Attractions

The biggest is Hadrian's Wall - 73 miles from Wallsend to the Solway coast - where you can march around forts and milecastles as the Romans did 2000 years ago. Equally impressive, though 1000 years younger, is Durham Cathedral (like the Wall, a World Heritage Site) just one of many breathtaking historic buildings in the region.
Prefer your architecture up to date? The award-winning Gateshead Millennium Bridge tilts open like a gigantic eyelid while Middlesbrough's international modern art gallery mima opens in autumn 2006 in an iconic building designed by Erick van Egeraat Associates. At Sunderland's National Glass Centre - where you can watch glassmaking and have a blow yourself - you can jump up and down on the glass roof. It's perfectly safe!
Kids will win hands down on the interactive games in Newcastle's Centre for Life and be enchanted in the storybook world of Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books. They'll gasp at the sharks in Tynemouth's Blue Reef Aquarium, the untamed white cattle of Chillingham (tour the castle, too, one of the spookiest in Britain) and be charmed by the tropical delights of Preston Park's Butterfly World or the furry fun of Hall Hill Farm.
If wildlife is your thing, we've got owls, birds of prey, flamingos and, if you take a boat trip around the Farne Islands, 100,000 seabirds - not to mention one of the world's largest colonies of Atlantic grey seals.
Don't waste time queuing; book your tickets online!


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