Carlisle Castle in Carlisle

We attended as part of the City of the Lights: Luguvalium event. It was pretty and lovely to see the castle used in an innovative way.

The castle was great but I feel we should have been told we didnt have to have an all inclusive ticket that included the military museum! So what was a very expensive few hours would have been a lot more affordable!

Great castle, lots to see. The little one loved it.Lots of information about the history of Carlisle and the many battles and wars that it has been involved in.Has a cafe for drinks and snacks.Would say its a tad more expensive than I would like. Cheaper to buy tickets in advance. Kids under 5 go free.It took us about 90 minutes to go round.

Currently the roof is being mended so the whole keep is under wraps. The castle is mostly whole. You do get free access to a military museum too. Given all the history I think there could be more exhibits to see.

A great historic castle which is currently undergoing restoration of the main roof on the keep. It still has a good amount of access though and was fascinating. In fact the whole castle is amazing and fascinating.

Cool castle. Large areas to walk around and touch a piece of history. Shocked to hear how many times the castle has been sieged and how well it stands still. Very knowledgable staff positioned strategically who are eager to help. Uneven grounds make it hard to maneuver, especially when wet.

Dont be put off by the sight of scaffolding and covering on rhe keep. You are still able to enter it and its very atmospheric so it is still worth going. Other parts of the castle are equally attractive including the reproduction throne/chair that everyone sits in to take a photograph. As well as the castle itself there is an excellent military museum with its own shop and cafe. There are lots of tables outside where you can eat your own food so its ideal for kids. And the staff are lovely. Highly recommended.

Carlisle is a vibrant city with fantastic night life. There are a great variety of assorted clubs, pubs and restaurants all within easy walking distance of one another.Carlisle Castle is a cultural highlight which is well worth the admission price - this also gives you access to a very nicely laid out and maintained war museum onsite. It is also comfortable walking distance from the city centre.There may be limited activities for young children although we may have missed some opportunities to entertain them as we were travelling without any children.

Top tip!!! Save £1 on each ticket by buying online. A really good day out, lots to see, no shows or activities though, so you must entertain yourself. The guy on the door/ counter was great - really enthusiastic and great with our 10 year old. The same has to be said about the guy with glasses in the museum bit - spot on with children, full on chatty with us. In the middle section there are plenty of picinic areas and grassy knolls for lunch, there is a great onsite cafe .. a touch expensive! - but again the staff were chatty and friendly and great with children. Above the cafe was a potato stamping activity free. So all in all a really good day out.

A lovely walk around the castle today. Entry to the military museum was included in the price. There are repair works being undertaken on the keep at the moment, so you cant see the outside. You can still go inside, up to the second floor, but not onto the third floor. There is a cafe (we didnt use it, so cant comment), and toilets. Nearest parking was in Castle Car Park, which was £3 for all day. It was an easy walk into the town centre from the castle too.

Great experience and lovely helpful staff. I took my two children(one in a wheelchairand was allowed to park inside castle walls which is really good. Fantastic accessibility for such an old building. Plenty of really clean toilets including two disabled ones.

Given the size of the place there wasnt that much to see, and I was massively disappointed at the almost total absence of interpretation boards and information. The military exhibition was decent if you like that kind of thing. The Bonnie Prince Charlie exhibition was closed when I visited so cant comment on that.

Fascinating castle, great museum

A little disappointed at so much of the castle seemingly unavailable due to restoration works and security entering meant that we paid to walk around what afterwards seemed accessible to everyone else if they slipped through the barrier. The military museum was excellent, but overall experience felt a little lacking, especially the facilities not being great, only one toilet available and they werent terribly great.

Lovely historical Castle but a few things to remember. Google maps takes you to the Castle entrance but, unless youre a blue badge holder, you cant drive and park here. It would be helpful if English Heritage gave clear signage to advise of that fact. Nearest parking is straight past the castle and first left.Also, if you dont buy a guide book at the start, youll have no idea whats what as you explore. Unlike the National Trust properties there are no information boards in any of the locations. The military museum was brilliant though, information overload.

Unfortunately the keep was under renovation and covered up. But still worth a visit.

Mostly dog friendly, work being done on the keep but still accessible.

Any castle is interested to visit. Not one of the best weve seen but nevertheless a fab day out with the family. Id suggest to visit it on rainy/ugly days, as if the sun is out there are probably better things to do. Overall, very interesting and fun for the children running around.

Not what I expected and definitely not as good as the Castles on the East Coast! Like Scarborough Bamburgh. As members the cost was covered but if not and we had to pay Id have been very upset ! On a personal note not worth the money

Its a shame the keep was covered in scaffolding. Well worth a visit. The military museum was interesting too.

Carlisle Castle Queen Mary of Scots was imprisoned and beheaded in Carlisle Castle they do have a lovely museum military museum it used to be the headquarters Off the border regiment the oldest in British Army did you have refreshments too I am posting some pictures

Nice Castle, with a nice e war museum. Worth a visit.

Sober but still very beautiful and mostly intact from the 12th century 👌🏻

This is one of the borders castle that unfortunately for a long time has been neglected, this however is changing with a lot of restoration is in progress which can only improve the historical history of the building for future generations.

Excellent place to visit with lots of history you can touch. A great family friendly historical site with easy access, Military exhibition is absolutely fantastic. Well done English Heritage 🖐️

Intresting place full of history with great museum bits where a lot can be learned. Unfortunately only a small part of the castle wall can be walked along which is big shame as there is a lot that can be seen from the walls. It would be great to open up the doors to these walls so that everyone can enjoy the surrounding area from the castle.

The entire keep covered by scaffolding, poor area and room displays, 3 Rd and upper floors not available. Military museum was interestingI love history but it doesnt seem much effort is put toward the visitor and if you want info they force you to purchase guide

Beautiful castle but very pricey. You cant go free to the lands so its a bit disappointing. Tickets are not cheap at all.

Nice place to visit, smaller than most castles weve visited and the scaffolding around the keep a bit disappointing although it doesnt stop you actually entering and exploring the keep so thats good. However, the scaffolding isnt why I have only given this place 3 stars....There are many steep stairs which can be challenging for those with any mobility issues. There isnt a lot that can be done about this, its not like they can install lifts throughout the castle! However, there is one thing they could do - and hasnt been done. As someone who struggles with M.E. I can climb up these stairs - but really needed somewhere to sit down after the exertion. Apart from picnic tables in the main courtyard, and a couple of benches elsewhere, no other places to sit down and recover were made available.The walkway around the walls is wide in places, 9-12 feet or so, and could have been easy to have put a few benches around for those with mobility issues who had struggled up steep steps.Although a small castle, near the end of our visit (that was only around an hour or soI had to forgo exploring some areas or I would have collapsed on the floor.It is unacceptable for places like this to make zero effort to cater for persons with disabilities. Somethings cannot be made accessible - I get that. However some things can be accessible to a greater number of people with just a shred of consideration and sad to say I think none was made here.

A most interesting castle and well worth a visit. Unfortunately the keep is, at present, undertaking restoration work and so is covered in protective sheeting. It is still possible to visit the inside of the Keep and many other areas of the castle.

Amazing place with a military museum visit included.

It was a beautiful place but unfortunately hard to make my way around due to the amount of stairs, and the building work to the exterior of the keep made any real photos pointless, so here is one of an abstract cows head :)I dont feel like the admission price was good value for money and was disappointed overall.

Worth a visit, army museum and plenty of castle buildings to see.Dropped a star for the scaffolding around the keep, I know this is for maintenance and restoration but it does dampen a visit.

The Castle is beside a very busy dual carriageway and unlike many other castles on the English Heritage network, isn’t a peaceful idyll. However the welcome by staff was warm and informative and I was appraised of the conservation work being undertaken on the tower of the castle, the reason for its encasement by scaffolding. Inside the castle walls it was quiet and peaceful even though it is shared by active military barracks and a military museum (entrance covered by English Heritage admission charge). There are no cafe facilities here but plenty of choice across the dual carriageway in the city centre. The castle has an interesting history and an interpretive room showing the number of sieges endured, more than you can shake a stick at. A small enticing shop completed a worthwhile visit.

Good place, very clean, will definitely use again if in the area.A bit disappointed on the breakfast, which was included and not different than any other Holiday In Express breakfasts. The only issue was that you can’t really have tables for 50 people but the food area designed that can’t even sustain the 20+ that we’re in at one time. Couldn’t find cutlery, the juice dispenser and the food containers were empty and the staff couldn’t keep up with refilling them. Same issue with the bread, only one coffee machine and the empty tables full of dirty dishes from the customers that just left.

Great place to visit. Good information and signage and the guide book is excellent value. There was a volunteer giving talks and information who was excellent

Great place to visit , its what Chester castle should of been kept like

It was closed, opened only on weekends on November. Still some walls around the castle and a tor. Nice to go into the ground to take some pictures.

Great castle to visit. Only about quarter of a mile from the railway station. I spent about two hours there taking photos. Staff were very polite, helpful and knowledgable. What was more impressive was the way staff dealt with those visitors that had "forgotten" there was a virus going around and hadnt pre-booked their visit. As far as Im aware, nobody was turned away and staff dealt with the social distancing side of things superbly. Well done to all concerned!!

Nicely kept castle & grounds. Good museum filled with very interesting facts. Guides dotted around to tell you things. If youve got a M&S Sparks card you can get in for half price.

Wonderful place ; dog friendly and well presented. We walk and read the interesting history of this castle and Carlisle in around 2 hours. Our dog was allowed in almost every area that make our visit enjoyable. We used the Bitts Park car park ; those gardens worth a visit as well.

There are really two parts to a visit here; exploring the Old Castle which now consists of the Inner Ward (or Bailey, they mean the same thing), and the Outer ward, an area of more modern buildings but housing the exceptionally good military museum. Its the inclusion of this museum that gives it 5 stars for me.The Inner Ward is made up of a number of buildings but the principal one, as youd expect, is the Keep; a very robust structure with thick walls. You get great views from the walkway which goes right around the top of the wall. An exhibition room in the inner ward details the full history of the castle; the most besieged castle of any in Britain.You must visit the Cumbria museum of miltary life in the Outer Ward, its excellent, and quite easy to spend an hour here. Plenty of exhibits and videos detailing the stories of the different regiments from this area. I was particularly impressed by the stories of the 34th (formed in 1702and 55th regiments (formed in 1755). These regiments were later named Cumberland & Westmorland regiments respectively.

A lovely place to visit. The staff were very friendly, a lot of history to see and read through. Make sure to bring your own food as we did not notice any store inside when we were there.

Excellent visit which included access to the truly OUTSTANDING military museum. Staff were super helpful and accommodating. The crowning jewel of the castle however is the military museum. Nearly every piece they house is a genuine historical artefact from captured Japanese ceremonial katana swords to Gurkha Kukri to actual machine guns and bayonet pistols. Awesome visit to the best and most unexpected military museum we’ve ever been to.

Beautiful buliding. Also great that you can visit the military museum which is included in the price. They also have a cafe and toilets

Worth a visit if you are in Carlisle. Steeped in history and well maintained by English Heritage.plenty of information boards detailing the castles history and what each area was used for.The military museum inside is a bonus packed with artefacts mostly linked to the Border Regiment and its predecessors.

Lovely place. Hadrians wall Keep with big history behind. Might not be very impressive inside but its well worth a visit. Do not miss the army museum at the back as we were positively surprised by the whole display.

As simple as the layout seems as you approach its a little deceiving. Once inside there are two separate areas, the first still being used as an army cadet zone, with a cafe in the corner. The second area is the old castle its self, but its been modernised at times as its always been a military barracks throughout its history. Dont let that deture you tho, as its still worth a walk around.Warning, theres a biscuit factory close by, and the last time I went the smell of baked cake filled the air, it was beautiful. Take a snack in case, haha.

What a place to visit. Very well preserved and really does take you back to the old days and how life might have been. Brilliant to be able to walk around the Keep and grounds. Make sure you have the time as your going to be there for a while exploring every area. Highly recommend the visit.

Nice place to spend some time, admission to the castle and the military museum are available in the shop were you can also get a guide book for the castle and Hadrians Wall. The castle is complete with its recent history being used as an army barracks. Highlight has to be the carved graffiti in the cells of the keep but its tricky to photograph through the plastic screens. A walk round the wall also gives a good view of the city.