Best Places to Visit in County Durham
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in County Durham are Cauldron Snout, Steetley Pier, Egglestone Abbey Bridge, North Gare Beach, Bleabeck Force, Heugh Breakwater, Seaham Hall Beach and Low Force Waterfall.
County Durham runs from the high Pennines of Upper Teesdale down to a North Sea coast reworked by industry, and its best places take in both. In the dale, the River Tees pours over the long cataract of Cauldron Snout below Cow Green Reservoir, tumbles over the wide ledges of Low Force by the Wynch Bridge, and slides quietly at Bleabeck Force a little beyond the crowds.
Near Barnard Castle, the ruins of Egglestone Abbey look down on a river pool below an old stone bridge. On the coast, the sea-glass beach at Seaham glitters with a century of worn bottle glass, while the industrial heritage of Hartlepool and Teesside shows in the Heugh Breakwater, the skeletal Steetley Pier and the breakwater beaches of North Gare.
Some are wild Pennine waterfalls, others gaunt industrial relics standing along the coast. Here are eight places to visit across County Durham.
Cauldron Snout
Photo: steven ruffles via Geograph.org.uk
Cauldron Snout is a long cataract on the upper River Tees, where the water pours down a staircase of dark dolerite rock below the dam of Cow Green Reservoir. It runs around two hundred yards down the fellside rather than dropping in a single fall, making it one of the longest cascades in England.
The Pennine Way passes right beside it and crosses the Tees at its foot. The setting is remote open moorland on the Durham and Cumbria border.
Steetley Pier
Photo: Andy Waddington via Geograph.org.uk
Steetley Pier is the skeletal, half-ruined remains of an old industrial jetty reaching out into the North Sea on the beach north of Hartlepool. It once drew seawater in for a magnesite works, a factory long since demolished and its site built over, leaving only the rusting iron legs of the pier marching out from the shore.
It has become a favourite spot for photographers, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the light catches the ironwork and the sea. It is reached on foot from the seafront, with the beach and dunes around it.
Egglestone Abbey Bridge
Photo: Hugh Mortimer via Geograph.org.uk
Egglestone Abbey stands in ruins above a bend in the River Tees near Barnard Castle, the remains of a medieval abbey with much of its church and living quarters still standing. Just below, an old single-arched stone bridge crosses the river, built in the eighteenth century, and the deep pool beneath the bridge is a well-known wild-swimming spot.
English Heritage keeps the free abbey ruins, which look down over the river.
North Gare Beach
Photo: Mick Garratt via Geograph.org.uk
North Gare Beach is a sandy beach at the northern mouth of the River Tees, close to Seaton Carew on Teesside, forming part of the Teesmouth nature reserve behind low dunes and a golf links. Its landmark is the North Gare breakwater, an old training wall striking out into the sea, reached on foot across the dunes.
The outlook here trades in contrasts, with unspoilt coast and wildlife spreading north and the chimneys and cranes of the Teesside works crowding the southern horizon. Birdwatchers prize it for the waders and migrants working the shoreline, and a car park waits nearby.
Bring binoculars and enjoy the odd juxtaposition.
Bleabeck Force
Photo: Karl and Ali via Geograph.org.uk
Bleabeck Force is a quiet waterfall on Blea Beck, in Upper Teesdale, a short way upstream of the far busier High Force. Where High Force thunders, this is a gentler thing: the beck slides and steps down over ledges of rock in a series of small cascades, close to where it joins the River Tees.
Most visitors to Teesdale stop at High Force and turn back, so this smaller fall a little further on stays peaceful. It is reached on the riverside walk up from Bowlees, with the open moors of the high Pennines rising all around.
In winter it can freeze into sheets and columns of ice.
Heugh Breakwater
Photo: Chris Morgan via Geograph.org.uk
The Heugh Breakwater runs out to sea from the Headland at Hartlepool, a long Victorian breakwater built in the 1850s from great blocks of concrete. It takes a battering from the North Sea, and part of the outer end is now closed off as unsafe.
Nearby stands the Heugh Lighthouse, its white tower one of a pair of markers on the point. The breakwater and headland look out over the harbour and the sea beyond.
Seaham Hall Beach
Photo: DS Pugh via Geograph.org.uk
Seaham Hall Beach is a stretch of sand and shingle just north of Seaham on the Durham coast, celebrated most of all for the sea glass scattered across it. The story goes back to Victorian Seaham, home to one of Britain's biggest bottleworks, which for years emptied its waste glass straight into the sea.
Decade after decade of wave action rounded and frosted those broken pieces into little jewels of colour, and today collectors comb the strand line for them, with reds and blues counting as the rarest finds. Though the bottleworks closed in the 1920s, the glass still keeps arriving.
Go early, before others beat you to it.
Low Force Waterfall
Photo: William Metcalfe via Geograph.org.uk
Low Force is a set of low cascades on the River Tees in Teesdale, a short way downstream of the taller High Force. The water tumbles over rock ledges into wide pools, with the Wynch Bridge, a chain suspension footbridge, crossing just below.
The Pennine Way runs along the river here, and the falls are reached on a footpath from the Bowlees visitor centre nearby. The drop is around five and a half metres, and the pools below are used for cold-water swimming.
The present Wynch Bridge dates from 1830.
FAQs
Which waterfalls can you see in Teesdale in County Durham?
Upper Teesdale in County Durham has three fine waterfalls on the River Tees: Cauldron Snout, Low Force and the quieter Bleabeck Force. Cauldron Snout pours some two hundred yards down a staircase of dolerite below Cow Green Reservoir, Low Force tumbles over wide ledges by the Wynch Bridge, and Bleabeck Force steps down over rock a little beyond the crowds who stop at nearby High Force.
Why is Seaham beach known for sea glass?
Seaham Hall Beach is known for sea glass because a large Victorian bottleworks stood at Seaham for decades and tipped its waste glass into the sea. A century of tumbling in the waves has worn the fragments into smooth, frosted pebbles of glass in every colour, and beachcombers hunt the tide lines for them, prizing the rarer reds and blues.
What is Steetley Pier?
Steetley Pier is the skeletal, half-ruined remains of an old industrial jetty reaching into the North Sea on the beach north of Hartlepool. It once drew seawater for a magnesite works, now demolished, leaving only the rusting iron legs marching out from the shore, a favourite with photographers at sunrise and sunset.
Conclusion
County Durham runs from the high Pennines to a hard-worked coast, and its best places span the two. In Upper Teesdale, the Tees pours over the long cataract of Cauldron Snout, tumbles over the wide ledges of Low Force by the Wynch Bridge, and slides quietly at Bleabeck Force beyond the crowds, while Egglestone Abbey looks down on its river pool near Barnard Castle.
On the coast, Seaham glitters with a century of sea glass, and the industrial past shows in the Heugh Breakwater, the skeletal Steetley Pier and the breakwater beaches of North Gare. From Pennine cataract to sea-glass shore, these are the places to seek out across County Durham.
