Darlington Tourist Information

A market town rich in railway and Quaker heritage, Darlington in the Tees Valley makes a superb gateway base into the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines AONB. Situated just a stone’s throw from the A1, busy Scotch Corner and Durham Tees Valley Airport, Darlington hotels and B&Bs are perfectly placed for touring and travel/ business stopovers.

The town centre is a market town jewel, with centrepiece Darlington Market Hall featuring the great Gothic clocktower. The Victorian covered market and adjacent market square plays host to a choice of weekly local produce and farmers’ markets, plus an annual popular food festival.

Browse hundreds of independent stores around Darlington’s character Wynds and Yards, and visit beautiful independent department stores like the 1930s Binns in Darlington centre. The town is a top spot in the Tees Valley for specialist shopping and offers a great selection of world cuisine restaurants, from fine Italian to traditional Tandoori.

Darlington is regarded by many as the birthplace of the railways. Railway heritage is linked closely with Darlington’s Quaker history, for it was the town’s Quaker industrialist Edward Pease who put up the money for George Stephenson’s ‘Locomotion No.1’, one of the very first passenger-pulling locomotions.  Find out more at the ‘Head of Steam’ railway Museum along the great Stockton & Darlington Railway, the first public railway with working steam locomotions, first opened in 1825. Stay in the Tees Valley’s great railway centre, brimming with markets, stylish restaurants and independent shops – browse & book Darlington hotels & accommodation now.