Holiday Inn Darlington A1 Scotch Corner by IHG
Holiday Inn Darlington A1 Scotch Corner by IHG is a solid 4-star pick in Richmond, North Yorkshire — comfortable rooms and a base that keeps Richmond Castle close.
Guests typically choose Richmond for its balance of location and price; Holiday Inn Darlington A1 Scotch Corner by IHG is a good fit if you want to be near the action in North Yorkshire.
Key facts
What’s included
Around Richmond
The North Yorkshire booking traps worth knowing before you pay
Read the address, not the town name. Plenty of hotels advertised as "York" are actually 5–10 miles out at Escrick, Copmanthorpe, Bilbrough Top or on the A19 towards Selby, which is fine if you are driving and awkward if you assumed you could walk back from the Shambles after dinner. The same applies on the coast, where a "Whitby" address can mean Sleights or Ruswarp, and in the Dales, where a "Skipton" hotel may sit out on the A59 towards Bolton Abbey. Check parking separately: Whitby's West Cliff streets are permit-controlled, Robin Hood's Bay bans visitor cars from the bank down to the Dock, so you leave the car in the pay-and-display at the top and walk a steep half-mile, and central York hotels frequently charge £15–£25 a night on top of the room.
The other trap is the events calendar, because this county's price surges have almost nothing to do with school holidays. Check York's race fixtures, the Great Yorkshire Show dates in July, both Whitby Goth Weekends and the Harrogate Convention Centre diary before you fix a date, since a midweek trade exhibition can put Harrogate rooms above a summer Saturday. Finally, do not skip the flat market-town belt — Northallerton, Bedale, Easingwold, Thirsk and Tadcaster are 20–40 minutes from York, Ripon and the moors, cost £40–£60 less a night, and Thirsk and Northallerton both sit on the East Coast Main Line. Late September and early October are the underrated weeks: Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx and Bolton Castle are near-empty, the moorland heather has just gone over, and prices have already dropped.
Where to stay in North Yorkshire: which area suits which trip
York is the default first base — the Minster, the city walls (about two miles of walkable rampart), the Shambles and Clifford's Tower are all within fifteen minutes on foot of each other, and you can reach Castle Howard, Ripon or Scarborough on a day trip. It is also the most expensive place to sleep in the county alongside Harrogate, with mid-range central doubles usually £110–£180 and race Saturdays far higher. Harrogate suits spa-and-shopping trips and the Turkish Baths on Parliament Street, and its rates swing with the Convention Centre diary rather than with the weather. Knaresborough, four miles east with its castle above the Nidd gorge and the railway viaduct, is the obvious cheaper alternative at roughly £75–£110, and Ripon — cathedral crypt from 672 AD, the hornblower setting the watch at 9pm in the Market Place, Fountains Abbey four miles west — is cheaper again.
For the coast, Whitby gives you the abbey, the 199 steps and the harbour but the tightest parking and the steepest summer premiums; Scarborough has more rooms and more range across South Bay and North Bay; Filey and Robin Hood's Bay are quieter and smaller, and beds in the Bay sell out months ahead. Inland, Helmsley, Pickering, Thirsk and Malton put you inside or on the edge of the North York Moors, with Rievaulx Abbey, Pickering Castle and Sutton Bank close by. In the Dales, Skipton and Settle sit on the A65 with train stations, while Grassington, Hawes, Leyburn, Masham and Richmond are village-and-market-town stays where the pub with rooms is often the only option. Northallerton, Bedale, Easingwold, Selby and Tadcaster are the value bases most visitors overlook, frequently £65–£95 for the same standard that costs £140 inside York's walls.
Best time to visit North Yorkshire, month by month
January and early February are the cheapest weeks of the year, with York and Harrogate doubles falling to around £55–£80 and Dales inns quiet or shut for a fortnight's break; the exception is the Jorvik Viking Festival in York around February half-term, when the city fills. March and early April stay soft until Easter, then the Harrogate Spring Flower Show at Newby Hall near Ripon in late April and the April Whitby Goth Weekend both bite locally. May is the sweet spot for the Dales — Swaledale and Wensleydale at their best, the Swaledale Festival, and the Malton Food Lovers Festival over the late May bank holiday, when Ryedale beds tighten. June is steady and the moorland days are long, with Levisham and Goathland busy on North Yorkshire Moors Railway running days.
July brings the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate in the second week, which effectively closes cheap rooms within fifteen miles for four nights, plus the Ryedale Festival. August is the peak: Scarborough, Filey and Whitby run at capacity, Whitby Regatta takes the August bank holiday, and York Racecourse's Ebor Festival mid-month pushes city-centre rates past £250. September is the smart month — warm sea, empty moor roads, Masham Sheep Fair at the end of it, and rates back down 20–30%. October fills again at half-term and for the Halloween Whitby Goth Weekend, November is quiet until York's St Nicholas Fair opens mid-month and Castle Howard's Christmas display starts, and December sells weekends only, with Grassington's Dickensian Festival Saturdays a fixture.
