Best Days Out from Sunderland

Sunderland sits in an unusually good spot for a day out. The coast runs north and south of the city, County Durham's castles, cathedral and dales are under an hour away, Newcastle and Gateshead are a short Metro ride, and the A19 and A1 put most of the North East's big attractions within a 90-minute drive. Many of the best are free, and several of the paid ones sell tickets that last a year, so a single visit can turn into a season of return trips.

This guide picks fourteen destinations that work as a full day from Sunderland, roughly in order of distance. Travel times are approximate from the city centre in normal traffic. Prices and opening patterns were checked in November 2026 and are quoted at the time of writing; several attractions now run reduced winter days, so always check before you set off. For things to do without leaving the city, see our things to do in Sunderland and free things to do in Sunderland guides.

Souter Lighthouse and The Leas, Whitburn

About 15 minutes up the A183 coast road, Souter opened in 1871 and is described by the National Trust as the first lighthouse in the UK designed and built to run on electricity. There are 76 steps to the top, a cafe and a bookshop at the bottom, and the clifftop grassland of The Leas stretches north to Marsden Bay, where the sea stacks and the gull colonies are a walk in themselves. Lighthouse entry is £7 for adults and £3.50 for children at the time of writing, with a family ticket at £17.50, free for under-fives and National Trust members, and 25 per cent off if you arrive with a bus ticket. Parking is pay and display, free for members. The lighthouse keeps a winter pattern with fewer open days, so check the calendar first. South Shields' own Marsden Bay guide covers the beach end.

Seaham and the Durham Heritage Coast

Ten minutes south by train or 15 by car, Seaham's seafront is a free afternoon. Ray Lonsdale's corten-steel statue "1101", known to everyone as Tommy, has stood on Terrace Green since 2014, bought for the town by public fundraising after what was meant to be a three-month stay. The beaches are famous for sea glass, the legacy of the Londonderry bottleworks that once tipped its waste into the sea, and the Durham Heritage Coast path runs along magnesian limestone cliffs all the way from Ryhope to Crimdon. Pair it with a walk from our best walks in Sunderland guide if you want to start on foot.

WWT Washington Wetland Centre

WWT Washington at Pattinson is 15 minutes away and one of the best half-day trips with young children: otters, wildfowl collections, the Hawthorn Wood hide, an adventure play area and a conservation project for the willow tit. Entry is around £12 for adults and £8 for children at the time of writing, with a family ticket at about £34, under-threes free and 10 per cent off for booking online. The important change for 2026 is seasonal opening: from November to January the centre opens Friday to Sunday only, with extra days over Christmas and February half-term, and goes back to seven days from March. Winter hours are 10am to 4.30pm, last entry 3.30pm.

Washington Old Hall

Also 15 minutes away, Washington Old Hall is the small manor house that gives the American capital its name, the ancestral home of George Washington's family. The National Trust opens the hall and gardens on selected days, with entry at £7 for adults and £3.50 for children at the time of writing and a family ticket at £17.50. Open days are limited in winter, so check before travelling. Our Washington Old Hall and George Washington guide tells the full story, and Penshaw Monument is a few minutes down the road for a free leg-stretch with a view.

Angel of the North

Twenty minutes west, Antony Gormley's Angel has stood over the A1 since February 1998: 20 metres tall, 54 metres across the wings, 208 tonnes of steel, and seen by an estimated 33 million people a year. It is free to visit, open land at any hour, with a small car park off the A167 and rapid EV chargers on site. It takes half an hour to see, which makes it the natural stop on the way to Beamish or the Newcastle museums rather than a day in itself.

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North

Half an hour away near Stanley, Beamish is the North East's biggest day out and genuinely needs the full day. The 1900s town, colliery village and pit, the Georgian landscape and the 1950s town are linked by vintage trams and buses, and the 1950s area now includes a terrace, a cinema recreating a Ryhope picture house, a toy shop and community allotments. The Unlimited Pass is valid for a year: £35 for adults, £26 for over-60s and students, £20.50 for children aged five to 16 and £85.50 for a family of four at the time of writing, with under-fives free. Winter hours are reduced, with the museum open Wednesday to Sunday for much of November and weekends only for parts of January, so check the dates. Go North East's service 8 runs from Sunderland and any Go North East ticket gets 25 per cent off admission. Durham City's Beamish guide has the detail.

Durham Cathedral and Durham City

Durham is 25 to 30 minutes by car, or a bus from Park Lane. The cathedral is free to enter, with a suggested donation of £5, and open to visitors Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 4.30pm and Sunday afternoons. The museum in the monks' dormitory and great kitchen holds the Treasures of St Cuthbert, including his seventh-century wooden coffin and pectoral cross, at £7.50 for adults with children free at the time of writing. The tower is 325 steps, also £7.50, with under-eights not admitted. 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of the Rose Window. Durham City's cathedral visitor guide covers the rest of the peninsula.

Adventure Valley, Brasside

A 25-minute drive north of Durham, Adventure Valley at Union Hall Farm is a farm park and play centre that fills a day for children up to about ten: indoor and outdoor play, animals, go-karts and seasonal events. Prices start from £9.95 off-peak at the time of writing, rising at weekends and on event days, with the same price for adults and children and under-twos free. It closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in term time through the winter. See Durham City's Adventure Valley guide.

Newcastle and Gateshead museums

The Metro's Green line runs straight from Sunderland to Monument in about 40 minutes, or the Northern train takes 25 minutes to Newcastle Central, and almost everything worth seeing at the other end is free. The Discovery Museum has Turbinia in its atrium, the Great North Museum: Hancock has the dinosaurs and the Hadrian's Wall gallery, and the BALTIC across the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead has contemporary art and a free top-floor viewing terrace. The one paid stop is Life Science Centre, at around £15 for adults and £10.50 for children at the time of writing with under-threes free, and its outdoor ice rink is back for the winter. Newcastle City's museums guide has opening hours for each. For the trip itself see getting around Sunderland without a car.

Royal Navy Museums, Hartlepool

Half an hour by direct train or 35 minutes down the A19, the former National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool was rebranded Royal Navy Museums, Hartlepool in 2026 and is still very much open, despite a scrapped expansion scheme making headlines. The centrepiece is HMS Trincomalee, launched in 1817 and Britain's oldest floating warship, with a recreated Georgian quayside around it. Winter opening is Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 4pm, with the ship visited at set times. Tickets last a year: £12.50 for adults and £9.50 for children at the time of writing, with family tickets from £25 and under-threes free.

Tynemouth Priory, Castle and Longsands

Tynemouth is 40 minutes by car through the Tyne Tunnel, which carries a toll, or around an hour and a quarter on the Metro with a change at Monument or another shared station. The English Heritage priory and castle headland is open at weekends through the winter, with the Second World War gun batteries to explore; parts of the priory church are closed for maintenance with a discount applied, and adult entry is around £8 at the time of writing, free for under-fives and members. Longsands beach below is free and one of the best in the region. Tynemouth's own priory and castle guide has the full picture.

Locomotion, Shildon

An hour south-west, Locomotion is the Science Museum Group's railway museum and free to enter. New Hall, opened in 2024, took the collection to around 100 rail vehicles, billed as the largest undercover collection of historic rail vehicles in Europe, and Locomotion No. 1 is on display 200 years after it pulled the first train on the Stockton and Darlington Railway. It opens daily from 10am to 4pm. Shildon station is next door if you fancy the train via Newcastle and Darlington.

Raby Castle and High Force

An hour or so into Teesdale, Raby is a fourteenth-century Nevill castle that has been the Vane family home for nearly 400 years, set in a 200-acre deer park with red and fallow deer. The castle interiors and the Plotters' Forest play area were closed for the autumn at the time of writing and reopen on 14 November 2026 for the Christmas season, when adult tickets including the park and gardens are £23 and children £12. The deer park and walled gardens alone are £15 and £10, open daily. Twenty-five minutes further up the dale, High Force drops 21 metres over the Whin Sill and is one of England's biggest waterfalls; entry is £4 for adults and £2.50 for children, or £7 for an adult with parking, open daily until 4pm, or 3pm in winter.

The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

Allow an hour and a quarter for the drive to Barnard Castle, where the Bowes Museum's French chateau holds one of the finest art and decorative collections in the north. A standard day ticket is £20 at the time of writing, under-18s and students go free, parking is free, and bus-ticket holders get two for one until the end of 2026. Winter hours are 10.30am to 4pm. The Silver Swan, the 1773 musical automaton bought by John Bowes in 1873 for £200, normally performs daily at 2pm after a long conservation project, but the museum's visit page said performances were temporarily paused when we checked, so confirm before you promise it to the children.

Making the most of it

Two things save money across this list. Check whether the ticket is an annual pass, as it is at Beamish, Hartlepool and Alnwick Castle, and plan a second visit rather than trying to see everything in one go. And carry a bus ticket: Souter, Beamish and the Bowes Museum all discount it. Alnwick Castle, 75 minutes north, is closed until March 2027, but The Alnwick Garden stays open on winter weekends at £6.25 for adults with children free, and Diggerland Durham reopens for its 2027 season in the new year with dates still to be announced. Closer to home, Hylton Castle and Ryhope Engines Museum are both free and both ten minutes away; see local museums in Sunderland and our rainy day in Sunderland guide for the days when the coast road is not an option.