Rainy Day: Indoor Things to Do in Newcastle City Centre

Rain is a fact of life in the North East, but it is no reason to stay in. Newcastle city centre packs an unusual amount under cover, and much of the best of it is free. Here is how to spend a wet day without ruining your shoes, from world-class museums to bowling, crazy golf and a proper mooch round the shops.

Museums and galleries

Newcastle's greatest rainy-day asset is its run of free museums, all a short walk apart. The Discovery Museum tells the story of Tyneside's inventors and engineers around the record-breaking steam ship Turbinia, with plenty of hands-on displays for children. A little further out, the Great North Museum: Hancock combines natural history, a Hadrian's Wall gallery, Egyptian mummies and a digital planetarium under one roof, and it too is free to enter.

For art, the Laing Art Gallery on New Bridge Street holds the city's principal collection of British painting alongside changing exhibitions, and the Hatton Gallery on the university campus is another free space worth an hour. If you want more of a full-day attraction, the Life Science Centre near Central Station is a hands-on science centre built for curious minds of every age, with a planetarium and a busy programme of interactive exhibits.

For families

Few cities can match Newcastle for a wet day with children. Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books in the Ouseburn valley is the only museum in Britain devoted entirely to children's literature, with dressing-up, drawing and making spaces built around characters children already know. Entry to the galleries is free, with optional paid storytimes and workshops.

The Great North Museum's dinosaurs and planetarium are a reliable hit with younger visitors, and for older children Newcastle Castle rewards a climb through its medieval keep with one of the best views in the city, this time from indoors and out of the wind. When restlessness sets in, the active-indoor options below will burn off the energy that a museum cannot.

Shopping and markets

When you simply want to be warm and dry, the shops deliver. Eldon Square is the city's main covered shopping centre, filling the north-west corner of the centre and connecting directly to Fenwick and the Northumberland Street stores, so you can browse for hours without stepping outside. It also holds a cinema and a food quarter, so a shopping trip can turn into lunch and a film.

For something with more character, the Grade I listed Grainger Market has been trading under its glazed roof since 1835 and mixes butchers, greengrocers and cheesemongers with independent food stalls and cafés. Nearby, the Edwardian Central Arcade, with its glazed roof and mosaic floor, is a beautiful shortcut on a wet day and home to the long-established music shop that draws visitors in its own right.

Active indoors

Rain need not mean sitting still. Lane7 Newcastle on St James' Boulevard combines full-size ten-pin bowling with mini golf, karaoke, pool, ping pong and a retro arcade, so a group can move from one game to the next all afternoon. A few minutes away on Newgate Street, Junkyard Golf Club offers indoor crazy golf across three scrap-built neon courses, with food and drinks alongside the holes.

For a proper workout under cover, Climb Newcastle is an indoor bouldering centre suitable for beginners and regulars alike, with instruction available and everything you need to hire on site. All three are entirely indoors and easy to reach from the centre.

Theatre and cinema

A wet evening is a good excuse for a show. The Grade I listed Theatre Royal Newcastle on Grey Street stages a year-round programme of drama, musicals, opera and ballet in one of the finest auditoriums in the country. For film, the independent Tyneside Cinema on Pilgrim Street screens world, independent and archive titles in a restored 1930s news theatre, and its Coffee Rooms are a fine place to wait out a downpour with a coffee.

Somewhere quiet

If you would rather read out the rain, the Newcastle City Library on New Bridge Street is a bright, modern building free to browse, with plenty of comfortable seating. The historic Literary & Philosophical Society nearby is one of the loveliest rooms in the city, an independent subscription library open to visitors, and an atmospheric place to shelter from a storm.

Best for:

Free and dry: The Discovery Museum, Great North Museum: Hancock, Laing Art Gallery and Seven Stories are all free to enter, so a full rainy day of museums and galleries need not cost a penny in admission.

Know a great indoor spot we've missed? Let us know.