Skip to content
Exploring Peaks
Menu

The Yorkshire Dales

Limestone scars, the Three Peaks and the long green dales between them.

High point: Whernside, 736 m

Where to base yourself

Hawes

Wensleydale's market town, on the Pennine Way.

Station: Garsdale, on the Settle to Carlisle line, reached from there by bus

109 to stay

Reeth

Swaledale's principal village, with no railway for miles.

Station: None in Swaledale; the DalesBus 831 summer Sunday service runs from Darlington through Richmond to Reeth

55 to stay

Ingleton

Under Ingleborough, with the waterfalls trail on its edge.

Station: Bentham, 3½ miles away; the Settle to Carlisle line station for Whernside is Ribblehead, about six miles north-east

46 to stay

Settle

Ribblesdale's market town, on the Leeds to Carlisle line.

Station: Settle, on the Settle to Carlisle line; Horton in Ribblesdale is the next station north

35 to stay

Kettlewell

Beneath Great Whernside, with Buckden Pike a day away.

Station: Skipton, reached by the daily 72 bus to Grassington and the Monday to Saturday 72B minibus on to Kettlewell

23 to stay

Sedbergh

A book town below the Howgills, with the hill from the door.

Station: Oxenholme, reached by Western Dales bus services; Dent, on the Leeds to Settle to Carlisle line, is the other station in range

22 to stay

Hot tubs in the Yorkshire Dales

Booking links on these earn us a commission. The price you pay is the same either way.

All 377 stays in the Yorkshire Dales All 62 with hot tubs The 278 that take dogs

Walks

Buckden Pike from Buckden

A 702m summit above upper Wharfedale, climbed from Buckden to a wartime memorial cross and back by Starbotton and the Dales Way.

  • 17.1 km
  • 576 m up
  • 6 hr 40 min
  • Moderate

Great Shunner Fell from Hardraw

The third highest summit in the Yorkshire Dales, reached on the Pennine Way from Hardraw by an enclosed coal road and a flagged path, 18km out and back.

  • 18 km
  • 522 m up
  • Moderate

Ingleborough from Clapham

The 723m flat-topped hillfort summit of Ingleborough, climbed from Clapham by Ingleborough Cave, Trow Gill and Gaping Gill, 15.4km round.

  • 15.4 km
  • 595 m up
  • 6 hr 20 min
  • Moderate

Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

A privately run, ticketed 7km clockwise circuit through the gorges of the Rivers Twiss and Doe, past Pecca Falls and the 14m drop of Thornton Force.

  • 7 km
  • 3 hr
  • Moderate

Kisdon Force and the Keld Waterfalls

The River Swale's gorge below Keld in upper Swaledale, with Catrake Force, East Gill Force and Kisdon Force, on an 11km circuit via Muker.

  • 11 km
  • Moderate

All 9 walks in the Yorkshire Dales

Views without the walk

Aysgarth Falls

Three limestone-stepped falls on the River Ure, with a firm, wide path from the National Park car park to the Upper and Middle Falls.

  • Step-free

Hardraw Force

A single 30m plunge in a limestone amphitheatre behind the Green Dragon Inn at Hardraw, 1.5km north of Hawes, reached across private land for a fee.

All 22 viewpoints