I’m Layal, an international student here at Newcastle, and I wanted to share the area I consider to be home away from home; Jesmond!
As Jesmond is a residential area, there is plenty of accommodation available, especially for students. Most accommodation available for students are terraced houses, which may be ideal for shared housing with your friends, or other students in the area!
The Jesmond area is easily accessed via excellent metro links from both the city centre, airport and the coast, which means that you can just hop on or off at any of the Jesmond stations - Jesmond, West Jesmond or Ilford Road.
Jesmond metro station is only one station away from Haymarket, which gets you to the centre within just a few minutes. An alternative for those who live farther up is West Jesmond, it's just 2 stations away from Haymarket.
There are also plenty of bus stops all over Jesmond, which come every few minutes and stop near Haymarket.
As Jesmond is a large area, it can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to walk to Haymarket. Coming from the west of Jesmond, it is a 20–30-minute walk down to the city centre. However, it is a shorter 10–15-minute walk from the south end of Jesmond.
There are cycle routes available across Jesmond which enables easy access to the city centre. If cycling into the centre is your style, you can be there within 15 minutes!
There is parking available, and most is resident permit parking. You can find some car parks without a permit, but they may have to be paid for by the hour.
There are definitely plenty of amenities nearby in Jesmond! A popular area Jesmond residents pass by every day is Osborne Road, which is packed with supermarkets (a Tesco and a Waitrose), coffee shops, restaurants, and bakeries. Besides that, there are corner shops all around Jesmond, which is ideal for any day-to-day needs.
Jesmond has a reputation for being one of the best foodie suburbs in Newcastle. It is a great area for food and drinks, and if you wanted to have a night out, you probably wouldn't need to go into the city centre to grab a good meal.
While Jesmond is full of restaurants all over, Osborne Road is a lively stretch which hosts some of Newcastle's best bars and restaurants. Some notable ones are Fat Hippo, Rio Brazilian Steakhouse, and Birria Bella!
My favourite thing about Jesmond is that it is a suburb with plenty of space to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, while still being only a few miles away from the city centre. It has plenty of great activities all around, and one of the nicest, in my opinion, is Jesmond Dene. It is a central feature which runs through the heart of Jesmond and is known for its tranquil natural beauty, popular walking routes, and coffee catch ups and it even has its own waterfall! Jesmond Dene is also home to pets' corner, a chance to spend some time with the friendliest (and furriest) of animals.
Find out more about other areas to live in and around Newcastle by reading our Ouseburn and Heaton Neighbourhood Guides,
Header image from https://newcastlegateshead.com/blog/10-restaurants-in-jesmond