Guide · Planning Yorkshire Dales
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The Yorkshire Dales are unlike anywhere else in England. Not the drama of the Lake District, not the wildness of the Scottish Highlands — something more measured, more various, more quietly extraordinary. A landscape of pale limestone, dark gritstone, dry stone walls, field barns and deep river valleys that have been farmed continuously for at least four thousand years.
Most people who come to the Yorkshire Dales for the first time come expecting scenery and leave having found something considerably more interesting: a working landscape with a history running from Iron Age settlements through Norse farming, monastic wool production, lead mining, textile weaving and, now, a combination of traditional farming and tourism that has made the Dales one of the most visited national parks in England.
This guide is for first-time visitors. It tells you what the Dales actually are, where to start, how to get there and how to make the most of limited time.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park covers approximately 841 square miles in North Yorkshire and Cumbria (the western fringes). It is named for the series of river valleys — dales — that run broadly north–south through the upland limestone and gritstone plateau. The main dales are Wharfedale, Airedale, Ribblesdale, Wensleydale, Swaledale and Dentdale; each has its own character, its own geology and its own particular combination of villages, wildlife and landscape.
The underlying rock is mainly carboniferous limestone — grey, blocky and prone to the spectacular features of limestone scenery: pavements, potholes, gorges and caves. Above the limestone, on the higher ground, millstone grit caps the ridges with darker, harder rock that produces moorland rather than the pale pasture of the limestone valleys below.
The Three Peaks — Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent — are the most famous summits, but the Dales are not primarily a walking destination in the way the Lake District is. They are a valley landscape, and the valleys are where the interest lies.
Malham Cove — the most spectacular single feature in the Yorkshire Dales: a 260-metre curved limestone cliff formed by a waterfall that disappeared underground thousands of years ago. Above the cliff, a limestone pavement of extraordinary extent and botanical richness. The walk from Malham village is under two miles return.
Aysgarth Falls — three tiers of waterfalls on the River Ure in Wensleydale, easily accessible from the road, spectacular after rain and consistently beautiful in any condition. The woodland around the falls is ancient and the gorge is one of the finest in the Dales.
Ribblehead Viaduct — the 24-arch Victorian railway viaduct at the head of Ribblesdale, where Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent are all visible on a clear day. The scale of the engineering against the scale of the landscape is one of the defining images of the Yorkshire Dales.
Grassington — the most complete and characterful Dales market town. Cobbled square, Georgian limestone buildings, independent shops and cafés, and the surrounding Wharfedale landscape immediately accessible on foot.
The Settle–Carlisle railway — England's most scenic railway line, running from Settle in the south to Carlisle in the north through a landscape that cannot be accessed any other way with this efficiency and drama.
Grassington is the best base for Wharfedale and the southern Dales. Good accommodation range, central position, excellent access to Malham, Aysgarth and the surrounding valleys.
Hawes is the best base for Wensleydale — the widest and most varied of the main dales, with the Wensleydale Creamery, Hardraw Force and Aysgarth Falls all within easy reach.
Skipton is the best base for visitors arriving by train — it is on the mainline from Leeds and Bradford, and the Settle–Carlisle line departs from Settle, 15 miles north.
By train: The Settle–Carlisle line is the most dramatic approach. Trains from Leeds to Settle and Carlisle stop at Ribblehead, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Dent, Garsdale and other Dales stations. From London, change at Leeds.
From the Lake District: The Yorkshire Dales are approximately 40 miles east of the Lake District via the A684 through Wensleydale. The drive from Windermere takes approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. Our Brontë Country Day Trip passes through the Dales landscape on its route to Haworth.
By car from Leeds/Bradford: The A65 runs from Leeds through Skipton and into the southern Dales. Journey time from Leeds city centre to Grassington is approximately 50 minutes.
Like the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales are significantly more rewarding with informed company than without. The landscape looks like limestone and walls and green fields until someone explains the geology, the lead mining history, the monastic connections, the Herriot stories and the precise ecological significance of the hay meadows. Then it becomes inexhaustible.
The Yorkshire Dales appear on our Brontë Country Day Trip and can be explored in depth on a bespoke day built around your specific interests.
More from the Yorkshire Dales:
Approximately 841 square miles across North Yorkshire and the western fringes of Cumbria.
Realistically yes, or a guided day — public transport within the Dales is limited.
Two to three days is enough for a solid first visit.