Plan My Day · Day planner
By Jon Cosson · Updated 6 October 2026
Tell me when you are coming, what the weather is doing and how many of you there are, and I will put together a morning, a lunch and an afternoon, with the reasons each one suits the day you have described.
Suggestions are drawn only from the walks and places written up here, alongside a public seven day forecast for the moors. Where a page does not confirm something, such as total ascent or step-free access, you will be told that rather than given a guess.
Quick, straight answers to the questions visitors ask most. Each one links through to the fuller guide.
Two to three days lets you sample moors, coast and the steam railway; a week rewards you with abbeys, quiet dales, coastal villages and proper walking. Even a single day, often from York, takes in a highlight or two.
Plan your visit →Yes, though a car helps for the remote moor. The Yorkshire Coastliner bus (York–Malton–Pickering–Goathland–Whitby) is one of Britain's most scenic routes, the Esk Valley line serves the northern dales and Whitby, the seasonal Moorsbus reaches the high moors, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway links Pickering, Goathland and Whitby.
Plan your visit →Stargazing (it's an International Dark Sky Reserve), bracing coastal and moorland walks, cosy country pubs, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway's festive steam services. The moors are atmospheric and empty in winter.
What's on →Ride the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, walk the heather moors and the Cleveland Way, explore Rievaulx and Whitby abbeys, see the Hole of Horcum and Sutton Bank, visit Goathland and Thornton-le-Dale, and spend a day on the coast at Whitby or Robin Hood's Bay.
Things to do →Ride the steam railway, visit museums (Beck Isle Museum in Pickering, the Ryedale Folk Museum at Hutton-le-Hole, Whitby's museums), explore abbey visitor centres, or browse the shops and tearooms of Helmsley and Whitby.
Pickering guide →Moor roads are scenic but narrow, with blind summits, cattle grids and sheep. Sometimes free-roaming through villages like Goathland, on unfenced roads, so drive slowly and use passing places. High routes such as Blakey Ridge can be bleak or closed in snow.
Driving routes →