Skipton
Broad market High Street, an intact medieval castle and a canal — the practical gateway to the southern Dales.
Narrowboats on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal below Skipton High Street
Why people stay in Skipton
Skipton earns its nickname honestly: it is the last proper town before the southern Dales, with a supermarket, a train station with direct Leeds services every half hour, and enough beds to make it a workable base for Malham, Bolton Abbey, Grassington and Wharfedale. The High Street is unusually wide because it was built for livestock, sloping up from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to the castle gate, with market stalls down both sides four days a week. It is a town that still functions as a town, which after a week of picture-postcard villages is a relief.
The castle at the top is the surprise. Skipton Castle is one of the most complete medieval castles in England — roofed, floored, with a Conduit Court yew tree planted in 1659 — and because it is privately run it never feels processed. Entry is around £10 to £12 and you can spend two hours in it. Below, the Springs Branch canal cuts through a rock gorge behind the castle walls, and the main canal runs west toward Gargrave through fields, with towpath walking that is flat, easy and genuinely pretty.
By 9pm Skipton is busy in a modest way — the pubs along the High Street and Sheep Street are full, the Narrow Bar and the Woolly Sheep do a trade, and there is a decent spread of curry houses and Italians. It winds down before midnight. The town has around 15,000 people and no pretensions to being a nightlife destination, though it is markedly livelier than Settle or Grassington on the same night. Fish and chips from Bizzie Lizzie's on Swadford Street, eaten on the canal bank, is the correct Skipton dinner at least once.
Prices are fair by county standards: £70 to £85 for a January midweek double, £110 to £150 in July, and the pubs with rooms undercut the hotels. Skip Skipton if you want to be in the landscape rather than near it — Grassington, Malham and Hawes put you at the trailhead, and Skipton puts you a 25 to 60 minute drive from it. Choose it if you are travelling by train, if you want somewhere open in winter, or if you have non-walkers in the party who need shops and a roof.
The High Street, Sheep Street and Newmarket Street cluster is the place to be: castle, market, canal and station all within eight minutes, with pubs with rooms and small hotels at £80 to £130 including breakfast. Keighley Road and Broughton Road, south and west of the centre, hold larger guesthouses and a couple of chain-style hotels at £70 to £110 with parking, ten minutes' walk in. Canal-side and Belmont Bridge options are pleasant and quiet. Skipton's weak spot is the stretch of B&Bs out along the Gargrave Road — perfectly fine rooms, but a 20-minute walk each way and no pavement lighting to speak of. Market days are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, when the High Street parking bays vanish entirely; if you are driving, confirm your hotel has its own space or use the Coach Street car park.
Things to do in Skipton
At the head of the High Street, entry roughly £10 to £12, open daily except Christmas. Unlike most English castles it still has its roof and floors, so you climb through the watchtower, banqueting hall and dungeon rather than looking at grass. The Conduit Court yew was planted by Lady Anne Clifford in 1659.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs right through the town centre at Coach Street. Short trip boats operate from the wharf in season for around £8 to £12. On foot, the towpath west to Gargrave is 6.5 flat kilometres through fields, with a train back from Gargrave station in six minutes.
Stalls line both sides of the High Street on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from about 9am to 4pm — cheese, game, plants, fabric and the usual market miscellany. Combine it with the covered arcades off the east side and Stanforth's pork pie shop on Mill Bridge, which sells out by mid-afternoon.
Embsay station is two miles north-east of Skipton off the A59. Steam trains run the four-mile line to Bolton Abbey station on most weekends and daily in summer, tickets around £14 return. Bolton Abbey station is a mile and a half from the priory itself, so allow the walk.
Six miles east on the B6160, the Devonshire estate charges by the car for parking, around £12 to £15. The ruined priory sits on a bend of the Wharfe with 60 stepping stones across the river beside it, and the Strid gorge walk continues upstream for another two miles.
Recently rebuilt inside the Town Hall on the High Street, free to enter, covering Craven's geology, lead mining and prehistory. The holding of a First Folio and the local archaeology displays are the standouts. It also has the best free toilets in the town centre, which matters on a wet Dales day.
What to see
Hotels in Skipton
No hotels are listed in Skipton yet. The nearest ones are on the region page.
Every hotel we cover in Skipton
- High Hall 2★ · 5/5
- Mill Bridge 4.9/5
- Modern Holiday Let in Skipton North Yorkshire 4★ · 4.8/5
- Throstle Nest Farm 4★ · 4.8/5
- The Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey 4★ · 4.6/5
- The Coniston Hotel and Country Estate 4★ · 4.5/5
- The Woolly Sheep Inn 3★ · 4.4/5
- The Craven Heifer 4★ · 4.3/5
- The Falcon Inn 3★ · 4.2/5
- Ash Grove 5★
- Otter Lodge 5★
- The Curious Fox 5★
- Wren Lodge 5★
- 2 Bedroom apartment Cononley near Skipton 4★
- 2 Sulphur Wells at Broughton Sanctuary 4★
- 20 Woodman Terrace Skipton 4★
- 5 East Street 4★
- Albert Cottage 4★
- Ash Cottage 4★
- Baxter Barn 4★
- Bay Horse Cottage 4★
- Belle Vue Skipton 4★
- Bluebell Lodge 4★
- Bridgend Cottage 4★
Getting around Skipton
Skipton station is a ten-minute walk from the High Street. Northern and electric services run to Leeds in 45 minutes, roughly four an hour at peak, and to Bradford Forster Square in 40. The Leeds–Settle–Carlisle line calls here, putting Settle 25 minutes away and Carlisle around 2h15 — the best value scenic ride in northern England. Leeds Bradford Airport is a 40-minute drive; Manchester Airport is about 1h50 by train via Leeds. Buses from the bus station on Keighley Road serve Grassington (72), Malham in season, and Bolton Abbey. For Malham Cove and upper Wharfedale a car saves hours.
Questions about Skipton
It is the best base if you are arriving by train or want a town with shops, restaurants and winter opening. It is not the best if you want to walk from the door — Grassington, Malham, Settle and Hawes are all deeper in. Many people split it: two nights in Skipton, two further up the dale.
About 11 miles north, 25 to 30 minutes by car on narrow lanes through Gargrave and Airton. The Malham car park fills by 10am on summer weekends and costs around £5 for the day. Bus services run in season and at weekends only, so check the current Dalesbus timetable before relying on them.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, running roughly 9am to 4pm along the High Street. Saturday is the biggest and the most crowded, with parking gone by 9.30am. Tuesdays and Thursdays the street is empty and the town feels noticeably quieter, which some people prefer.
Yes, and it is one of the best days out in the north. Trains from Skipton run up through Settle, Ribblehead viaduct, Dent — the highest mainline station in England — and Appleby to Carlisle, taking a little over two hours each way. Check the timetable carefully, as there are only a handful of services a day.
