Best hotels for walkers in North Yorkshire: drying rooms, early breakfasts and one-night stays
Muddy walking boots and waterproofs drying in a stone-floored boot room at a Dales inn
Nine bases along the Coast to Coast, the Cleveland Way, the Dales Way and the Three Peaks, ranked on boot rooms, packed lunches, baggage transfer and whether they will take you for a single night.
The five things a walking hotel has to get right
A drying room that actually heats, not a radiator in the hall. A boot store by the back door so mud never reaches the carpet. Breakfast from 7.30am, earlier by arrangement in summer. A packed lunch you can order the night before for around £8 to £12. And a willingness to sell you one night midweek in June without a two-night minimum, which on a linear route is the difference between a viable itinerary and a taxi. Ask about all five. The good ones answer instantly because half their business is walkers.
The sixth thing, which nobody advertises, is dinner timing. Kitchens in upper Wensleydale, Swaledale and Ribblesdale routinely stop serving at 8.30pm and sometimes 8pm, and if you come off Great Shunner Fell at nine you will not eat. Ring from the last summit with signal and ask them to hold something. Places used to long-distance walkers will. If a hotel cannot commit to feeding you after a twelve-hour day, book somewhere that can, even if the room is £20 more.
1. Richmond and Swaledale on the Coast to Coast
Richmond is the strongest walking base in the county: a Georgian market square, a Norman castle keep above the Swale, real shops, and a position on Wainwright's Coast to Coast route where walkers arrive footsore and hungry. Inns and small hotels around the square and Frenchgate run £100 to £165 with breakfast, and most do drying, boot storage and packed lunches without being asked. It also has enough beds that a single night is bookable in season, which Reeth and Keld further up the dale often are not.
Upper Swaledale is where the walking is better and the beds are scarcer. Reeth's inns around the green at £95 to £150 and the handful of places at Keld and Muker book out months ahead in May, June and September. If you are walking the route westbound, secure Keld and Reeth first and fit everything else around them. The Coast to Coast has been going through an upgrade to National Trail status, so check the current position and route conditions with Natural England before planning.
2. Hawes and the Herriot Way
Hawes is the hub for Wensleydale walking and the natural overnight on the Herriot Way, the roughly 52-mile loop linking Wensleydale and Swaledale. The inns and guesthouses around the market place charge £100 to £165, nearly all have drying facilities because they have to, and the Wensleydale Creamery gives you an indoor afternoon when the cloud is on Great Shunner Fell. The Pennine Way passes through, which means the accommodation understands one-night bookings and 7am breakfasts.
Bainbridge, Askrigg and Gayle are the quieter satellites at £90 to £145, all within four miles, all with better odds of a room at short notice. The catch across the upper dale is transport: bus services along the A684 are limited and Sunday provision is thin, so check timetables with the operator rather than assuming. Aysgarth is the better base if the aim is easy riverside walking rather than fell days, and it sits on the road between Leyburn and Hawes with parking at the falls.
3. Settle and Horton for the Yorkshire Three Peaks
The Three Peaks circuit is about 24 miles over Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, with something near 5,000 feet of ascent, and most people set off from Horton-in-Ribblesdale before six. Beds in Horton are few, so Settle six miles south is the practical base: guesthouses and inns at £85 to £150, a railway station on the Settle-Carlisle line, a Tuesday market and enough places to eat. Ask for a 6am flask and breakfast bag rather than a sit-down, and confirm the safety sign-in arrangements for the route locally before you start.
Ingleton is the alternative western base at £80 to £135, closer to Whernside and Ingleborough, with the waterfalls trail as a recovery-day walk. It is smaller and has fewer dinner options. Whichever you pick, book a room with a bath rather than a shower cubicle, and check whether the drying room is a real one; Ribblesdale is among the wettest country in England and kit that goes in soaked at seven should not still be damp at six the next morning.
4-5. Helmsley, Osmotherley and the Cleveland Way
The Cleveland Way runs 109 miles from Helmsley round the moors escarpment to the coast and down to Filey Brigg, and Helmsley is the best-appointed start in the north of England: a proper market square, Duncombe Park at the edge of town, and inns and small hotels at £120 to £200. Everything here understands walkers, and the first day to Sutton Bank via Rievaulx is manageable even after a late train to Thirsk and a taxi over. Book dinner in Helmsley on a Saturday; the good tables go.
Osmotherley, at the western end of the moors escarpment, is the other classic Cleveland Way night and the start of the Lyke Wake Walk. Rooms in the village run £95 to £150 and there are only a handful, so book early. Between the two, Sutton Bank at the top of the one-in-four A170 climb has the visitor centre, hire bikes and the finest view in the county on a clear day, but almost no beds. Stay in Helmsley or Thirsk and drive or taxi up.
6-7. Grassington, Kettlewell and the Dales Way
The Dales Way passes through Wharfedale on its way from Ilkley to Bowness, and Grassington and Kettlewell are its Yorkshire nights. Grassington's inns around the cobbled square run £110 to £180 and are busy year-round; Kettlewell, seven miles up the dale, is smaller at £100 to £160 and better placed for Great Whernside and the Buckden Pike ridge. Both do drying and packed lunches. Both fill in August and during the Grassington festival period, so check dates before assuming availability.
Malham is the other Wharfedale-side option, and if you have one day in the Dales, the Cove, Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn circuit of roughly eight miles is the one to do. Beds in Malham itself are limited and pricey at £120 to £190 for what you get; Settle or Grassington are better value and 20 minutes away. Skip Bolton Abbey as a walking base unless money is no object; the day trip from Skipton is easy and much cheaper.
8-9. The coastal finish, baggage transfer, and what I would book
Robin Hood's Bay is the Coast to Coast finish and books out from April to October; rooms run £110 to £190 and single nights are hard to get at weekends. Whitby, six miles north with far more beds, is the sensible fallback with a bus link along the A171. For the Cleveland Way and Wolds Way finish, Filey has the best-value beds on the coast at £80 to £140 and a station with connections to Scarborough and Hull. Book the finish night before anything else on a linear route.
Use baggage transfer. Yorkshire-based operators serve the Coast to Coast, the Dales Way and the Cleveland Way for roughly £10 to £15 per bag per day, and every hotel on these routes is used to receiving them. My pick for a first walking week: five nights along the Swaledale section, based Richmond, Reeth, Keld, Hawes and Askrigg, with bags moved daily. Around £550 to £750 for one person including breakfasts, packed lunches and transfers, and you never carry more than a day sack over Shunner.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Helmsley.
Most on the recognised long-distance routes will, because their trade depends on it, but availability tightens on Friday and Saturday from May to September. Book Keld, Reeth, Osmotherley and Robin Hood's Bay first, since those villages have the fewest beds. Midweek in spring and autumn is far easier and often £20 cheaper.
Typically £10 to £15 per bag per stage with the Yorkshire-based specialist operators, booked in advance for the whole route. Hotels along the way handle transfers routinely. Confirm collection times, usually mid-morning, and weight limits with the operator directly, since both vary and change between seasons.
Hawes for the Dales or Helmsley for the Moors. Hawes puts Great Shunner Fell, Hardraw and the Pennine Way within walking distance and costs £100 to £165. Helmsley starts the Cleveland Way, has Rievaulx and Sutton Bank nearby, and has the better restaurants at £120 to £200.
