One day in the North York Moors: Pickering to Whitby, hour by hour
A steam locomotive leaving a country station with heather moorland behind
A single-day route across 24 miles of moorland with 7 timed stops, two ways to do it — steam train or car — and a clear answer on where to sleep at the end.
Two ways to cross the moors, and which to pick
The North York Moors are only 24 miles across from Pickering to Whitby, which makes a single day genuinely workable. There are two routes. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway runs restored steam services from Pickering through Levisham, Newtondale, Goathland and Grosmont, with some services continuing along the Esk to Whitby — a journey of around 100 minutes end to end. The road route takes the A169 over Fylingdales Moor past the Hole of Horcum in about 45 minutes, with the option of a longer loop via Blakey Ridge and Rosedale.
Pick the train if you have children, if the weather is poor, or if you want the day to be effortless: you sit, the moors go past, and someone else drives. Pick the car if you want the Hole of Horcum, the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge and the Rosedale kilns, none of which the railway reaches. The best version is a hybrid — leave the car in Pickering, take the steam train one way and the Coastliner bus back — but that needs the timetable to co-operate, so check both operators before committing.
8.30am to 10am: Pickering
Arrive in Pickering by 8.30am and park in one of the town car parks rather than on the station approach. Give 45 minutes to Pickering Castle, a motte-and-bailey with a surviving shell keep on the hill above the town, used as a royal hunting base for the Forest of Pickering. Then walk five minutes to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul for the fifteenth-century wall paintings — a near-complete scheme of saints and scenes, whitewashed over at the Reformation and uncovered in the 1850s. They are extraordinary and almost nobody stops for them.
Buy lunch supplies from the bakery or butcher on Market Place before you leave; options thin out sharply once you are on the moor. Pickering also has a Monday market and an indoor market hall for a wet start. If you are taking the train, be at the station 20 minutes before departure to collect pre-booked tickets — services on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway sell out on summer weekends and running days vary by season, so book ahead and confirm times directly with the railway.
10am to 1pm: across the moor
By train: the line climbs out of Pickering into Newtondale, a glacial meltwater channel with steep wooded sides and no road, which is the single best stretch of the journey. Levisham station sits a mile below its village. Goathland, the next stop, is the Aidensfield of the long-running television series Heartbeat and doubled as Hogsmeade on screen, so expect crowds and a platform photograph queue. Give it a 40-minute break if the timetable allows, walk to Mallyan Spout waterfall if you have longer, then continue to Grosmont.
By car: leave the A169 at the Saltergate lay-by for the Hole of Horcum, a 400-foot-deep natural amphitheatre scooped from the moor, with a well-trodden circuit of about three and a half miles round the rim in two hours. Then drop into Goathland by the minor road for the village green, sheep on the road and the station. Add Mallyan Spout, a 60-foot fall reached by a rocky riverside path from the hotel of the same name — slippery, so take care. The bigger detour, Blakey Ridge and Rosedale's ironstone kilns, adds 90 minutes.
1pm to 2pm: Grosmont and the Esk valley
Grosmont is where two railways meet, and where the day's best free half hour sits. Walk through the 1836 tunnel — engineered by George Stephenson for a horse-drawn line and now a footpath — to the locomotive sheds, where you can watch fitters working on machinery older than most of the people looking at it. The village has a co-op, a tearoom and a pub, so lunch here is possible but limited; the picnic bought in Pickering earns its keep on the platform bench.
From Grosmont the line runs six miles down the Esk to Whitby, joining the Esk Valley route, and the last stretch alongside the tidal river is a good deal prettier than the moor road. Drivers should take the minor road via Sleights rather than doubling back to the A169; it is narrower, steeper and 15 minutes quicker. Either way, aim to reach Whitby by 2pm, which leaves four useful hours in the town before the light goes in the shoulder seasons.
2pm to 6pm: Whitby in four hours
Start on the east side. Climb the 199 steps from Church Street to St Mary's church, with its extraordinary box pews and galleries jammed in like ship's fittings, then the abbey ruin behind — a seventh-century foundation where the Synod of Whitby settled the date of Easter in 664, rebuilt in the thirteenth century and shelled by German battlecruisers in 1914. The visitor centre in the Banqueting House gives you an hour indoors. English Heritage opening hours shorten in winter, so check before making it your last stop.
Come down for Church Street's yards, jet workshops and the smokehouse on Henrietta Street, then cross the swing bridge for the west side, the pier walk and Pannett Park. Fish and chips is the correct dinner and runs about £11 to £16 sitting down; the harbourside places have the queues and the view. If it is a clear evening, walk out along the west pier extension to the lighthouse for the abbey silhouetted on the far cliff. That is the image people come for and it costs nothing.
Where to sleep at the end of the day
Stay in Whitby if you can. The West Cliff terraces off Royal Crescent, Abbey Terrace and Crescent Avenue hold most of the town's guesthouses, at roughly £100 to £160 for a double with breakfast in summer and £75 to £110 out of season, five minutes above the harbour. The east-side old town is more atmospheric and much harder for parking. Book early for weekends between June and September and avoid arriving unbooked during regatta or a Goth Weekend, when the town fills completely.
If you must return to Pickering, it is a market town of about 7,000 with beds from around £85 and a Monday market, and it puts you in position for Dalby Forest or Castle Howard the next morning. Malton, 20 minutes further south, is the better dinner town of the two — its market place and food-focused shops have become the region's most credible eating destination outside York. Do not attempt to drive back to York the same evening after a full day; the A169 in the dark is a long, tiring 50 miles.
Costs, timings and what to cut
A steam train return from Pickering to Whitby costs in the region of £30 to £45 for an adult day rover, with family tickets available; confirm current fares with the railway. Pickering Castle and Whitby Abbey are both English Heritage and run about £8 to £13 each, free to members. Add £8 to £14 for parking, £25 to £35 for two lunches and dinners, and the day comes to roughly £90 to £140 for two people plus accommodation.
If you are short of time, cut Mallyan Spout and the Rosedale detour first — both are lovely and both cost an hour you will want in Whitby. Cut the Hole of Horcum only if visibility is poor, in which case it is a grey bowl. Do not try to add Robin Hood's Bay to the same day: the village is a steep, brilliant place that deserves two hours and a separate visit, and squeezing it in at 5pm means arriving tired to a one-in-three hill and a full car park.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Pickering.
No. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway operates a seasonal timetable with more services in summer and school holidays, reduced running in spring and autumn, and special events in winter. Through services to Whitby are limited in number. Book in advance and confirm the day's departures with the railway directly rather than assuming a daily service.
Yes. Reach Pickering by Coastliner bus from Leeds, York or Malton, take the steam train across the moors to Whitby, and return by the same bus route in the evening or by Esk Valley train to Middlesbrough. Check both the bus and rail timetables in advance, as the last evening departures are earlier than most people expect.
The full rim circuit is about three and a half miles on moorland paths with one steep descent and climb, which suits confident walkers aged roughly eight and up. Younger children can walk 15 minutes from the Saltergate lay-by for the view over the amphitheatre and turn back. Keep away from the edge in wind.
Whitby, unless you are heading inland the next morning. You get an evening on the harbour, the pier walk at dusk and a proper choice of restaurants, at roughly £100 to £160 for a summer double. Pickering is cheaper at around £85 upwards and better positioned for Dalby Forest or Castle Howard.
