Things to see and do
Waterfalls and packhorse bridges, steam engines and abbey ruins, tea gardens and moorland viewpoints. Filter by type or by village.
Beggar's Bridge
A graceful 17th-century packhorse bridge built, so the story goes, by a sailor for the sweetheart the river kept him from.
Falling Foss and Midge Hall
A waterfall dropping some 30 feet into a wooded gorge, with a tea garden in a woodsman's cottage beside it and a hermit's cave nearby.
Mallyan Spout
The national park's best-known waterfall, a 70-foot curtain of water in a wooded gorge below Goathland.
North Yorkshire Moors Railway
One of the world's great heritage railways: 24 miles of steam through the moors from Pickering to Grosmont and on to Whitby.
The Esk Valley Railway
The little railway that makes the valley work: a 35-mile line from Middlesbrough to Whitby with a stop at nearly every village.
The Moors National Park Centre
The national park's main visitor centre, with exhibitions, a café, riverside walks, gardens and a great play area.
Whitby Abbey
The gaunt Gothic ruins on the headland above the harbour, inspiration for Dracula and site of a 7th-century monastery.
Arncliffe Arms, Glaisdale
The pub at the bottom of Glaisdale, a short walk from the station and Beggar's Bridge, popular with Coast to Coast walkers.
Arncliffe Wood
Ancient oak woodland along the Esk, threaded by medieval paved trods, and carpeted with bluebells in May.
Beck Hole
A tiny hamlet in a deep wooded hollow with a quoits pitch and one of the smallest pubs in England.
Board Inn, Lealholm
A riverside pub on Lealholm's green, with tables by the Esk, locally sourced food and five en-suite rooms.
Boggle Hole
A smugglers' cove with a youth hostel in the old mill, a mile along the beach from Robin Hood's Bay.
Botham's of Whitby
A family bakery and tea rooms trading in Whitby since 1865, famous for plum bread, ginger loaf and lemon buns.
Bridge Inn, Ruswarp
A riverside pub beside the bridge at Ruswarp, next to the boat hire and a level stroll from Whitby.
Captain Cook Memorial Museum
The 17th-century house where the young James Cook lodged as an apprentice, now a museum of his life and voyages.
Cleveland Inn, Commondale
The only pub in Commondale, a moorland local a short walk from the station.
Danby Beacon
A 299-metre moorland summit with a replica fire beacon and views across the valley to the sea.
Danby Castle
A fortified 14th-century manor that was home to Catherine Parr, and still the seat of a working manorial court.
Downe Arms, Castleton
A village inn on Castleton's high street, with food, rooms and the shops and tea rooms of the village around it.
Duck Bridge
A 14th-century packhorse bridge over the Esk, narrow, humped and still in use by walkers and cyclists.
Duke of Wellington, Danby
An 18th-century coaching inn at the crossroads in Danby village, a minute from the station, with rooms and food.
Egton Bridge stepping stones
Two sets of stepping stones across the Esk in the middle of the village, a favourite with children and dogs.
Eskdale Inn, Castleton
The pub beside Castleton Moor station, a convenient first or last stop on the Esk Valley Walk.
Fortune's Kippers
A smokehouse on Henrietta Street that has cured herrings the same way over oak and beech since 1872.
Glaisdale Rigg
A high moorland ridge above Glaisdale with wide views over the valley and some of the darkest night skies in England.
Goathland Hotel (the Aidensfield Arms)
The Heartbeat pub: the Goathland Hotel played the Aidensfield Arms for eighteen years and still trades on it.
Goathland Station
The perfectly preserved 1865 station that became Hogsmeade in Harry Potter and Aidensfield in Heartbeat.
Goathland: Heartbeat and Harry Potter locations
Aidensfield and Hogsmeade in one village: spot the garage, the pub, the shop and the station that starred on screen.
Grosmont Co-op
A village shop with a difference: an independent co-operative trading in Grosmont since 1867.
Grosmont Engine Sheds
Walk through Stephenson's 1835 tunnel to watch steam locomotives being maintained and restored.
Horseshoe Hotel, Egton Bridge
An 18th-century inn with a riverside garden beside the stepping stones, with bar meals and bedrooms.
Hunter's Sty Bridge
A medieval packhorse bridge over the infant Esk, restored by the Victorians in fine Gothic style.
Larpool Viaduct and the Cinder Track
A thirteen-arch Victorian railway viaduct high above the Esk, now carrying a traffic-free trail to Scarborough.
Lealholm village green and stepping stones
A riverside green with stepping stones, a shallow river to paddle in, a pub and tea rooms all within a few yards.
Magpie Café, Whitby
The black-and-white harbourside café whose fish and chips have drawn queues along Pier Road since the 1930s.
Mallyan Spout Hotel, Goathland
A country hotel above the waterfall of the same name, with a restaurant, bar and gardens looking over the Esk valley.
Plough Inn, Sleights
The village pub near the river and station at the bottom of Sleights, closed for refurbishment and due to reopen in 2027.
Postgate Inn, Egton Bridge
A stone village pub next to Egton station, named for the martyr priest of the moors, serving food and with rooms upstairs.
Ralph Cross and Fat Betty
The medieval moorland crosses that are the emblem of the national park, on the high road south from Castleton.
Ravenscar
The resort that never was: a windswept headland 600 feet above the sea with grey seals below, alum works to explore and the best view of Robin Hood's Bay.
Robin Hood's Bay
A steep smugglers' village of red roofs and tangled alleys tumbling down to a fossil-strewn beach, six miles from Whitby.
Runswick Bay
A sheltered, sandy bay with a village of red-roofed cottages clinging to the cliff, one of the best beaches on the coast.
Ruswarp Pleasure Boats
Hire a rowing boat, kayak or paddleboard on a calm stretch of the Esk just upstream of Whitby.
Saltwick Bay
A dramatic bay of rock ledges, fossils and shipwreck remains beneath the cliffs south of the abbey.
Sandsend
Whitby's quieter neighbour: a long sandy beach, a stream to dam, rock pools and cafés at the foot of Lythe Bank.
Sleights Moor and Blue Bank
The famous viewpoint on the Whitby to Pickering road, looking down the Esk Valley to the sea.
St Hedda's Church
The "Cathedral of the Moors": a richly painted Catholic church holding relics of the martyr Nicholas Postgate.
St Mary's Church, Whitby
The extraordinary Norman church at the top of the 199 steps, crammed with Georgian box pews and galleries like the inside of a ship.
Staithes
A fishing village crammed into a cleft in the cliffs where the young James Cook first saw the sea, later home to a colony of painters.
Station Tavern, Grosmont
The pub opposite Grosmont station, with a beer garden looking straight onto the steam trains.
Thomason Foss
A pretty waterfall in a wooded gorge a few minutes' walk from the Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole.
Wade's Causeway
Over a mile of mysterious stone causeway across Wheeldale Moor, long called a Roman road, and still argued over.
Wheatsheaf Inn, Egton
A traditional village pub on Egton's broad main street, a steep mile above Egton Bridge, known for its food.
Whitby Harbour and the 199 Steps
Fishing boats, fish and chips, jet shops, the swing bridge and the climb up to St Mary's churchyard.
Whitby Lifeboat Museum
The story of one of the busiest lifeboat stations on the east coast, told in the old boathouse on Pier Road.
Whitby Museum and Pannett Park
A gloriously old-fashioned museum of fossils, ships, jet, Captain Cook and the notorious Hand of Glory, in a pretty park.
YHA Whitby
A youth hostel in a Grade I listed mansion next to Whitby Abbey, with one of the finest views in the north.