Where to stay
Helmsley or Pickering: west or east
This looks like a choice between two market towns on the same road. It is not. It is a choice about which end of the moors you want to wake up at, and on a short break that decision buys or costs you more time than anything else you book.
The short answer
The park is about 35 miles east to west and 25 miles north to south, and the roads across it are slow. Pickering to Whitby is about 40 minutes. Helmsley to Whitby is about 1 hour 10. That pair of figures is the whole argument: thirty minutes each way, so a full extra hour in the car on any day you head for the coast, and the same again in reverse if your days are all in the west.
So: Helmsley if your days will be spent at Rievaulx, Sutton Bank, Duncombe Park and the western dales, or if eating well matters as much as the walking. Pickering if the steam railway, Dalby Forest, the A169 and the coast are what you came for. Pickering is the more practical base. Helmsley is the nicer place to be when you are not going anywhere.
The two towns compared
Both sit on the A170 between Thirsk and Scarborough. Everything below is taken from the town guides on this site.
| Town | Where it sits | To Whitby | To Dalby | Station | Market day | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helmsley | Western edge, on the A170, the only market town inside the National Park | About 1 hr 10 | About 40 minutes | None. Nearest are Malton or Thirsk | Friday, in the Market Place | Rievaulx, Sutton Bank, the Cleveland Way, eating well, the western moors |
| Pickering | Southern edge of the National Park, on the A170 where the vale meets the moorland scarp | About 40 minutes | About 15 minutes | Steam railway terminus in town | Monday, in the Market Place | The steam railway, Dalby, the Hole of Horcum, the coast, car free trips |
The case for Helmsley
Helmsley is the only market town inside the National Park, and it looks it. A ruined medieval castle stands just off the market place, the five acre walled garden beside it dates from 1758, and Duncombe Park sits in more than 450 acres a short walk away. A traditional market fills the square every Friday.
For walkers it is the start of the Cleveland Way, the 109 mile National Trail that horseshoes round to Filey. Its first stretch is about three miles through woods and pasture to Rievaulx Abbey, roughly an hour and a half each way on foot. Sutton Bank is about eight miles west. York is about 24 miles south, around 40 minutes by road.
On food it earns its reputation. A town this size has no business supporting the range of bakers, delis, tea rooms, pubs and serious kitchens that it does, and a brewery besides. See the food and drink guide.
The case for Pickering
Pickering is the more useful base of the two, and I say that as someone who thinks Helmsley is the better looking town. It is the southern terminus of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, 18 miles of restored line up to Grosmont with many services running on to Whitby. Dalby Forest is about fifteen minutes, the Hole of Horcum is eight miles up the A169, and Whitby is 20 miles over the moor, about 40 minutes. Most of the coast falls inside a 15 to 40 minute drive.
The town itself carries a Norman castle, a church holding one of the most complete sets of late medieval wall paintings in England, a Monday market, Beck Isle Museum and over a hundred independent shops.
What each one is bad at
Helmsley is a long way from the coast and from the eastern half of the park. Dalby Forest is about forty minutes, Whitby about 1 hour 10. It has no station of its own either, so arriving by rail means a bus at the end of it. If your list of days out leans east, Helmsley quietly taxes every one of them.
Pickering is the plainer town. It is a working market centre rather than a showpiece, the evenings are quiet, and the western abbeys and Sutton Bank become a proper excursion rather than a stroll.
What I would do
For a first visit of three or four nights, Pickering, because it reaches more of the park for less driving and it puts the railway on your doorstep. For a slower second visit built around abbeys, the escarpment and long lunches, Helmsley, and I would not go near the coast that week. If you want both ends, split the stay rather than commuting across the middle. More options in the best base villages comparison.
Questions people ask
- How far apart are Helmsley and Pickering?
- They sit at opposite ends of the same road, the A170 between Thirsk and Scarborough, with Kirkbymoorside between them. What matters more than the distance between them is what each one is near. From Helmsley the coast is well over an hour. From Pickering it is about forty minutes.
- Which is the prettier town?
- Helmsley, and I do not think it is close. Honey coloured stone, a market square with an old cross and the Feversham monument, a ruined castle on the rise behind it and a five acre walled garden alongside. Pickering is handsome and lively, but it is a working town first.
- Which is better for eating out?
- Helmsley, comfortably. Food is part of why people go there at all, and the range runs from a tea room lunch to a restaurant you would book weeks ahead. Pickering feeds you perfectly well from its pubs, cafes and shops, but eating is not the reason anybody chooses it.
- Can you stay in Helmsley without a car?
- It is harder than Pickering. Arriving by train means finishing the journey by bus, whereas Pickering has the steam railway terminus in the town and the 840 Coastliner running through it. If the trip is car free, choose the eastern end.
- Is Helmsley a bad base for the coast?
- Not bad, just honest about what it costs you. On the site's own figure of 1 hour 10 each way, a day at Whitby from Helmsley is about two hours twenty in the car, which is a large slice of a short break. If you want the coast more than once, sleep further east or split the stay.