The cathedral, along with the old town and Durham Castle, sits on a towering rock in a loop of the Wear River. With a length of 143 m, it takes up the entire width of the rock. The main entrance is on the north side of the main nave (formerly the lay entrance). On the south side is the former Benedictine abbey with the cloister.
Architecturally, it is, apart from the additions, a completely vaulted three-aisled cross basilica with a two-aisled transept (consisting of a main aisle and only one aisle located west of the crossing). Beyond the vaults of the central aisle and the main aisles of the transept, the church interior also protrudes into the crossing tower and receives light from its windows. This vertical expansion is completed by a star vault.
The church has three large square and eight smaller towers: the tower pair at the west end of the nave is not too tall as the crossing tower. In addition, there are small towers on the outer corners of the transept arms, the octagonal west each slightly thicker than the square east. These seven towers have flat roofs. The towers at the four corners of the Gothic chapel of the Nine Altars, which are attached to the east of the choir, are octagonal and have pointed spire helmets.