is Blue Badge only
- Buggy access
- About a mile each way to Lindisfarne Castle
- Check first
- The council's safe crossing times, every single time
National Trust, English Heritage and Hadrian's Wall parking
Membership cards do less on this coast than you'd hope. The Holy Island car park isn't the National Trust's, Farne Islands boats go from Seahouses and Dunstanburgh sends you to Craster, all council car parks, so you pay like everyone else. English Heritage members do park free at Warkworth Castle (show your car sticker), Belsay and Aydon Castle, and Wallington's National Trust admission includes parking.
Castle parking and prices Every Northumberland castle with its parking, prices and opening times. →
On Hadrian's Wall, the National Park Authority runs The Sill, Housesteads, Brocolitia, Cawfields Quarry, Steel Rigg and Walltown Quarry on number plate recognition, and you have up to 48 hours to pay online at parkwithease.co.uk, by phone, or with cash or card. Housesteads fort is National Trust and English Heritage, so members get in free, but the car park is the Park's and its tariff lists no member exemption.
Housesteads, Steel Rigg and The Sill car parks
Housesteads and Steel Rigg (the short walk towards Sycamore Gap) are free for 15 minutes, £5 up to three hours, then £2 an hour to £10. The Sill is £3 up to two hours, £6 maximum. The fort is an uphill walk from the Housesteads car park, which six and seven year olds will describe, at length, as a mountain.
- Price
- Housesteads and Steel Rigg £5 up to 3 hours, £10 all day
- Parking
- Number plate recognition, pay within 48 hours
- Toilets
- English Heritage lists toilets and a coffee cart in the Housesteads car park
- Check first
- No overnight parking at Housesteads or Steel Rigg
Kielder parking
Kielder Water and Forest Park car parks
£2.50 for an hour or £6.50 all day, and the all-day ticket lasts until 3am (stargazers, that means you) and moves with you between every car park on the site. Some machines take cards, some are cash or RingGo. Fill up first: Kielder village's 24-hour pumps are card only, and Kielder is 30 miles from Hexham.
- Price
- 1 hour £2.50, all day £6.50 (valid until 3am)
- Parking
- One ticket covers all the park's car parks; £40 Kielder Membership includes parking
- Buggy access
- The Lakeside Way is shared by walkers, wheelchair users and small cyclists
- Check first
- Card, cash or RingGo depends on the car park
Altra Kielder Marathon weekend
Heads up for this weekend: the 10K and gravel duathlon are on Saturday 3 October 2026 and the marathon, half and junior races on Sunday 4 October. Runners use a park and ride and spectators need a £5 day pass, so if you wanted a quiet lakeside potter, pick another weekend.
- Price
- Spectator pass £5 a day
- Parking
- Park and ride for runners
- Buggy access
- Race routes are mostly off-road
- Check first
- Spectator arrangements on the organiser's page
Dark skies at Kielder Where to stargaze once your 3am parking ticket is sorted. →
Trains: the East Coast Main Line stations
The main line from London and Edinburgh runs straight up the county. Morpeth serves the town and the south; its station car park went to £4.50 all day under the council decision the Gazette reported in June 2026. Chathill, near Beadnell and Seahouses, gets two trains a day, none on Sundays, and has no ticket facilities, so it's a station in the way a lay-by is a service area.
Alnmouth station
The station for Alnwick, and it isn't actually in Alnmouth: it's in Hipsburn, about a mile inland to the west of the village and 4 miles from Alnwick. LNER, TransPennine Express and Northern call, plus some peak CrossCountry trains. Alnwick Castle's directions say take a taxi or the X18 or X20 bus into town. The ticket office opens daily and there are lifts to both platforms.
- Price
- Northbound car park (council): £2.50 for 24 hours, PayByPhone 804130
- Parking
- 76 spaces; the southbound car park is Network Rail's
- Toilets
- Yes, on platform 1
- Check first
- Ticket office hours on the National Rail page
Berwick-upon-Tweed station
England's most northerly station, just north of the Royal Border Bridge, served by LNER, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express. It was built on the site of Berwick Castle's great hall, knocked down for it in 1847, so the ruins sit right by the platform. History, meet the Costa.
- Price
- Council car park £4.50 for 24 hours, PayByPhone 804131
- Parking
- 20 minutes free in the marked bays; the town's other council car parks are free
- Toilets
- Yes, plus a cafe and lifts on the footbridge
- Check first
- Your train times before paying for 72 hours
The Tyne Valley line and the Northumberland Line
West of Newcastle, Northern's Tyne Valley line runs to Carlisle via Wylam, Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Riding Mill, Corbridge, Hexham, Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill and Haltwhistle. Hexham and Haltwhistle are where you meet the Hadrian's Wall bus.
The Northumberland Line is new: trains returned between Newcastle and Ashington on 15 December 2024, and Bedlington, the last station, opened on 29 March 2026. Northern runs every 30 minutes from 6am to 7.30pm Monday to Saturday, hourly evenings and Sundays, 36 minutes end to end. Mostly commuters, but it's the car-free way to Blyth and Ashington.
Buses: the X18 up the coast and the 122 along the Wall
Arriva's X18 is the coast bus: Newcastle Haymarket to Berwick via Morpeth, Amble, Warkworth, Alnmouth, Alnwick, Craster, Embleton, Beadnell, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Belford and Beal. Walk the coast path one way and let it bring you back. The X15 takes the inland road via Morpeth, Alnwick and Belford. Both ran roughly hourly by day on the timetables we read, and Arriva warns of short delays from A1 roadworks between 8pm and 6am until 5 November 2026.
The Hadrian's Wall Country Bus (the 122 on Go North East's timetable, AD122 to everyone else) links Hexham and Haltwhistle via Chesters, Housesteads, The Sill, Vindolanda and Walltown. Most pages still call it a summer bus. It isn't any more: Go North East and English Heritage both say it runs all year, daily except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. It's only a handful of journeys a day, so plan around it. Your ticket gets 20% off walk-up entry at Housesteads and Chesters and 10% off Vindolanda.
From Berwick, Borders Buses runs the 267 to Wooler via Ford, the 464 via Lowick, and the 418 and 918 to Alnwick via Belford. Holy Island's 477 leaves Berwick station on selected days only, with times set by the tides; the timetable data we read listed Glen Valley Tours running some Wednesdays and Saturdays in October 2026. Kielder gets one bus a week, on Saturdays from Bellingham. Remote is rather the point of Kielder.
Bus fares: £2.50, £1 for under-22s and a £6 day rover
Bus singles across the North East, Northumberland included, are capped at £2.50 for adults and £1 for anyone 21 and under, frozen until March 2027. A Northumberland Day Rover is £6, a regionwide adult day ticket with the Metro is £7.50, and a young person's regionwide day is £3. Two adults and two bairns on singles, there and back: £14. All day at Seahouses is £10.50 before any fuel, so the bus isn't the martyr's option it used to be.
EV charging and cycling
Chargers are easy in the towns and thin in the hills, so check a charging map before heading anywhere remote. Kielder Waterside has chargers by the shop and reception, and Bellingham has two 7.2kW chargers at the Town Hall in Manchester Square. At 7.2kW, plan a long lunch.
For a family ride, Kielder's 26-mile Lakeside Way gets balance bikes and stabilisers as well as walkers and wheelchairs. You don't have to do all 26 miles (please don't, with a six-year-old). Team Cycles hires bikes, including kids' bikes and e-bikes, at Kielder Castle daily from 9am to 5pm, and the green-graded Borderline Trail from Kielder village follows the old Border Counties Railway.
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Questions people ask
Is there a Northumberland car park pass?
There isn't one pass for everything. The council sells a Pay and Display Parking Permit (£337.50 for 12 months on its April 2025 prices) and a £60 Country Park permit, Northumberland National Park sells a £50 annual Hadrian's Wall Car Parking Pass, and Kielder Membership (£40) includes parking at Kielder.
Where to park in Bamburgh?
The council car park opposite the castle (NE69 7BJ) is the main one, at £7 for three hours or £10.50 all day. Castle visitors can use the castle's own car park up the hill for £6 a day, card only.
Can you park on Holy Island?
Yes, at Chare Ends, the council car park before the village, from £7 for three hours to £10.50 for 24 hours. Green Lane in the village is for Blue Badge holders, and you must check the council's safe crossing times before driving over the causeway.
Where to park in Seahouses?
Station Yard, the council car park in Seahouses. The first hour is free, then it's £5.50 for two hours or £10.50 all day, paid through PayByPhone (location 804141).
Where is Alnmouth train station?
In Hipsburn, about a mile inland to the west of Alnmouth village, on the East Coast Main Line. The postcode is NE66 3QF.
How far is Alnmouth station from Alnmouth?
About a mile. The station is also 4 miles from Alnwick, and Alnwick Castle suggests a taxi or the X18 or X20 bus to get into town.
Is there public transport to Holy Island?
Yes, but only just: the 477 bus runs from Berwick railway station on selected days, with times set by the tides. The X15 and X18 stop at Beal on the mainland, which still leaves the causeway to cross.
How to get to Northumberland by train?
Take the East Coast Main Line to Berwick-upon-Tweed (LNER, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express all call) or Alnmouth, or to Morpeth for the south of the county. For Hexham and Hadrian's Wall, change at Newcastle for Northern's Tyne Valley line, and for Blyth and Ashington, change at Newcastle for the Northumberland Line.
Sources and further reading
Facts checked against 39 pages on Tuesday 29 September 2026. Opening times and prices change, so confirm with the venue.
Show the sources
- Northumberland County Council: coastal car parks
- Northumberland County Council: parking locations, charges and parking discs
- Northumberland County Council: Alnwick car parks
- Northumberland County Council: Berwick car parks
- Northumberland County Council: Amble car parks
- Northumberland County Council: Alnmouth car parks
- Northumberland County Council: Wooler car parks
- Northumberland County Council: park and pay by phone
- Northumberland County Council: parking locations and charges
- Northumberland Gazette: Parking charges to increase at railway stations and country parks (2 June 2026)
- Northumberland County Council: Druridge Bay Country Park and cafe
- Northumberland County Council: Holy Island safe crossing times
- Northumberland National Park: car parks and the Hadrian's Wall Car Parking Pass
- Bamburgh Castle: visit us (parking)
- Bamburgh Parish Council: parking
- Alnwick Castle: find us
- National Trust: Lindisfarne Castle
- English Heritage: Housesteads Roman Fort
- Visit Kielder: plan your visit (parking, fuel, EV charging)
- Visit Kielder: how to get to Kielder
- Visit Kielder: off-road cycling
- Kielder Marathon
- National Rail: Alnmouth station
- National Rail: Chathill station
- Wikipedia: Alnmouth railway station
- Wikipedia: Alnmouth
- Wikipedia: Chathill railway station
- Wikipedia: Berwick-upon-Tweed railway station
- Wikipedia: Tyne Valley line
- Wikipedia: Northumberland Line
- Wikipedia: Bedlington railway station
- Wikipedia: Northumberland Park station (Tyne and Wear)
- Arriva: X18 Newcastle to Berwick via Morpeth, Alnwick, Seahouses
- Arriva: X15 Newcastle to Berwick via Morpeth, Alnwick
- Go North East: 122 Hadrian's Wall Country Bus
- Go North East: 122 timetable
- North East Combined Authority: Mayor freezes £1 and £2.50 fares (10 December 2025)
- Borders Buses: services
- bustimes.org: 477 Berwick to Holy Island
