Harrogate

On Parliament Street, opened 1897 and still using the original glazed brick, Islamic arches and terrazzo. A session runs roughly £30 to £45 depending on day and length, and there are single-sex and mixed slots — check which before booking. Two hours is the right amount. Book at least a week ahead for weekends.

The original Betty's is on the corner of Parliament Street and St Peter's Square. The queue at 11am on a Saturday can be 40 minutes; go at 9am or after 4pm and walk straight in. A Fat Rascal is about £4.50 to take away from the shop counter, which sidesteps the wait entirely.

Crag Lane, a mile and a half west of the centre — walk it through the Pinewoods from Valley Gardens in about 30 minutes, or take the number 6 bus. Adult entry is around £14. The streamside garden in June and the alpine house in March are the reasons to come.

Entered from Valley Drive, five minutes from Montpellier. Thirty-six of Harrogate's original mineral springs surface within these seventeen acres. The 1930s Sun Pavilion and colonnade at the top end, the boating pond and the free-to-enter grounds make this the town's best hour for nothing.

Montpellier Parade and Royal Parade hold most of Harrogate's antique dealers, plus the better independent bars and restaurants. It is the one stretch of town that still feels busy at 10pm. Expect £35 to £50 a head for dinner; the Montpellier Gardens opposite are free and pleasant at lunchtime.

Two hundred acres of common land ringing the town centre from West Park to Wetherby Road, protected since 1770. Late February and March bring several hundred thousand crocuses along the Wetherby Road edge. It is also the fastest walking route between the station area and Cold Bath Road.

Harrogate station sits in the middle of town on Station Parade. Trains run to Leeds in about 35 minutes and York in 35 to 40, both roughly twice hourly, calling at Knaresborough on the York side. Leeds Bradford Airport is a 25 to 30 minute drive, or take the A1 bus to Leeds and change to the train. From Manchester Airport, train via Leeds is about 2h15. The number 36 double-decker runs Leeds–Harrogate–Ripon every 10 to 20 minutes with a proper upstairs front seat and takes 35 minutes to Ripon. Inside town you can walk everywhere; the number 6 covers Harlow Carr.

It is a workable one rather than a great one. Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale are 35 to 40 minutes by car, Grassington around an hour, Malham 70 minutes. If the Dales are the main purpose of your trip, Skipton or Settle put you an hour closer to the good walking every single morning. Harrogate suits people mixing town comforts with occasional hill days.

The Convention Centre. A large trade show or conference can triple midweek rates with no warning, while an empty week in February drops the same rooms to £55. Look at the Harrogate Convention Centre events list before you fix dates. The Great Yorkshire Show in July is the single biggest spike of the year.

Easily. Trains from Harrogate take about 12 minutes and run roughly twice an hour toward York, and the number 1 bus also runs frequently. Knaresborough station is at the top of the town, so allow ten minutes of steep downhill walking to reach the riverside and the boats.

Yes for weekends and any evening slot — a week ahead is sensible, more in December. Midweek mornings often have availability on the day. Sessions are split into single-sex and mixed times which change through the week, so confirm the schedule rather than assuming, and arrive fifteen minutes early.