Must-see attractions in Yorkshire

  • Exterior of Whitby Abbey during sunset.

    Whitby Abbey

    Whitby

    There are ruined abbeys, and there are picturesque ruined abbeys. And then there's Whitby Abbey, dominating the skyline above the East Cliff like a great…

  • UK, England, North Yorkshire, York, York Minster, ceiling of chapter house

    York Minster

    York

    York Minster is the largest medieval cathedral in northern Europe, and one of the world's most beautiful Gothic buildings. Seat of the archbishop of York,…

  • The National Railway Museum in York.

    National Railway Museum

    York

    York's National Railway Museum – the biggest in the world, with more than 100 locomotives – is well presented and crammed with fascinating stuff. It is…

  • A family watch on as a woman in traditional dress demonstrating stitching at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York.

    Jorvik Viking Centre

    York

    Interactive multimedia exhibits aimed at bringing history to life often achieve exactly the opposite, but the much-hyped Jorvik manages to pull it off…

  • Rievaulx Abbey

    North York Moors National Park

    In the secluded valley of the River Rye about 3 miles west of Helmsley, amid fields and woods loud with birdsong, stand the magnificent ruins of Rievaulx…

  • Royal Armouries exterior, Leeds Dock

    Royal Armouries

    Leeds

    Leeds' most interesting museum was originally built in 1996 to house armour and weapons from the Tower of London, but subsequently expanded to cover 3000…

  • Sheffield, England, UK - November 10, 2019: Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield. Kelham Island Museum opened in 1982 to house the objects, pictures and archive material representing Sheffield`s industrial story.

    Kelham Island Museum

    Sheffield

    Sheffield's prodigious industrial heritage is the subject of this excellent museum, set on a human-made island in the city's oldest industrial district…

  • AB07AK The Captain Cook Memorial Museum at Whitby North Yorkshire England. Image shot 2007. Exact date unknown.

    Captain Cook Memorial Museum

    Whitby

    This fascinating museum occupies the house of the ship owner with whom Cook began his seafaring career. Highlights include the attic where Cook lodged as…

  • Skipton Castle

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    What makes Skipton Castle so fascinating is its splendid state of preservation, providing a striking contrast to the ruins you'll see elsewhere. Although…

  • Old Town

    Yorkshire

    Hull's Old Town is where a grand minster and cobbled streets flush with Georgian town houses give a flashback to the prosperity the town once knew. It…

  • Malham Cove

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    North of Malham village, a 0.75-mile field walk beside a lovely babbling stream leads to Malham Cove, a huge rock amphitheatre lined with 80m-high…

  • The Deep

    Yorkshire

    Hull's biggest tourist attraction is The Deep, Britain's most spectacular aquarium, housed in a colossal angular building that appears to lunge above the…

  • Wilberforce House

    Yorkshire

    The wealth that Britain amassed as the world's first industrial nation was directly aided by the transatlantic slave trade, and this important museum…

  • Georgian Theatre Royal

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    Built in 1788, this is the most complete Georgian playhouse in Britain. It closed in 1848 and was used as an auction house into the early 20th century,…

  • North Yorkshire Moors Railway

    North York Moors National Park

    This privately owned railway runs for 18 miles through beautiful countryside from Pickering to Whitby. Lovingly restored steam locos pull period carriages…

  • Whitby, Yorkshire, England. 7 July 2014 A replica of Captain Cook's ship The Endeavour used as a tourist attraction in Whitby

    Endeavour Experience Whitby

    Whitby

    In 2018, a full-size replica of Captain Cook’s HM Bark Endeavour became a permanent fixture in Whitby harbour and opened to the public as a visitor…

  • BHXMMY Barley Hall York
England
United Kingdom

    Barley Hall

    York

    This restored medieval townhouse, tucked down an alleyway, includes a permanent exhibition of life in the times of Henry VIII. It was once the home of…

  • Forbidden Corner

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    There can surely be no other place like this in the world: a modern walled garden furnished with Victorian-style follies, some veering into gothic horror,…

  • Hardraw Force

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    About 1.5 miles north of Hawes is 30m-high Hardraw Force, the highest unbroken waterfall in England, but by international standards not that impressive …

  • York, UK - February 19, 2013: Merchant Adventurers Hall was constructed in the fourteenth century and is still in use today. An senior couple is strolling in the grounds and tow men in the background are picking up litter.

    Merchant Adventurers' Hall

    York

    York's most impressive semi-timbered building is still owned by the fraternity that built it almost 650 years ago and it is the oldest surviving guildhall…

  • York, UK - September 26 2021: The Treasurer's House and gardens in York; Shutterstock ID 2072382956; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Treasurer's House

    York

    This historic home, which once housed York Minster's medieval treasures, is an anomaly: in the 19th century it was bought by Yorkshire industrialist Frank…

  • YORK, UK - AUGUST 27TH 2015: A view of St. Marys Abbey Ruins situated in Museum Gardens in York, on 27th August 2015.

    Museum Gardens

    York

    In the grounds of the peaceful Museum Gardens, you can see the Multangular Tower, a part of the City Walls that was once the western tower of the Roman…

  • ED091G England, Yorkshire, Whitby, Whitby Jet Heritage Centre, Jewellery Manufacturing

    Whitby Jet Heritage Centre

    Whitby

    A museum housing the remains of Whitby's last Victorian jet workshop lies at the bottom of the 199 steps, with original tools rescued from a derelict…

  • Thornton's Arcade entraceway off Briggate

    Thornton's Arcade

    Leeds

    Though not the grandest, Thornton’s Arcade was the first Victorian shopping arcade to be built in Leeds and remains one of the most interesting. Its sky…

  • Tourists on a path overlooking colourful beach huts, the coast and harbour piers at Whitby, North Yorkshire, UK - taken on a sunny day at the end of summer

    Whitby Sands

    Whitby

    Whitby Sands, stretching west from the harbour mouth, offers donkey rides, ice-cream vendors and bucket-and-spade escapades, though the sand is mostly…

  • St Mary's Abbey ruins in Museum Gardens

    Yorkshire Museum

    York

    Most of York's Roman archaeology is hidden beneath the medieval city, so the superb displays in the Yorkshire Museum are invaluable if you want to get an…

  • York, JUL 15: Exterior view of the York Art Gallery on JUL 15, 2011 at York, United Kingdom; Shutterstock ID 1649394067; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    York City Art Gallery

    York

    As well as an impressive collection of Old Masters, York Art Gallery possesses works by LS Lowry, Pablo Picasso, Grayson Perry, David Hockney, and the…

  • RK21BH Museum of Whitby jet by W Hamond in the harbour town of Whitby in North Yorkshire,England

    Museum of Whitby Jet

    Whitby

    Housed inside a 1901 chapel, this small museum has created a temple to Whitby jet – one of the town’s most prized exports, a gothic icon, and a favourite…

  • View of Whitby from St Mary's church, North Yorkshire, England - stock photo

Path in the graveyard beside this historic church on the cliff above the town of Whitby. A busy tourist destination with many attractions and a connection to the novel 'Dracula'.

    St Mary's Church

    Whitby

    The 199 steps of Church Stairs lead steeply up from the end of Church St, passing the spooky graveyard of St Mary's Church, a favourite haunt of Goth…

  • Visitors walk along model shops and carriages of a Victorian street scene in the York Castle Museum in York, England.
Victorian Street in York Castle Museum - stock photo

    York Castle Museum

    York

    This excellent museum has displays of everyday life through the centuries, with reconstructed domestic interiors, a Victorian street and a prison cell…

  • Kirkstall Abbey's medieval cloisters

    Kirkstall Abbey

    Leeds

    Leeds' most impressive medieval structure is beautiful Kirkstall Abbey, founded in 1152 by Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire. These…

  • Leeds Industrial Museum entrance

    Leeds Industrial Museum

    Leeds

    One of the world's largest textile mills has been transformed into a museum telling the story of Leeds' industrial past, both glorious and ignominious…

  • Beverley Minster

    Yorkshire

    One of the great glories of English religious architecture, Beverley Minster is the most impressive church in the country that is not a cathedral. The…

  • The Shambles

    The Shambles

    York

    The Shambles takes its name from the Saxon word shamel, meaning 'slaughterhouse' – in 1862 there were 26 butcher shops on this street. Today the butchers…

  • York England UK. May 2018. Interior of Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate. Photo shows the original, very rare, wooden box pews where families prayed together. A hidden treasure 
Church of the Holy Trinity

.; Shutterstock ID 1121785949; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Church of the Holy Trinity

    York

    Tucked away behind an inconspicuous gate and seemingly cut off from the rest of the town, the Church of the Holy Trinity is a fantastically atmospheric…

  • York, United Kingdom - October 2, 2016: View of Clifford's Tower, a Norman Motte and Bailey castle in York, England, with visitors climbing the steps to see the attraction.

    Clifford's Tower

    York

    There's precious little left of York Castle except for this evocative stone tower, a highly unusual four-lobed design built into the castle's keep after…

  • Leeds Art Gallery façade

    Leeds Art Gallery

    Leeds

    This major gallery is packed with 19th- and 20th-century British heavyweights – Turner, Constable, Stanley Spencer, Wyndham Lewis et al – along with…

  • Magna

    Yorkshire

    At its peak, the Templeborough steelworks was the world's most productive steel smelter, with six 3000°C furnaces producing 1.8 million tonnes of metal a…

  • Bolton Abbey

    Yorkshire Dales National Park

    This old monastic estate is now a giant country playground set against the striking backdrop of 12th-century priory ruins on a bend of the River Wharfe…

  • Hutton-le-Hole

    North York Moors National Park

    With a scatter of gorgeous stone cottages, a gurgling brook and a flock of sheep grazing contentedly on the village green, Hutton-le-Hole must be a…