Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear, England.
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around 10 miles (16 km) north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne city centre. The population of Whitley Bay at the 2021 census was 38,323.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Whitley Bay
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01Arbeia
Arbeia was a large Roman fort in South Shields, Tyne & Wear, England, now ruined and partially reconstructed. It was first excavated in the 1870s.
4.7 km · Roman fort and museum in South Shields, United Kingdom · Wikipedia - 02Seaton Delaval Hall
Seaton Delaval Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Northumberland, England, near the coast just north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Located between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval, it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1718 for Admiral George Delaval; it is now owned by the National Trust.
5.3 km · Grade I listed building in Northumberland, England, UK · Wikipedia - 03Tynemouth Castle and Priory
Tynemouth Priory and Castle is an historic site located on a promontory at the mouth of the Tyne at Tynemouth. The medieval Benedictine priory was protected by walls, towers, and a gatehouse.
3.5 km · historic coastal site in north-eastern England · Wikipedia - 04St. Mary's Lighthouse
St Mary's Lighthouse is on the tiny St Mary's Island, just north of Whitley Bay on the coast of North East England. The small rocky tidal island is linked to the mainland by a short concrete causeway which is submerged at high tide.
2.9 km · lighthouse at North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, UK · Wikipedia - 05St Hilda's Church, South Shields
St Hilda's Church, South Shields is a Grade II listed parish church in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. It is part of the Church of England.
5.4 km · Grade II listed building in South Shields, South Tyneside, UK · Wikipedia - 06Christ Church, North Shields
Christ Church is a church North Shields, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England is an Anglican church in the parish of North Shields Christ Church, Diocese of Newcastle.
3.8 km · grade II listed church in North Shields, North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, UK · Wikipedia - 07Collingwood Monument
The Collingwood Monument is a Grade II* listed monument in Tynemouth, England, dedicated to Vice Admiral Lord Cuthbert Collingwood. A Napoleonic-era admiral noted for being second-in-command to Admiral Lord Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar, Collingwood is sometimes referred to as the forgotten hero of Trafalgar.
3.8 km · monument in Tynemouth, England · Wikipedia - 08
- 09Fish Quay Old Low Light
The High and Low Lights of North Shields are decommissioned leading lights in North Shields, Tyne and Wear in the United Kingdom. Two pairs of lights survive: the older pair date from 1727 and were operational until 1810; the newer pair then took over, remaining in use until 1999.
4.1 km · lighthouse in Tyne and Wear, England · Wikipedia - 10Chirton Hall
Chirton Hall or Chirton House, occasionally spelled Churton and originally Cheuton, was a country house in Chirton, in what is now a western suburb of North Shields, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Historically, the house was in the county of Northumberland.
4.4 km · country house in Chirton, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Whitley Bay is mostly modern. St Paul's Church (Anglican) on Park View in town centre is from 1864.
- 01Cullercoats: see Tynemouth
There's a small sandy beach, a sea arch and caves etched into the bluffs.
- 02St Mary's Lighthouse
Whitley Bay NE26 4RS (Pay & Display car parks by causeway),.
- 03Seaton Sluice
It was used to export salt, coal and bottles, but it kept silting up.
- 04Seaton Delaval
Grand mansion designed by Vanbrugh and completed in 1728, in extensive grounds.
From Wikivoyage: Whitley Bay, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
The Playhouse is on Marine Ave, 100 yards inland from Spanish City.
- 01Jam Jar Cinema
Park Ave by the shopping centre.
- 02Whitley Bay Ice Rink
Public skating rink which is also home of the Whitley Warriors ice hockey team.
- 03Whitley Bay Golf Club
White tees 6579 yards, par £72, visitor round £50.
From Wikivoyage: Whitley Bay, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Spanish City (Trenchers or 1910), Whitley Bay NE26 1BG (next to Premier Inn),. Once the centrepiece of a funfair, this oddity was built in 1910, in sort-of Brighton Pavilion meets Grand Mosque of Baghdad then shrunk in the wash. The funfair was extolled in the 1980 Dire Straits single "Tunnel of Love" but fell derelict and was demolished in 1999.
From Wikivoyage: Whitley Bay, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Whitley Bay
- Airports
- Newcastle (NCL), 16 km · Leeds Bradford (LBA), 132 km · Edinburgh (EDI), 158 km
- Stations
- Percy Main, 5.5 km · Backworth railway station, 4.9 km · Meadow Well, 5.1 km · North Shields Transport Hub, 4.2 km
- Leeds, West Yorkshire → Whitley Bay138 km · quickest by road, 2h 39m · £16–21
- Ingliston, Edinburgh → Whitley Bay157 km · quickest by road, 3h 16m · £19–25
- Manchester, Greater Manchester → Whitley Bay181 km · quickest by road, 3h 42m · £22–29
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Whitley Bay
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Whitley Bay. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inSee North Shields for the Tyne ferry and overnight DFDS ferries from Holland.
- Get inOther useful services include the 306 (slower than the 308/309 but a more scenic route through Tynemouth), the 317 (a local route through North Tyneside which connects with ferries from South Shields), and the 57 (an hourly service from Ashington and Cramlington).
From Wikivoyage: Whitley Bay, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 01241 km
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If you know how people move in Whitley Bay – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is 13 km from Newcastle upon Tyne, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- South Shieldstown in Tyne and Wear, England, UK5.7 km
- Tynemouthtown in north east England3.5 km
- North Shieldstown in England4 km
- Seaton Delavalvillage in Northumberland, England, UK4.6 km
- Seaton Sluicevillage in Northumberland, England, UK4.6 km
- Backworthvillage in Tyne and Wear, England, UK5.5 km