Getting to Alnwick: Alnmouth station and the bus into town

Alnwick has not had a passenger train since its station closed in 1968; the building is Barter Books now. The trains stop at Alnmouth, on the East Coast main line between London and Edinburgh, and the last stretch is a bus or a taxi. It is easy once you know which bus, and from which stop.

The station: Alnmouth for Alnwick

The station is Alnmouth, signed Alnmouth for Alnwick, at South View, Lesbury, about 5km south-east of Alnwick's Market Place in a straight line and about four miles by road. The Aln Valley Railway lists LNER, CrossCountry, Northern and TransPennine Express trains calling there. National Rail's station page gives step-free access to all platforms, a ticket office, 76 parking spaces and toilets, including a Changing Places toilet.

The bus from the station

Do not look for the bus on the platform. Walk out to the Alnmouth Station (Curly Lane) stop, about 110 metres from the station building, and catch one of two Arriva routes into Alnwick:

• X20, in the daytime from Monday to Saturday. On the timetable we read on 16 October 2026 it ran roughly hourly from about 7am, the last weekday departure for Alnwick leaving the station at 18.39, and took about 13 minutes to Alnwick bus station.
• X18, in the evenings and on Sundays. On the same timetable it covered the station roughly hourly in the evenings until late, and roughly hourly through Sunday.

The X20 does not run on Sundays. Timetables change, so check Arriva or bustimes.org on the day you travel. The castle suggests a taxi as the other way up from the station and recommends booking one ahead.

A discount for coming by bus or train

Keep your ticket. Alnwick Castle gives 20% off admission to anyone who shows a valid bus or train ticket at the gate.

By bus from Newcastle

All three Arriva routes into Alnwick start at Newcastle's Haymarket bus station: the X15 by Morpeth and on to Berwick, the X18 by Morpeth, Alnmouth and on to Seahouses and Berwick, and the X20 by Ashington and Alnmouth Station. In Alnwick they stop at the bus station, which the castle says is a five-minute walk from its gate, on Bondgate Without by the Playhouse, and opposite Barter Books. The Barter Books stop is the one to use for the bookshop, and the Playhouse stop is a short walk from the garden.

Flying in

Newcastle International Airport is the nearest, about 35 miles away as the castle puts it. Without a car, take the Tyne and Wear Metro, which Nexus says serves the airport, into Newcastle and change there, either to the bus at Haymarket or to a train for Alnmouth and then the X20 or X18. Allow plenty of time and use a journey planner.

Driving and parking

Alnwick is just off the A1. The garden asks drivers using sat nav to follow NE66 3RA to find the right A1 exit and then the brown signs. The castle and the garden share an official car park at £3.75 a day from 9am, card and contactless only. The Bailiffgate Museum points to a large free all-day car park, postcode NE66 1DL, within walking distance of the museum, the castle, the garden and the shops, and to two-hour street parking outside the museum. The Aln Valley Railway's car park at Lionheart is free.

Go gently through the Bondgate Tower. The medieval arch is a single lane and still takes the traffic.

Getting about once you are here

The centre is small enough to walk. From the Market Place, the castle gate is about 200 metres, the garden entrance about 400 metres, Barter Books about 600 metres and the gateway into Hulne Park about 800 metres, all in a straight line. The Aln Valley Railway is the exception, at Lionheart on the south edge of town about 1.8km from the Market Place; the X15 stops at the entrance to the Lionheart Enterprise Park.

By bike

National Cycle Route 1 passes near Alnmouth station. The Aln Valley Railway suggests riding up Bilton Bank from the station and turning right at Bilton Farm for Greenrigg Bridge, where a path and cycleway run beside its line towards Alnwick. Leave the bike outside Hulne Park and the castle grounds: neither allows cycles.