About the Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Where is Holy Island?

Holy Island, also known as Lindisfarne, is on the east coast of Britain, just south of the border to Scotland. The nearest town is Berwick-upon-Tweed. To get to Holy Island, get on the A1; there is a small village called Beal, about 10 miles south of Berwick. If you leave the A1 here, the road will lead you to Holy Island in another 5 or 8 miles or so. Make sure that the tide is down, so that you can cross safely.

If you are looking for a map, click here to open a new browser window with www.streetmap.co.uk! (You will find buttons on the lower right corner of the map which allow you to scale the map as you need it.)

The nearest airports are Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Edinburgh, both about 60 miles away. You can take the bus or the train from Newcastle to Berwick, but you can only take a train from Edinburgh to Berwick. The nearest train and coach station is Berwick-upon-Tweed. On some days, there is a bus from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Holy Island. There is always a bus from Berwick (and also from Newcastle) to Beal, which is on the mainland just opposite Holy Island (have a look at the above map).

If you intend to take the bus from Edinburgh, from Berwick or from Newcastle, do try the most practical website www.jplanner.org.uk, type 'Holy Island' or 'Beal' into the 'destination' field. If you type 'Beal', you will be asked whether you mean 'Beal West Mains' or 'Beal Nth Yorks'. You mean 'Beal West Mains'. The JPlanner website covers trains, coaches and busses.

Holy Island Tide Timetables

Holy Island is a tidal island and accessible only while the tide is low. You should check the tide times carefully before visiting the island. If you miss the tide you could be stuck on the island for 5 hours. Download the 2009 tide table in PDF format here

To view the tide times you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Click here for access to a free download.

Holy Island as a Retreat Place

If you want to do a guided retreat on Holy Island, please check our retreat programme. If you want to come for a personal retreat with or without spiritual direction, check out our retreat guide 'Give yourself a Retreat on Holy Island'. You might want to choose the right time of the year to visit: If you want a very silent retreat, it might be better to visit in the time from late October to early April, when there are only very few visitors on the island.