Travel, Accommodation & Visitor Visa

Carlisle is easily accessible with good road and railway links.

Online map and Sat Nav references

• Carlisle Cathedral (main venue) - CA3 8TZ
• Live Video Link (Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery) - CA3 8UL
• Crown & Mitre Hotel - CA3 8HZ but for car parking use CA3 8HB.
  The Cathedral is situated on Castle Street in the centre of Carlisle.

Parking

Parking is sign-posted and is available near the Cathedral at the Damside, Viaduct and Devonshire Walk car parks. Carlisle City Council provides car parking information on their website. 

By rail

The Cathedral is less than ten minutes walk from the train station. Alternatively, there is a taxi rank in front of the station. For information about timetables, booking tickets and station facilities, visit Avanti West Coast or your preferred train ticket provider.

By booking early, it is possible to get cheaper tickets and Virgin offer the following tips.

By air

The nearest airports to Carlisle are:

• Newcastle Airport (NCL) – 50.5 miles
• Edinburgh Airport (EDI) – 74.9 miles
• Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) – 77.7 miles

Good value accommodation is available for students and guests at the University of Cumbria campuses. For accommodation enquiries  please contact Carlisle Conference Office at ca.conferences@cumbria.ac.uk.

Alternatively, Carlisle has plenty of accommodation on offer including hotels, bed and breakfast and self-catering. Carlisle Tourism Partnership offer accommodation information for visitors on the Discover Carlisle website, or you can call the Tourist Information Centre on 01228 625600.

There are a wide range of places to eat in the city centre. For more information visit the food and drink pages of the Discover Carlisle website, run by Carlisle Tourism Partnership.

You and/or your guests may need a Standard Visitor Visa to attend your graduation ceremony.

Applying for a Standard Visitor Visa

The Home Office website has all the information you need about applying for a Standard Visitor visa, including how to apply, fees, waiting times and the supporting documentation you will need.

Letter of Invitation

You can apply to the Ceremonies Team for a letter of invitation which you can present to your home authorities along with your application for a visa letter. This letter will confirm you have been invited to a graduation ceremony and the date and location of the ceremony. It will state that attendance at the ceremony is subject to successful completion of your award and clearance of all academic fees to the university. It will be addressed to "whom it may concern" and will refer to you, the graduand, by name.

It will not refer to any other person such as named guests. However, you can use this letter to accompany any letter of invitation that you provide for your guests.

How to Apply

Once you have registered your attendance at graduation, please send an email to ceremonies@cumbria.ac.uk no later than

• 16th June for July 2025 ceremonies

After this date it will not be possible to provide you with a letter.

The letter will include the following information from your student record on ICON:

• Your student ID number
• Your full name
• Your home address

An electronic copy will be emailed to your student email address and contact address. 

Before contacting the Ceremonies Team please check that the information on ICON is correct and up to date. We will not be able to reproduce letters if you have not done this. 

Ahead of our Carlisle Citadels campus development, there are several projects currently underway within Carlisle city centre, all from different funding sources and with a staged delivery programme.

Over £80 million of public funding is being invested in projects around Carlisle city centre. These projects, with a staged delivery programme, aim to maximise the area’s potential and attract and retain more people at the heart of the city. You can learn more about them here.

Many high-street names and Carlisle’s independent retailers operate student discounts, with some running exclusive offers for University of Cumbria’s July 2025 graduates. They include:

• Clarks (located in The Lanes Shopping Centre) - 20% off student discount all year round. Clarks also offers a booking service for customers and stocks a plentiful range of various styles.
• Rex Boba (located in The Lanes Shopping Centre) - a discount of 10% to any graduates and their +1’s. Proof of graduation attendance is required.

The Lanes Shopping Centre is situated in the heart of Carlisle city centre, boasting scores of the biggest high street names and independent stores. It is running a special competition this month for University of Cumbria graduands. The Lanes is giving you the chance to win £250 of store gift cards.

To be in with a chance of winning, Class of 2025 summer graduands can share a photo with The Lanes whilst in graduation outfit on the shopping centre’s special Facebook competition post.

A randomly chosen winner will receive a £50 gift card from each of the following stores - Primark, River Island, Next, HMV and JD Sport.

Spread the word - maybe if your friend wins, they might treat you.  The competition ends on Monday 21 July 2025.

Full details and T&Cs are available on The Lanes Facebook page (originally post - 7/7/25)