10 Easy Day Trips from York

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York is a beautiful city that dates back past the Roman times. There’s so much to see and do in the city that sometimes you don’t realize what lies outside the city. These are super easy day trips from York… so easy that even someone who has never been to England before can easily get to them! AND if it’s your first time in the UK, make sure you read my guide!

If you can’t figure out what to do in York, then I have an Ultimate Guide to York with everything to do, see, where to eat, and where to stay!

Super Easy Day Trips from York

York only has one train station so all trains leave from there. The train times are just an estimate and change depending on what train you take (some have more stops than others) and delays.

Also, it’s easier to drive to some of these locations, however, all are accessible by train, bus, or taxi.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway

• Distance: 26 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 45 minutes
• Price: Fares vary up to £33.00 for a return ticket during peak season
• *Not open year round*

Riding the train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is one of my favorite day trips from York. You get to experience the North York Moors, explore the end-of-the-line town of Whitby, stop by the filming location for Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade station, AND ride a steam train!

What more could you want?!

Well if you want more, you can have afternoon tea on the train, ride through the northern lights and meet Santa during the holiday season, have a fancy dinner, or solve a murder mystery.

You’ll start your journey at Pickering and travel all the way to Whitby (if you want). Each station is a classic station from the early-mid 1900s. You can hop on and hop off while riding the train, so you can explore each of the stations. Grosmont’s 1950s style station also houses the engine shed and you can see the restoration work that’s going on with the locomotives at the moment.

Related Post: Taking a Day Trip on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Castle Howard

• Distance: 13 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 30 minutes

This is one of the more popular day trips from York, but once you visit you’ll see why.

Make sure you get there early because the house can get crowded in the afternoon and leave yourself enough time to explore the gardens because there are lakes, follies, walled gardens, and a grand fountain to check out!

Castle Howard is a gorgeous stately home that took 100 years to build! This house has been in the Howard family for eight generations since it was built by Charles Howard, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle.

It has since been through a horrible fire in 1940 that destroyed the main dome (which was rebuilt – clearly) and has been a filming location for multiple movies and TV shows (Bridgerton!!! *eeeek*).

If you are visiting during the holidays, you are in for a treat! Make sure you buy your tickets in advance and try to visit on a weekday. The house and all its rooms are dressed up for Christmas with a certain theme.

Past themes have been Twelve Days of Christmas, A Christmas Masquerade, Christmas in Narnia, and Into the Woods… and they have all been amazing! You can check the official website for the current year’s theme.

Related Post: Christmas at Castle Howard

Scarborough

• Distance: 42 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 1 hour, 15 minutes
• Train: York to Scarborough – Direct
• Travel Time by Train: 50 minutes

This is the classic beach holiday from the early 1900s that you see in the movies. For a good ol’ nostalgic seaside time, Scarborough is your top pick! There are plenty of things to do in Scarborough, from visiting the castle on the hill (it’s a climb!) to doing a pub crawl and singing karaoke at Lord Nelson’s to watching a concert at the unique amphitheater to taking a boat tour to playing games in one of the many arcades…. so much!

Don’t forget to eat some fresh seafood, stroll the steep and curvy streets, and take a picture of the Grand Hotel (one of the largest hotels in the world in 1867).

The beach gets very busy during the summer months and the roads around the area will experience a lot of congestion (because they are not big highways), so you’ll need to take the train or leave super early in the morning to beat the traffic.

Leeds

• Distance: 24 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 45 minutes
• Train: York to Leeds – Direct
• Travel Time by Train: 23 minutes

Leeds is a fun, trendy city that’s great for shopping or having a drink with friends, but also has plenty of history for the history buffs visiting and it’s one of the easiest day trips from York!

My favorite shopping spots are the Victoria Arcade, Trinity Center, and the Corn Exchange. Even if you are not shopping, it’s definitely worth visiting for the beautiful architecture.

Take a water taxi to the Leeds Docks and explore the trendy restaurants in the area or visit the Royal Armouries Museum for FREE! If you want to experience a real English football (soccer) game, then head to Elland Road and grab tix for Leeds United.

If you’re driving and you want to see some stately homes in the area then you can check out Temple Newsam (5 miles from the city center), the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots’ husband, Lord Darnley, or Harewood House (9 miles from the city center), a filming location for the Downton Abbey movie, Victoria, and Death Comes to Pemberley.

Manchester

• Distance: 70 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 1 hour, 40 minutes
• Train: York to Manchester Piccadilly – Direct
• Travel Time by Train: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Manchester is one of England’s largest cities and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. This is the perfect place to visit if you are looking for trendy or urban restaurants, want an easy walkable city, or want some history, but don’t want to be overloaded with it.

This is a great city to just walk around and enjoy. You get the busy city life with a tinge of history.

Check out the John Rylands Library which is more like a Gothic cathedral than a library, the Neo-Gothic Victorian town hall, and the super trendy area known as the Northern Quarter.

Beningbrough Hall

• Distance: 9 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 23 minutes
• Free for National Trust Members
• *Not open year round*

Beningbrough Hall is an Italian-style baroque house that was built in the 18th century.

The house was originally built by a York landowner who wanted to upgrade his family’s home. It’s changed many hands throughout the years and fell into disrepair during the 1800s.

A wealthy heiress bought the house in 1916 and started restoration on it. When she passed, she left it to the National Trust.

The artwork in the house is really the main event. There are over 100 portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery and plenty of art exhibitions that come and go throughout the season.

The gardens are smaller than your average stately home, but still big and nice to walk around. There’s a large wilderness playground to keep the kids occupied and plenty of space to run around.

My favorite time of year to visit Beningbrough Hall is during the fall, the autumn colors really pop at this place!

Selby

• Distance: 14 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 35 minutes
• Train: York to Selby – Direct
• Travel Time by Train: 30 minutes

The centerpiece of this medieval market town is Selby Abbey, a 950-year-old abbey founded by Benedict, a French monk, who experienced a vision from God, he was told to start a monastery in Selebiae where the three swans are present.

He ventured to England and finally found the three swans, Selby Abbey is the result.

Aside from the abbey, you can enjoy a pint at one of the local pubs (my favorite is The George), do some local shopping, or venture 10 minutes outside the town to Carlton Towers and check out the Victoria filming location and have afternoon tea at a stately home at the Stables Tea Room.

Whitby

• Distance: 47 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 1 hour, 20 minutes
• Train: York to Whitby – 1 Change in Middlesbrough
• Travel Time by Train: 3 hours

I love Whitby and it’s another one of my favorite day trips from York.

It’s a harbor town located on the North Yorkshire Coast. I mentioned Whitby earlier because it’s the end of the line for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, however, it’s included as a separate day trip because you don’t get to really experience Whitby if you take the steam train.

Whitby Abbey and St. Mary’s Church overlook the town, high on the hill above the harbor and the 199 steps to get to the top is definitely worth the climb to get some great views.

If you walk all the way to the end of the town, you’ll get to the harbor entrance, the lighthouse, and the beach.

Don’t forget to eat some fresh seafood while you’re here (my favorite is the Magpie Cafe), check out Captain Cook’s Memorial Museum (where he stayed during his apprenticeship), or tour his replica ship, the Endeavour (on which he sailed around the world and famously mapped the east coast of Australia), and walk in the footsteps of Bram Stoker when he wrote Dracula.

Oh yeah, that’s right… Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula here!!! And if you’re a big fan, then you need to check out my Ultimate Dracula Tour of Whitby!

Why wouldn’t you want to visit this town??!!

Newby Hall

• Distance: 25 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 47 minutes
• Garden tickets can be purchased separately from the house ticket
• *Not open year round*

Newby Hall was one of the most surprising stately homes I’ve been to, maybe that’s because I wasn’t expecting too much, but it turned out to be one of my favorites.

It’s also been a filming location featured in The ABC Murders, Peaky Blinders, Victoria, Charles III, and more!

The house was built in the 1690s by Sir Christopher Wren and later on, expanded and adapted by Robert Adam in his signature neo-classical style.

If you’re a big Thomas Chippendale fan, then you’ll love it here, a lot of the furniture was made by Chippendale specifically for this house.

You’ll notice there’s a lot of Roman influence in the house and everything is very symmetrical.

You can’t take photos inside the house and it’s a guided tour only.

The gardens are the real star. You will spend at least a couple of hours just walking around all the themed and hidden areas. Bring a picnic to really enjoy the gardens to their fullest potential.

There’s a mini train that you can ride on around the gardens for a small fee and there’s a teddy bear house that houses the owner’s private collection of teddies… which includes Jim Henson’s Fozzie Bear, Mr Bean’s teddy, and Sooty.

Harrogate

• Distance: 21 miles
• Travel Time by Car: 45 minutes
• Train: York to Harrogate – Direct
• Travel Time by Train: 33 minutes

Harrogate is a proper English town. I think that’s the best way to describe it. You just feel so proper walking around with the beautiful, grand architecture and the famous spa town history.

During the Victorian period, this town became a hot spot for people looking to take advantage of the “healing waters”.

Highlights are experiencing afternoon tea at the original Betty’s Tea Room, enjoying a traditional Turkish spa day, shopping locally in the Montpellier Quarter, stopping by the Swan Hotel (where Agatha Christie was found after her mysterious 11-day disappearance), and learning about the spa history at the Pump Room Museum.

If you want to enjoy the nightlife here, then Friday night is the best and if you want a great place to stay then the grand Majestic Hotel is the place!

Related Post: Staying at the Majestic in Harrogate

Exploring Yorkshire

York is located in England’s largest county, Yorkshire and all of these day trips (with the exception of Manchester) are located in Yorkshire.

With two huge National Parks, dramatic coastlines and quaint fishing villages, medieval market towns, and historic cities, it’s no wonder they call it “God’s own country”.

Check out my Ultimate Yorkshire Bucket List with over 50 places to visit if you have more time to explore this area and if you need a little Yorkshire wanderlust in your life, I’ve got you covered with that too!

Let me know in the comments below if you are planning on taking any day trips from York and where you are going! Been to York and loved it? Let me know below!

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