Regional Guide
The Best Museums & Galleries in the North East
The North East punches well above its weight for museums and art — and the best of them, in Newcastle and Gateshead, are free. From dinosaurs and Roman treasures to a silver swan that still swims and the paintings of the pitmen who dug the region’s coal, here are the ones to make time for, indoors whatever the weather.
NewcastleGateshead — all free
Four first-rate city museums and galleries, all with free entry to their collections.
Great North Museum: Hancock
Newcastle
Free · dinosaurs, mummies & Hadrian's Wall
The region's great all-rounder — natural history, archaeology and world cultures under one roof. Meet a T. rex in the Dinosaur Hall, two Ancient Egyptian mummies, a superb Hadrian's Wall gallery of Roman finds, and the Living Planet displays. Free to enter and open daily, it's the perfect rainy-day day out and a firm family favourite.
Discovery Museum
Newcastle
Free · Turbinia & Tyneside's story
Tyneside's story of maritime, industrial, scientific and military invention, built around its star exhibit: Turbinia, Charles Parsons' steam-turbine ship that was once the fastest vessel in the world, displayed in full. Hands-on science galleries and local-history displays make it a reliable free day out for families.
Laing Art Gallery
Newcastle
Free · British art & big exhibitions
Founded in 1901, the Laing holds an internationally significant collection of British painting, watercolours, ceramics, silver and glass, and regularly draws major touring exhibitions to the city. Entry to the permanent displays is free — a civilised hour or two in the centre of Newcastle.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
Gateshead
Free · contemporary art on the Quays
A landmark free gallery on the Gateshead Quays, converted from a vast 1950s flour mill, showing changing exhibitions of contemporary art with no permanent collection — so there's always something new. The top-floor viewing box gives one of the best views of the Tyne bridges, and the Millennium Bridge links it to Newcastle's Quayside.
Further afield
Two of the region’s most characterful museums, worth the drive.
The Bowes Museum
Barnard Castle, County Durham
The Silver Swan · Goya & El Greco
An astonishing French-château-style museum in a small Teesdale town, with a nationally important art collection including paintings by Goya and El Greco. Its most beloved treasure is the Silver Swan — a life-sized silver automaton made in 1773 that still works, and is 'played' once a day. Well worth the drive south.
Woodhorn Museum
Ashington, Northumberland
The Pitmen Painters · mining heritage
Set at a former colliery in what was once the world's largest pit village, Woodhorn tells the story of Northumberland's coal-mining communities — and is home to the remarkable Ashington Group, the 'Pitmen Painters', whose pictures of life above and below ground made them famous. A moving, characterful museum with a lively events programme.
For history out of doors, don’t forget Beamish, the region’s living museum, and the Roman forts and museums along Hadrian’s Wall — both in our guide to the North East’s best days out.
More North East guides
Keep exploring with our guides to the region’s castles, gardens and market towns, the full Visit the North East guide, or see what’s on this weekend.