Alnwick Castle, Northumberland and Borders Tour with Admission

Stunning Garden and Castle

Alnwick Castle & Gardens We visited this attraction as part of a coach trip and had 3 hours to visit the gardens and castle. This turned out to be just right and we had time for a coffee and bun! it was a dry sunny cool day so ideal for walking and getting around the site There are good facilities all around the attraction including the obligatory shops, cafes and lots of family friendly children activities, but you do need your walking shoes as it is spread out! We started off in the gardens and the infamous Poison Garden!! Top tip: I would recommend doing this first as it's an escorted tour with limited numbers every half hour so worth getting it in first then you don't have to fret about getting back. The guides give you an excellent talk on the plants and their gory effects on the human body, sparing no details!! It's about 20 to 30 mins and a must see in my opinion. I am sure my wife was taking notes so i'm checking the food from here on!!😂🤢 We walked to the amazing water garden and cascade and walked up to the formal garden which is worth the trek for the view and the garden itself. After a walk to the imposing Castle we made our way to the state rooms. The castle is still lived in so no photos of the inside were allowed. The state rooms were impressively grand and opulently furnished with plenty of information to explain what you were looking at. The ceilings were very high but again highly decorated so don't forget to look up!! There are a number of activities for kids but I did think with the entry fee and fees for some of this it would be an expensive day out for a family. Top tip: For anyone take a picnic👌 Overall a great day out albeit on the more expensive side, however there was a lot there, all with good quality, facilities and a well maintained attraction. We would definitely return to revisit and take in the bits we missed and to perhaps book and use the treehouse resturant which appears to be recommended by other travellers as we sadly did not have time for everything.

Great Guides!

Roger was an awesome tour guide who had a lot of knowledge and told great stories. I took two different tours with this company and both with fabulous because you can tell the guides love their jobs and love showing you their country. There is nothing better than a guide who makes a quick stop just because they know you'll love what you see and can't leave without seeing it.

Fun for everyone, not just Potterheads!

Kieran was our tour guide and he was great. I went mostly because of Harry Potter, but I appreciate that Kieran focused on history and folklore for the most part. I was in the jump seat for the whole trip and it was fun to have additional conversations with the people sitting behind us and with Kieran. I enjoy meeting new people and learning about that, so I thought the bus ride itself was pretty fun. The castle was beautiful and was obviously the highlight of the trip. Do the broomstick training even if you’re not with kids because it was hilarious and super fun acting silly in such a serious world. Also, it’s a separate cost but do the archery too, it’s a lot of fun! We also stopped in a handful of other places as well for coffee, pastries, and ice cream.

Rabbie is awesome

Mina was a great guide. She gave us time at Kelso and Bamburgh that made us really happy and let us get to the North Sea and enjoy Bamburgh Castle. Rabbie was great for both tours we did . Mina and Peter both killed it!

Too much time in Alnwick , too little time at other stops

Highlights of the tour were the walk across the bridge from Scotland to England and the walk behind Brumbaugh castle to view the North Sea. Alnwick castle was enjoyable, but you arrive in between event times. So, you miss some of the amenities you purchase. The stop in Kelso is short , just enough time to stretch your legs and grab coffee. Our driver was pleasant , but a bit bland in narration /guiding. The van temperature was warm. We went on a Rabbie’s tour to St Andrews , it was much more enjoyable. If you have extra time in your schedule , this is an option. There are much better Rabbie’s yours available though.

Worth it!

Great tour. Our guide Fran was awesome! Good stories, good music, good balance between the two. I recommend it.

Fantastic Day Out in The Borders Country

Julie our tour guide was great! Knowledgeable, super friendly, and informative.. A great tour! I would highly recommend!! Beautiful scenery, interesting history!

Great tour with a great guide

This trip was everything I hoped and more! The itinerary was perfect, our guide Jim Scott was entertaining and obviously loves his work. He gave us great advice and made our trip immensely enjoyable. I'm not sure what could have gone better, we even had a nice sunny day!

Great time

Great time, beautiful views, lots of fun, and many historic sites and stops there and back. Highly recommend and Pete was a great driver!

For Potter fans

Is a must-go if you r potter fans. The castle ground is vast & beautiful where you can recognise some scenes of Harey Pottee

Wonderful day Thanks for everything

We had the best time ever Wonderful day highly recommend this tour. THANK YOU ❤️ Tour guide was very informative learned alot of history and really kind and a sense of humor ❤️

1 day trip from Edinburgh to Anwick castle

It was a wonderful trip, organisation from bus station till the end was perfect. We were lucky to have Jim Scot for our driver and guide-this person is great, funny, smart and told us so many interesting things about Scotland and everything. Hope you will be lucky to have him for your guide. ONE person + magnifecent of Scotland = happy and perfect one day trip.

Great day tour

Great tour with our guide and driver J.P.. Alnwick Castle was amazing. Walking across the bridge was fun! Tour was organized well and the countryside was beautiful.

Thoughtful and Informative

Thoroughly enjoyed my day with Kieran and Rabbies in Northumberland and the Borderlands. Kieran was very engaging and knowledgeable about historical and current events and culture - with a well curated playlist. Rabbies offered their usual good customer service and our guide sensitive to my somewhat limited mobility. Thank you for a good day.

Tour guide was terrible....

Tour guide was terrible. Played loud Scottish music and talked continually about historic information, much of it no one cared about. No concern for passengers.

Great guide. Great destinations. Time per locations needs to be fixed.

Our driver deserved 5 stars but the tour design was a bit off. We needed MORE time in Kelso, MUCH LESS time in Alnwick Castle, and MORE time at Bamborough. We were all “done” with Alnwick Castle in 1.5 hours but this tour stop was set for three long hours! Our driver, Alister, was terrific- very knowledgeable about the history and geography of the region. His commentary was a great addition to the tour.

Captivated by the beauty of the castle grounds and town

Gorgeous town and Castle, where the scenes of Harry Potter's Quidditch Match were filmed. I was captivated by the grounds and had a lovely time exploring the town and bookstore. Would love to relive this day

Fun day at Alnwick Castle

A great experience, seeing Alnwick Castle, especially for Harry Potter fans. There is plenty of time to tour the castle, take the movie set tour, and even go into the town. Andy made the trip, informative and amusing with his local commentary. Thanks to Andy and Viator for another wonderful experience.

Great Experience

We had very nice time with Andy. He was funny, informative and enthusiastic. Rabbies tour buses are comfortable and small sized. Great tour.

Great day out.

Francesca was our fabulous tour guide. She made the trip very enjoyable. The castle and fardens ar well worth a visit.

Alnwick Castle Northumberland Border

We decided to do a small group tour and we were assigned Jim Scott. He was amazing and shared a lot of interesting facts and snippets about Scotland. He made the whole trip very very interactive and made it more memorable by his sense of humour. We wish him the best! Cheers!!

Our best trip on holiday in Scotland

It was a very nice trip, we really enjoyed it. Our guide Jim Scott was fantastic company, very funny and fun. We received a lot of substantive information. The whole trip was nicely filled with interesting stories, beautiful music, fun fact about Scotland that you will remember. Moreover you are very comfortable in a mini bus with a small group so it feels more personal compared to a large bus. Highly recommended! Kind regard, Zhanna

Poison garden of Alnwick

I’ve to be honest. I’m not a Harry Potter fan. I’ve not read a single Harry Potter book neither have I watched a Harry Potter movie. I booked this tour only for the Alnwick gardens which have a special part called The Poison Garden. That was the one and only reason to book this trip. The garden was magnificent and going to the poison garden was my long cherished dream. I found both the garden and the Alnwick castle amazing. We got three hours time to visit the castle and garden. Surprisingly, on the day of the tour (26/8/23) Mr Gay Europe contest was happening in the Alnwick gardens. Got an opportunity to watch that as well. We also went to the market town of Kelso. Bought a venison scotch egg from the market place which was delicious 🤤! Went to the Coldstream and crossed the bridge between England and Scotland. On our way back went to the north Berwick beach and had a chance to watch the boat races. Our tour guide Jan was very good. Amazing memory he has ! Gave a list of things invented by Scottish people in an alphabetical order. Enjoyed the tour !

The tour was excellent...

The tour was excellent and the tour company what awsome very knowledgeable about area bus was great and size of tour even better. Sevral stops along the way and ypu actually get to walk the bride that divides england and scotland 100% worth it. Then u get to castle and its betond what you expect

Day trip to Alnwick

We had an excellent guide/driver Alistair who shared interesting history and information on the stops and sites. The bus was clean and comfortable and the small (15) size group enjoyable. The time at Alnwick a little short for those mostly interested in doing all the tours.

Lovely day trip !

Great trip to Alnwick Castle and borders. Enjoyed the fact that the group was rather small, we got many small brakes and even tho I was running a bit late, the tour still waited for us. The guide shared a lot of interesting information during the ride. Overall would recommend this tour !

Great day trip!

This was a great tour, Alnwick and Bamburgh were so beautiful! We also stopped in couple small towns, they were equally as beautiful. We had a great time, and our tour guide Ally was awesome! He had so much information about everything, it was a smaller tour on a 16-seat bus, which was really nice. If you want to see some countryside and castles, this is a great tour!

Great Fun both castle and magic

Andrew Swain was our driver/guide. He was both informative and fun. Selected this tour because my granddaughter is a huge Harry Potter fan, but she was enthralled with the entire experience including the Percy History. Only negative was lack of options for food and it was a busy Saturday.

We had a wonderful and...

We had a wonderful and interesting trip. Thanks to our friendly and funny driver and guide William! He told us a lot of interesting stories und we saw not only Alnwick Castle, but also the ruins of the Kelso Monastery, Bambergh Castle and the rests of Dunbar Castle ( even if we had just a short time to visit the last two). I can really recommend this trip! And William!

Great tour! Great tour guide!

We knew very little about the Borders area and the Alnwick castle. We learned a lot about both from our wonderful guide, Jim Scott, and the tours in the castle. We highly recommend Jim for his knowledge, humor and music selection. Rabbie’s bosses: Give him a raise!

Best day trip ever

Absolutely wonderful day trip to Anwick Castle, Northumberland Coast and Borders with Jim Scott. He kept every single person through stories, recommendations, laughs and sing songs. Perfect example of what makes Rabbies tour guides the best

A great time with a cheerful tour guide

Franzisca is an excellent tour guide. She’s funny, friendly, drove well and was very interactive with the tour participants. Me and my family really had a great time in this tour. Thank you Franzizca, Rabbies Trail Burners and team..we had a good time.

Great Day Trip

Our driver and guide, Ross, made this trip amazing. He narrated the trip with stories about Scotland's past and present. The scenery from the coach van was beautiful. I can't speak to the castle tour, as I didn't do it. (It's somewhat expected that you will). However, I toured the gardens and took the Poison Plants tour, which was really interesting. (Admission to the gardens is a separate charge). The town was quaint and easy to walk around. The highlight was a stop at the ruins of Dunbar Castle along the coast. A quick stop at Bamburgh Castle affords another photo op.

Awsome trip.

Swain was an amazing tour guide and driver. He gave us some many fun facts and antidotes to take home and share. The scenery was so beautiful on the way to and from. I got to do some broom flying lessons at the Alnwick and live out my Harry Potter fantasy. The town was so cute and the second castle was massive and was great for some beautiful pictures of the sea.

Exceptional

Jim Scott our guide was exceptional- he made the tour fun !!! Would highly recommend the tour to everyone. The pick up and drop off was very good -

Harry Potter Castle tour and borderland trip.

Excellent tour guide/driver! His name - Jim Scott. He made our trip in the van very comfortable and enjoyable. The castle visit was Fantastic. The additional castle and sea shoreline visit was gorgeous. This trip - visit is well worth your time.

Swain is the guy!

Andrew Swain was a great driver/tour leader. A variety of historical information, cultural and Scottish pride included! I had a great day and highly recommend. Even time for a wee nap on the way back to Edinburgh- thanks Swain for a great day!

Hassle free travel when you stick with Rabbie’s

Although our driver was quite new to the job, it was obvious that he was very much qualified for the job! The trip itself was beautiful and well worth the money.

Wonderful time

The pick up was well organized, efficient. The tour left on time. The driver/guide was pleasant, very knowledgeable and willing to answer all questions. I had a wonderful time. Me would recommend Viator.

A Driver Who Knew How to Guide

First the “bad”: the bus needs to add USB ports. This was our second Rabbies tour and both buses shared the same problem of no USB. That’s it. That’s all the bad I could say about this tour. Grant, our guide and driver, did a GREAT job! Unlike other drivers, he did not speak constantly. I’m serious! We had another tour and I swear the driver talked non. Stop. For. 12. Hours!! It was absolutely tedious. Grant, on the other hand, would give a fact, answer any questions, and then turn on some music. This does NOT mean that he was abrupt or uncommunicative. He was personable and funny. He read the bus perfectly and didn’t feel the need to drone on and on and on.

Tim Scott was the Scottish Tour Guide Expert!

Okay, full disclosure: I was apprehensive to do a full day tour when my partner and I were in Edinburgh because we only had 3 days in the city. HOWEVER…WOW. Jim Scott was by far the best tour guide I’ve ever had in any city around the world. His tour of Alnwick and the Scottish Borders was incredible. He was equal part smart as he was hilarious. His knowledge of every single place we went (including fun facts about towns, people, and music) was only matched by his perfect Scottish dry wit and quips. We were both so taken aback by how much fun we had. Will def recommend and will DEF do again!

Best tour

Jim Scott was an amazing guide that kept us all entertained! Would highly recommend this tour it was amazing and so much fun!

Alnwick Castle is the Highlight. Skip the Rest.

Alnwick Castle is an incredible experience! Alnwick Castle offers many fun and historical elements - it's a joy to experience. They offer tours of filming locations and history tours every hour or two. Filming locations include Harry Potter's Hogwarts, Downton Abbey's Brancaster Castle, Transformers, and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. It was fun to see all of the film locations, but the history of Alnwick Castle and the Percy family is equally FASCINATING! Explore the salon if it's open, and if you have time, the gardens are gorgeous. And you should try to catch the broomstick flying lessons. They're hilarious! The castle was the highlight. We could have skipped the other short stops on this particular tour. Plus our tour guide was kind of quiet. It's a long drive and he seemed annoyed with us. He did share some history of the Borders which was interesting, but otherwise, he was pretty disengaged.

A day out of the city

This is a fantastic tour. The drive is very scenic and the fact that the tour allows for 3 hours at Alnwick leaves more than enough time to have a sit down lunch and tour the entire castle. We even had a few mins to explore a nearby church and graveyard. Nik is very friendly and informative with great taste in music.

A Tour Well Worth the Cheddar

Myself and my partner did this tour on the 8th of October and we absolutely loved it! Our tour guide Kelly was un-brie-lievable, and I couldn’t recommend her enough!

All Around Amazing Day!

Joe our guide was really good, she made sure to provide lots of history and made great recommendations. It was another great tour by Rabbie's and would totally recommend.

Great trip! We had also an amazing sunny dry weather

Alnwick Castle was amazing along with Harry Potter fandom flying broomstick class (to be booked but included in the main ticket entrance). Our guide-driver Sinclair was full of knowledge and entertaining during the trip. Van was clean and comfortable. On the food for thoughts side: 1) I haven’t been informed that tickets for Ainlwick Castle and Garden can also be bought by the guide-driver at a discounted price (I sourced them myself the day before at a much higher price) 2) To visit both the Castle, the Garden, have lunch and attend to Castle events you need more than the 3 hrs we had 3) on the way back we stopped few minutes at Bamburgh Castle, which to me, considering that there is the beach- sea behind it, it is worth being visited in full (it would have been more interesting than the stop in Kelso)

Happy Hogwarts adventure

Tour guide Ally was hilarious and very knowledgeable. He kept us entertained all day and we enjoyed the history of the various stops. Alnwick castle was great, we loved the library.

Stephen is the best

our tour guide Stephen was wonderful. Very kind and patient. Gave great history of Scotland and the towns we went to. I would’ve preferred if we the time we arrived to the castle aligned with the times of when the castle gives historical tours so we could’ve learned more. Other than that great tour

Great day in the border towns.

Alnwick Castle was amazing, especially the state rooms where the 2014 Downton Abbey Xmas special did some filming. We loved touring the border villages and towns, especially Dunbar. We very much liked our tour guide, Peter, who was patient and entertaining, with lots of great stories and bits of history.