Everything you need to know before you head out: weather, what to pack, the best seasons, and useful links.
Half-day highlights, full-day explorer, rainy day plan, and weekend escape: all mapped out step by step.
Alnwick is a few miles inland from the North Sea in north Northumberland. Most of what visitors come for, the castle grounds, the garden and Hulne Park, is outdoors, so plan for the weather.
Local producers, markets, and makers worth a stop before you leave Alnwick.
Secondhand books, traded and sold, and the shop's own Keep Calm and Carry On prints.
Known for: Keep Calm and Carry On poster reproduction
Hours: Every day 9am to 7pm, including Sundays and bank holidays, closed Christmas Day (shop's own site, read 16 October 2026)
Fly reels and rods from the firm founded in Alnwick in 1872, with a museum, on Bondgate Within.
Known for: The Perfect fly reel
Local produce and makers on the Market Place, Thursdays and Saturdays, March to December.
Hours: Thursday and Saturday, March to December; also Wednesday, June to October; 10am to 4pm (Northumberland County Council, read 16 October 2026)
The castle reopens at the end of March after its winter closure, the garden returns to daily opening, and the market is back on Thursdays and Saturdays from March.
Spring is when Alnwick reopens. The castle closes every winter and comes back at the end of March, the garden goes back to daily opening, and the Market Place market returns on Thursdays and Saturdays from March. Hulne Park is open daily from 11am to 4pm outside its listed closure dates, and spring is the time to walk up to Brizlee Tower before the summer crowds.
Peak season for the castle and the garden; book castle tickets online, the Poison Garden tour with the garden ticket, and the Treehouse well ahead. The market adds a Wednesday from June to October.
The school holidays are the busiest weeks for the castle and the garden, and the Treehouse takes bookings up to three months ahead. Buy castle tickets online: they are cheaper than the gate and count as a twelve-month pass, so a wet day can be redone. The Aln Valley Railway runs at weekends and on Wednesdays in the summer holidays, and the market adds a Wednesday to its Thursday and Saturday from June to October. Dogs are not allowed in the castle or in Hulne Park; the castle suggests the riverside Pastures opposite for a dog walk.
The castle's season ends in October; in 2026 the last open day was 20 October. The garden runs the Pumpkin Garden through October half term, then drops to Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 3pm, in November. Christmas fairs at the garden and the castle in late November.
October is the last month of the castle's year: in 2026 it closes on 20 October, and its 2027 opening date had not been announced when checked. The garden fills October half term with the Pumpkin Garden, then from November it opens Thursday to Sunday only, 10am to 3pm. Hulne Park starts its run of winter closure days at the end of October, so check the estate's list. Late November brings two Christmas fairs, a free one in the garden's Pavilion and a ticketed one in the castle's Guest Hall.
Castle closed. Winter Lights at the garden from late November to 3 January, the market's festive weekends in the garden's Pavilion in December, and Shrovetide football on Shrove Tuesday in February.
With the castle shut, winter Alnwick is Barter Books with its fires lit, the museum on Bailiffgate until its maintenance break from 13 December 2026 to 12 January 2027, and the pubs. The garden opens on reduced days and runs its Winter Lights trail in the evenings from 20 November to 3 January. The market spends its December weekends indoors in the garden's Pavilion. Then in February comes Shrove Tuesday: the ball is thrown off the castle barbican at 2pm and the parishes of St Michael's and St Paul's play for two hales on the Pastures, ending with the ball in the River Aln.