Guides ·Essentials

Trains: the five lines that matter

York is the hub, and it is a good one: the East Coast Main Line runs south to Leeds and London and north to Darlington, Northallerton and Edinburgh, with fast services roughly every 20 to 30 minutes. From York, the York–Scarborough line calls at Malton, Seamer and Scarborough in about 50 minutes for £10 to £16 return if booked in advance. The Harrogate line loops York–Knaresborough–Harrogate–Leeds hourly, and takes about 35 minutes to Harrogate for around £9 return.

In the west, the Leeds–Settle–Carlisle line is a destination in itself: Skipton, Settle, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead and Dent, over the 24-arch Ribblehead Viaduct. A Dales Rover style day ticket sits around £25 to £30 and pays back quickly. On the coast, the Esk Valley line runs Middlesbrough to Whitby via Danby, Egton and Grosmont, four or five trains a day — check the timetable before relying on it. The North Yorkshire Moors Railway steams Pickering–Grosmont–Whitby with day rovers around £42.

Buses: where they work and where they do not

Bus coverage is strong along the main corridors and weak everywhere else. The Coastliner service links Leeds, York, Malton, Pickering, Scarborough and Whitby and is genuinely useful — a York to Whitby run takes a shade under three hours and shows you the Moors through the window. The 36 between Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon runs every 20 minutes and is one of the best bus rides in England. Ripon to Northallerton, Thirsk and Bedale is served but hourly at best.

In the Dales, the DalesBus network runs summer Sundays and Bank Holidays into Malham, Grassington, Buckden and Wensleydale — brilliant for linear walks, non-existent in February. Fares are capped nationally on most operators at £3 per single journey at time of writing, which makes long routes absurdly good value; day tickets run £6 to £9. Assume no evening service outside York, Harrogate and Scarborough: the last bus out of many villages goes between 5pm and 6.30pm, and Sunday service is often nil.

Driving: roads, passes and parking

A car unlocks the interior, and for the upper Dales and Moors it is close to essential. The A1(M) runs north–south past Boroughbridge, Bedale and Catterick; the A19 parallels it past Thirsk and Easingwold; the A64 links York to Malton and Scarborough and jams solid on summer Saturdays. The A170 Sutton Bank climb is a 1-in-4 with hairpins and is prohibited to caravans — signposted repeatedly, still ignored weekly. The A169 over the Moors past the Hole of Horcum is the fastest Pickering–Whitby road and closes in snow.

Dales lanes are single-track with drystone walls and no verge: use passing places, expect tractors, and reverse without drama. Hire from York station runs £40 to £60 a day. Town parking is pay-and-display: York's Marygate and Union Terrace around £2 to £3 an hour or £12 to £16 a day; Whitby's Church Street and Whitby Park and Ride around £5 to £8 a day; National Park car parks at Malham, Aysgarth and Sutton Bank about £5 to £6 for the day. Bring a card and a phone app; many machines no longer take coins.

Park and ride, and getting into York without a car

York's park and ride is the single best travel decision most drivers make here. Six sites ring the city — Askham Bar, Poppleton Bar, Rawcliffe Bar, Monks Cross, Grimston Bar and Designer Outlet — with parking free and a bus fare of roughly £3 to £4 return per adult, buses every 10 to 15 minutes into the centre and a journey of 12 to 20 minutes. Compare that to £16 for a day in a central car park and a 20-minute crawl on the inner ring road.

Inside the walls, York is walkable end to end in 25 minutes and largely pedestrianised in the core between 10.30am and 5pm. The city walls walk itself is a 2.5-mile circuit and free. Harrogate, Knaresborough, Richmond, Skipton and Whitby are all similarly compact; Scarborough is the exception, with a genuine hill between the station and North Bay, plus the Central Tramway funicular from Foreshore Road up to the Esplanade for about £1.50 each way.

Taxis, cycling and walking between towns

Taxis exist in every town of size but are not hailed — phone or use a rank. York station and Scarborough station both have ranks; elsewhere ring ahead, especially after 10pm, when a Dales village pickup can involve a 20-minute wait and a £25 to £40 fare. Ride-hailing apps work in York and patchily in Harrogate and Scarborough; do not rely on them in Hawes or Reeth. Pre-book airport transfers to Leeds Bradford or Manchester rather than chancing it.

Cycling is superb and hard-earned. The Way of the Roses coast-to-coast route crosses the county from Morecambe to Bridlington via Settle, Ripon and Malton. Quiet lane riding around Boroughbridge, Easingwold and the Vale of York is flat; the Dales and Moors are not, with sustained 15 to 25 per cent climbs on Park Rash and Rosedale Chimney. Long-distance walkers get the Cleveland Way from Helmsley, the Dales Way from Ilkley, and Wainwright's Coast to Coast through Richmond — all waymarked, all better with pre-booked beds.

Sample journeys and realistic timings

York to Whitby: 1 hour 50 minutes by car via the A64 and A169, or about 2 hours 50 by Coastliner bus. York to Harrogate: 35 minutes by train, 45 by car. York to Skipton: 1 hour 15 by car, or roughly 1 hour 40 by train via Leeds. Harrogate to Ripon: 25 minutes by car or 35 by the 36 bus. Whitby to Scarborough: 45 minutes on the A171. Richmond to Hawes over the Buttertubs Pass: 50 minutes in good weather, closed in snow.

Two rules save visitors real grief. First, add 50 per cent to any summer Saturday drive on the A64 or into Whitby — arrive before 9.30am or after 4pm. Second, do not plan more than two bases in a week; the county rewards depth over distance, and a 90-minute transfer between Dales and coast eats a day. A sensible pairing is York or Harrogate for three nights, then Whitby, Richmond or Settle for three.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

Rooms worth pairing with this guide.

York Hotel Indigo York by IHG

4.5/5 £139/ night

Ripon OYO The White Horse Ripon North Yorkshire

3.9/5 £71/ night

Tadcaster Delta Hotels by Marriott York

4.1/5 £111/ night

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