▲ North YorkshireDestinations
← All guides
Guides ·Itineraries

One week in North Yorkshire

Seven nights across three bases, covering the city, the Dales, the moors and the coast for roughly £900 to £1,400 for two including rooms. Here is the route that works.

Guide
Itineraries
Length
10 min read
Updated
2026-08-26
Region
North Yorkshire
Drystone walls and barns in Swaledale under a moving sky Drystone walls and barns in Swaledale under a moving sky

The three-base plan

A week gives you the luxury of moving twice rather than five times. The sequence that wastes least driving is York for three nights, the Yorkshire Dales for two, and the coast or the North York Moors for two. Total driving across the week is around 180 miles. York to Skipton is 55 minutes on the A59, Skipton to Whitby about two and a half hours across the top of the county, and Whitby back to York 75 minutes. Every leg is doable by public transport too, though the Dales section is much easier with a car.

Budget honestly. Three York nights at £110 to £140, two Dales nights at £100 to £130, two coastal nights at £95 to £150. Add £45 a day for food per person if you eat out twice, less if you use market towns. Car hire from York station runs £45 to £70 a day plus fuel; a week including insurance is typically £350 to £480. If you would rather not drive, swap the Dales leg for Harrogate and Knaresborough, both on the rail network, and lose only the highest fells.

Nights one to three: York and its orbit

Give York a full day on foot: the Minster at £16, the free City Walls circuit of about two miles, the Shambles before 10:00, the National Railway Museum free of charge, and Clifford's Tower at roughly £9.50 for the best rooftop view in the city. Day two, use the train. Malton is 25 minutes and bills itself as Yorkshire's food town, with the monthly food market on the second Saturday and the Talbot Hotel doing lunch from about £20. Thirsk is 25 minutes the other way for the World of James Herriot at around £14.

Day three, head north to Ripon and Fountains Abbey. The 36 bus from Harrogate runs every 20 minutes; drivers take the A61 in 45 minutes from York. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal is a National Trust site at about £19 adult and easily half a day, with the largest monastic ruin in the country and an eighteenth-century water garden below it. Ripon Cathedral is free with a donation box and its Saxon crypt dates to 672. The Hornblower still sounds the horn in the Market Place at 21:00 every single night, which is worth staying for.

Nights four and five: the Yorkshire Dales

Base in Skipton, Grassington, Settle or Leyburn depending on which dale you want. Skipton has the best food and the most rooms, from about £95 for a double above a pub on the High Street. Skipton Castle is one of the most complete medieval castles in England at roughly £11.50, and the market runs on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday along the High Street. From Skipton, drive Wharfedale north through Kettlewell to Buckden, about 40 minutes each way with a hundred places you will want to stop.

Give the second Dales day to Wensleydale and Swaledale. Middleham has its castle at around £8.50 and racehorse strings crossing the moor at dawn; Aysgarth Falls has three sets of cascades reached from a car park charging about £5; the Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes runs a visitor centre for roughly £6.50 and gives out free samples in the shop. Then take the Buttertubs Pass over to Swaledale and come down through Muker and Reeth. If you are on rails instead, ride the Settle to Carlisle line over Ribblehead Viaduct, about £30 return from Settle.

Nights six and seven: moors and coast

Cross the county to Whitby or Robin Hood's Bay. Whitby has the most rooms, from about £90 in Bagdale rising to £160 on the West Cliff in August; Robin Hood's Bay is prettier and steeper, with cottages from £120. Do the abbey, the 199 Steps and the harbour on arrival, then eat fish and chips properly, £18 to £22 sitting down at the Magpie Café or about £10 from a takeaway hatch. Whitby jet shops on Church Street sell genuine Victorian-style pieces from around £45.

Spend the last full day on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Steam trains run Pickering to Grosmont and on to Whitby, and a Freedom of the Line day ticket is about £40 adult, £20 child. Get off at Goathland, which played Aidensfield in Heartbeat and Hogsmeade in the first Harry Potter film, and walk to Mallyan Spout waterfall. Alternatively drive the moors road from Whitby to Helmsley via Rosedale Abbey, with the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge at 1,325 feet doing lunch mains around £15.

Swaps if the weather turns

North Yorkshire weather changes by valley, not by day. If the coast is fogged in, the sea fret usually stops five miles inland, so switch to Pickering Castle at about £7.50 or Castle Howard near Malton at roughly £24 including gardens, which is the county's grandest wet-weather day out. If the Dales are socked in, Harrogate absorbs a rainy afternoon with the Turkish Baths on Parliament Street from about £35 for a session and Bettys for afternoon tea at around £30 a head.

The reverse also applies. If you get a clear, still day mid-week, drop whatever was planned and climb something. Sutton Bank has a free viewpoint from the car park with a £5 parking charge and a five-mile clifftop walk to the White Horse of Kilburn. Roseberry Topping on the northern edge takes 45 minutes up. Malham Cove is a 20-minute walk from Malham village car park, about £5, and the limestone pavement on top is the single most photographed thing in the Dales.

Practicalities for a seven-night trip

Book the two rural bases first; Dales and moors villages have perhaps forty rooms each and they sell out in August months ahead. York can usually be found late except during race days and the Christmas market weekends in late November and December. Ask every rural inn whether the rate includes breakfast, because £110 with a full Yorkshire breakfast beats £95 without it once you have added two cooked plates at £12 each.

Fuel and cash. Petrol in Dales villages runs 8 to 12 pence a litre above supermarket prices in Northallerton or York, so fill up before you head into the hills. Mobile signal is patchy through Swaledale, upper Wharfedale and the moors around Rosedale, so download maps offline. A handful of the smallest pubs and farm shops still prefer cash for sub-£5 sales, though card is now near universal. National park car parks mostly take card or app payments and charge £4 to £6 for the day.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

What is the best route for a week in North Yorkshire?

York for three nights, the Yorkshire Dales for two and the coast or moors for two keeps driving under 200 miles and avoids backtracking. Go clockwise: York, west to Skipton, north-east across the county to Whitby, then south-west back to York. Reversing it works equally well if you are arriving from Teesside rather than Leeds.

Can you do a week in North Yorkshire without a car?

Yes, with compromises. York, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon, Thirsk, Northallerton, Skipton, Settle, Scarborough, Filey and Whitby are all reachable by train or frequent bus. The Dales Bus network and the 840 Coastliner cover a lot in summer, but Swaledale, upper Wensleydale and the inland moors villages run one or two services a day, so you build the week around timetables.

How much should I budget for a week in North Yorkshire?

For two people, £700 to £1,000 covers seven nights in mid-range rooms, £300 to £450 covers food if you eat out most evenings, and £120 to £200 covers attractions. Add £350 to £480 for a week of car hire and fuel. A comfortable total is £1,400 to £2,000 for a couple, or nearer £900 if you self-cater some nights.

Which is better, the Yorkshire Dales or the North York Moors?

The Dales are greener, steeper-sided and better for waterfalls, limestone scenery and village pubs. The Moors are wilder and browner, unbeatable in August when the heather flowers, and they come with a coastline attached. If you only have two nights, the Moors give you the sea as well; if you want classic drystone-wall Yorkshire, take the Dales.

Is a week too long for North Yorkshire?

No. The county is over 3,000 square miles with two national parks, a historic city, a 45-mile coast and roughly thirty market towns. A week gives you three bases and still leaves out Richmond, Selby, Saltburn and most of Wensleydale. Visitors who try to cover it in three days end up driving rather than looking.

Where to stay

Hotels in North Yorkshire

Rooms worth pairing with this guide.
Browse

Hotels we cover across North Yorkshire

24 with a full page

More guides to North Yorkshire

All guides
Find your Yorkshire base

Compare honest nightly rates across the county, book at the same price or better, and remove a tonne of CO₂ while you do it.

Find a hotel