Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

I have been there for work, but wouldn't suggest it as a tourist stop. It isn't too far east of a section of Hadrian's Wall.

I too have visited Newcastle. It's a fairly large city( from my small town boy perspective..lol ) and to be honest, I really didn't come across anything that really struck me as being something to draw tourists. It's just your average large city to me. Not saying I dislike it or anything, but I saw nothing that I would recommend, or anything that would draw me back.

I visited Newcastle a number of years ago with my husband because his father had been an Anglican priest in a village nearby, so we made a "sentimental" journey. It is a very vibrant city and if you go to www.newcastlegateshead.com you will discover lots of things that may be of interest. The largest shopping mall in the UK is at Gateshead, if that kind of thing turns you on. (My husband can still do a pretty good imitation of the Geordie accent, after all these years.)

It is about 5 years or so since I visited but it still remains my favourite Northern city. The people are warm and friendly (get used to being called "pet") and have a wry and witty sense of humour. My parents lived on the coast north of the city in the 1980s and we still have friends there. The city centre is compact and easily walkable. Like any other once great industrial city it has some poor suburbs/areas (a lot of the inner areas have been gentrified) but you are unlikely to need to go there. This exerpt from Wiki Travel describes one of the best parts of the city center. "Central Arcade, a beautifully preserved Victorian shopping arcade, which houses the Tourist Information Bureau and Windows of the Arcade, one of Newcastle's oldest music shops. Grainger Town is the beautiful and historic heart of the city. Based around classical streets built by Richard Grainger between 1835 and 1842, some of Newcastle upon Tyne's finest buildings and streets lie within the Grainger Town area of the City centre including Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. Grey Street was voted as England's finest street in 2005 in a survey of BBC Radio 4 listeners" http://wikitravel.org/en/Newcastle_upon_Tyne Maybe not of interest to you but it is also Party Central for the UK. Visit the Bigg Market and Quayside areas to see the young Geordies out and about in indoor clothes in all weathers. I suspect it's a macho (and whatever the feminine version is) thing! Because of the length of time since we were there cannot recommend a place to eat but you will have plenty of choice. Also it is worth visiting Tynemouth, take the Metro, on the coast.

My family and I visited Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding area for the first time a couple of years ago and loved it. If you like art don't miss The Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead. http://www.balticmill.com/about/index.php (Gateshead town centre and Newcastle City Centre are joined by seven different bridges across the Tyne) ..and if you want to travel a little outside then you are about 8 miles from the wonderfu open airl "living history" Beamish Museum http://www.beamish.org.uk/Home.aspx and 12 miles from Durham with its fantastic cathedral. http://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/ Gary

Newcastle is an industrial city. Like Limerick in Ireland or Glasgow in Scotland (which I hear is getting better) - industrial towns aren't much to look at.