THE Lumiere light spectacular returns to the North-East tomorrow, with organisers promising a festival even bigger and better than 2009’s huge success.

Click here to view a map showing Lumiere installations, events and utilities

The four-night celebration will feature four major art installations, 31 smaller pieces, talks and workshops, greater involvement from local businesses and begins with a lantern parade involving 200 children.

Nicky Webb, from producers Artichoke, said: “It will be a fresh look at this lovely city. We’re very excited to see what people think of what we’ve done.”

The four major installations are: Jacques Rival’s I Love Durham snowdome over the Lord Londonderry statue in Durham Market Place; Compagnie Carabosse’s burning sphere Spirit piece in Durham Cathedral; Peter Lewis’ Splash illuminated waterfall from Kingsgate Bridge and Ross Ashton’s Crown of Light – featuring huge images from the Lindisfarne Gospels projected on to the cathedral.

There will be other pieces across the peninsula, Elvet, Walkergate and Wharton Park.

All fixed installations can be viewed free from 6pm to 11pm from Thursday to Sunday, except those around the cathedral, which will be closed during Evensong services.

The parade will be held tomorrow only, leaving Millennium Place for Palace Green at 6pm.

Organisers are encouraging visitors to use public transport. Bus services will change but the station will operate as normal. For full details, call Traveline on 08712-002233.

Various road closures and diversions will be in place. The peninsula will be closed to vehicles from 5pm to midnight. North Road will close at 6pm.

There will be 900 free parking spaces at County Hall. There will be extra park-and-ride bus services, running until 10pm.

Visitors are advised to visit on Thursday, Sunday or after 8.30pm to avoid the biggest crowds, wear suitable clothing and leave buggies and pets at home.

At the busiest times, a one-way system will be in place up Saddler Street, round the cathedral, across Prebends Bridge and back along the riverbanks.

A Lumiere Hub, in the former Tourist Information Centre, on Millennium Place, will be open from noon to 5pm today and from noon until 10pm during the festival.

A reading room, exploring what inspires the Lumiere artists, will be upstairs in The Hub.

Fifteen venues are offering food and drink discounts. Talks and workshops will be held on Friday and Saturday, and family events on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, visit lumieredurham.co.uk. A mobile version of the website is available for use on smartphones.

• A full report and pictures of Lumiere will be in The Northern Echo on Friday.