Arrival, Information and City Transport
The train station, Central Station , on Neville Street, is a five-minute walk south of the city centre. National Express coach services arrive at Gallowgate station (St James Metro) opposite St James's Park football ground, while most regional bus services use the Haymarket bus station on Percy Street on the north side of the centre (Haymarket Metro). Many other city and local bus services arrive at and depart from the underground bus station a hundred yards down the same street in Eldon Square Shopping Centre . Newcastle's airport , six miles north of the city, is linked by Metro to Central Station (5.50am-11.10pm every 7-15 min; 25min; GBP1.60) and beyond. Ferry arrivals from Scandinavia and Holland dock at Royal Quays, North Shields, seven miles east of the city. Connecting bus services run you into the centre, stopping at Central Station. There are tourist offices at 132 Grainger St (June-Sept Mon-Wed, Fri & Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Thurs 9.30am-7.30pm Sun 10am-4pm; rest of year closed Sun; tel 0191/277 8000, tourist.info@newcastle.gov.uk ), in the Central Station (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat 9am-5pm; same contact details), and at the airport (variable hours; tel 0191/214 4422). You can walk around the whole of central Newcastle easily enough, but for journeys further afield you'll need to get to grips with the conurbation's cheap and efficient rail system, the Metro (6am-11.30pm every 4-15min). The landmark Grey's Monument marks the city centre and the site of Monument , the main interchange for the Metro's two lines: the green line, connecting South Shields, Jarrow, Gateshead, Central Station, Monument, Haymarket, Jesmond and West Jesmond with the airport; and the circular yellow line which follows the same route from Monument through West Jesmond, before branching off to the coast at Tynemouth, then returning along the north bank of the Tyne, via North Shields, Wallsend and Manors, to Monument (and St James); another limb of the yellow line heads south via Central Station across the river to Gateshead and has recently been extend as far as Sunderland. One-way tickets for short hops start as low as 60p, though a bewildering variety of discount passes - many also valid on the buses and local ferries - are available. Most useful for visitors are the Day Rover (GBP3.70) for unlimited travel in Tyne and Wear, and the Metro Day Saver for unlimited metro and ferry rides (after 9.30am; GBP3, GBP1.50 on Wed and after 6.30pm daily). For all public transport enquiries , call Traveline or log onto the website of Nexus, the Tyne and Wear passenger transport executive, or visit the Nexus Travelshop at Haymarket or Monument Metro stations. To get out on the Tyne, sign up for one of River Tyne Cruises' three-hour sightseeing cruises , which depart from the east end of the Quayside by the Pitcher and Piano (GBP7.99; tel 0191/296 6740). Back on dry land, there's a hop-on, hop-off, open-top sightseeing bus , which cruises around the city, departing from the Central Station (summer every 15min; winter Mon-Sat every 30min, Sun hourly; GBP5; ). The Metro network connects most of the day-trip destinations along the Tyne, and a Day Rover or Metro Day Saver ticket enables you to get the best out of the local transport systems. In addition to the Metro, the Day Rover is valid for most buses in the county of Tyne and Wear and the ferry across the Tyne between North and South Shields (Mon-Sat 6.30am-10.50pm, Sun 10.30am-6pm; every 15-30min; 7min; 85p one-way); there are Metro stations at either end. Note also that Beamish Museum, just across the border in County Durham, is within particularly easy reach of Newcastle.
Your Tip for Newcastle upon Tyne
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