Family adventures in Yorkshire

Yorkshire packs three national parks' worth of adventure into one county: the Dales' waterfalls and caves, the Moors' steam railways and dark skies, and a coastline of fossil beaches and fishing villages. It is also home to some of the most dramatic ruins in England — which children treat, correctly, as the world's best climbing frames-adjacent scenery.

However many of these you tick off, capture each one as it happens — a photo, a voice note, where you were — with a family adventure log like PocketTreasures, and turn the best of them into a printed family photo book at the end of the year.

The best family adventures in Yorkshire

Malham Cove and Gordale Scar

A limestone amphitheatre with a pavement on top (Harry Potter camped here) and a gorge you can scramble into. One of the great geology days out.

Ingleton Waterfalls Trail

Four and a half miles past a dozen waterfalls in wooded ravines. Proper walk, proper reward — take swimwear for the plunge pools in summer.

Go caving at Ingleborough or White Scar

White Scar is the easy show cave; Ingleborough Cave adds a wilder feel. For adventurous families, beginner caving trips run from Clapham.

Steam train across the Moors

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Pickering to Whitby — heather moorland, Goathland (Harry Potter's Hogsmeade station), and fish and chips at the end.

Fossil hunting at Runswick Bay or Boggle Hole

Ammonites weather out of the shale after every storm. Boggle Hole's youth hostel café sits right on the beach.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

England's largest abbey ruin, with a deer park and water gardens. Vast, free-roaming, and genuinely awe-inspiring at any age.

Stargazing in the Dales or Moors

Both parks are Dark Sky Reserves. The observatories at Dalby Forest run family nights through winter.

When to go

The waterfalls are best after rain (rarely a long wait). August turns the Moors purple with heather; winter brings the darkest skies and the quietest ruins.

Make it last longer than the drive home

The difference between a day out and a memory is what you do in the 30 seconds after it happens. Log the photo, say one sentence about it into your phone, and let PocketTreasures turn it into a story your children will read back for years. See all our 40 UK family adventure ideas for the full national list.