Things to do in Carlisle?

colmil

I love Carlsile, the people are really nice and down to earth.

I would be more concerned that Travelodge will honour your booking, following the recent bad publicity!

squashy

Right you lot stop putting the OP off!

Me and now DH went there for our first mini-break and loved it! We also had a cheap hotel offer and plumped for here.

You will need a car but there's plenty to do on a weekend break. The castle itself is really interesting, in fact it is English Heritage's landmark site in the North West. It has a military musuam inside it too. The cathedral is pretty too and the main shopping street (English Street(?)) is quite nice and if it is sunny you can sit out in a pavement cafe watching the world go by. Then by night you can take your pick of wine bars pubs and clubs, if you like that kind of thing.

Further afield, if you like birdspotting then head for Solway Firth and follow the coast round for fishing/seaside towns Silloth and Maryport. Hadrian's Wall is also worth a visit and you can take in one of the Roman Forts such as Birdoswald. The town of Brampton is lovely and has a nice pub or two, that's close to Lanercost Proiry. We made an adventure of our drive home too, scrapping the M6 in favour of finding our way using minor roads over the hills! We found a lovely little village called Orton which had a nice pub and church and also an ice-cream and chocolate factory (small scale!!!), shortly after we found ourselves lost at the end of a very long track and had to ask a farmer to let us through his garden to rejoin the road the other side!

At the end of the day, any break is what you make of it. Enjoy!

withabix

Carlisle has one of the best pedestrianised shopping centres around.

Botchergate is now full of good, modern bars and eateries.

The castle and museum are worth a visit.

You are close to some of Britains best countryside in the Eden Valley and the Lake District - it's not just Bowness and Ambleside you know!!!!

There's also Hadrians Wall and various Roman sites, plus Lanercost Priory, the Solway coast, scenic passes through the Lakeland fells, Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, waterfalls and more.

suzzi2704

Why does everyone think Carlisle sucks? I'm from there!!!

Tullie House Museum is always fun, not too expensive to get in and will while away a few hours..... it's got some fun interactive stuff and lots of sections

Laser Quest is awesome - Shooting each other with lasers in the dark, but not sure if thats you're type of thing!!!

Bitts Park, I think its nice myself - walk down the side of the river Eden - it has little sculptures and stuff on the walk.

Carlisle footie matches are always exciting (though I am a supporter)

Good places to eat are - Adrianos - lovely, lovely restaurant opposite the civic centre. It's an Italian, really nicely decorated and on peak nights they have a pianist
Also Little Frankies is pretty nice and cheap... and if you complain they usually give you the food for free

It's not that bad, honest!!

CelticStar

Well, I moved to Carlisle (well just outside of Carlisle) from Kent when I was in my teens and it is a lovely place to live and visit. Carlisle has changed enormously over the last five years and is a great place to shop, eat out etc. It is clean and picturesque, big enough to have good shops but not so big that you can't get around comfortably. Away from Carlisle the lakes are truly breathtaking and well worth a visit but, to be honest, five minutes in a car will take you out into beautiful countryside and lovely villages whichever direction you take. You can also venture into the Scottish borders, which have a distinct charm of their own, if you feel like it. As for druggies supposedly hanging out at the railway station, I have lived here for over twenty years and can say that Carlisle station is not only great to look at (it was one of the largest and most important stations in the country in Victorian times) it is perfectly safe to hang around in with not a drug addict in sight. Hope you have a lovely time.