Walking holidays in the Yorkshire Dales
As Britain’s largest county, Yorkshire doesn’t do things by halves. Not least in the Yorkshire Dales. One of the UK’s biggest and best-loved national parks is cut through from north to south by the Pennines and rubs shoulders with the Lake District and Lancashire to the west.
Our Yorkshire Dales walking holidays give you the choice of gentle riverside strolls, challenging hill climbs, and long-distance trails. There’s a trio of peaks to conquer, too. What’s more, you’re never too far from tearoom-laden market towns that welcome you in after a long day on the fells.
Sonnet-inspiring scenery
The Southern Yorkshire Dales set the bar high for seriously good views. Given it was this very landscape which inspired Wordsworth to write a sonnet and Charles Kingsley to pen The Water Babies, the countryside here is as gorgeous as you’d imagine.
There are plenty of sightseeing greats within easy reach, most notably the glacial lake at Malham Tarn, the waterfalls of Janet's Foss and Gordale Scar, plus Malham Cove – the towering white limestone cliffs formed millions of years ago.
Then, of course, you’ve got Yorkshire’s Three Peaks, a well-worn 24-mile trail allows you to tick-off a trio of summits – Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. And with its whitewashed cottages and stone bridges spanning the River Aire, the village of Malham at the southern base of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, makes a great place for a pitstop.
Walk the Western Dales
The corner of the park that dips its toe into both Cumbria and Lancashire, the Western Dales deliver rich rewards for those that love uninterrupted countryside. Set off from the famous Ribblehead Viaduct that carries the Settle-Carlisle Railway and cross the dramatic landscape created by the Dale’s rugged limestone pavements. Or make your way through the flower-carpeted meadows of Muker in Swaledale and explore the Howgill Fells – the small group of hills adored by legendary fellwalker, illustrator, and guidebook author Alfred Wainwright. Equally visit-worthy is the centuries-old lead mine at Crackpot Hall and the highest cascade waterfall in England, Cautley Spout. Elsewhere, Smardale Gill Nature Reserve is a prime location for spotting rare butterflies and birds.
The Dales Way
Unfurling over 79 miles of limestone ridges, flat hilltops, and forested valleys, The Dales Way is a lengthy route that crosses into the Lake District National Park by way of the River Lune in Lancashire.
