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Yorkshire Dales

Can you visit the Yorkshire Dales without a car?

Yes, and it can be a pleasure, but the day of the week matters more than you would expect. Choose a village with a daily bus, then treat the summer extras as a bonus.

Ribblehead Viaduct, a long row of stone arches, crossing open moorland under a big cloudy sky with a gravel track in front
Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle line. The station here is a bus connection point in summer. Photo: Michael D Beckwith, CC0, Wikimedia Commons, cropped.

The DalesBus website, the best single starting point, says most bus services in the Yorkshire Dales run throughout the year, with extras during summer that mainly operate on Sundays and Bank Holidays from Easter until mid-October. Add a railway through the western side, and a car-free stay becomes realistic. The limit is frequency. Some valleys have a good daily link, others depend on a Sunday service or nothing at all in winter.

Everything below was checked in autumn 2026, just after the summer buses had finished. Timetables change, so treat this as a map of what exists and confirm your exact journey before you travel. The Countryside Code points to the Traveline service for journey planning, and DalesBus has its own journey planner page.

The railway as your spine

The Settle to Carlisle line runs for 72 miles, with several journeys daily throughout the year on the Leeds to Carlisle route. 2026 marks 150 years of passenger services on the line. Stations are often some way from the villages they are named after, so the connecting buses are what make it work. This is how the main ones fit together, going north from Leeds.

  1. SkiptonBus 72 to Grassington, daily, with 72B on to Kilnsey, Kettlewell and Buckden Monday to Saturday. Buses to Malham, daily.
  2. SettleBus 11 to Slaidburn and Clitheroe, Monday to Saturday.
  3. RibbleheadSummer only: 830 on Sundays to Hawes, Muker, Reeth and Richmond; DalesBus 80 on Saturdays to Hawes.
  4. DentWestern Dales Bus S1 to Dent, Sedbergh and Kendal, Saturdays.
  5. GarsdaleShuttle 113 to Hardraw and Hawes, Monday to Saturday. Summer Sundays: 857 to Hawes, Askrigg and Castle Bolton.
  6. Kirkby StephenBus 563 to Kirkby Stephen town, Appleby and Penrith, Monday to Saturday.

That list comes from the DalesBus page on line connections. Note how few of those links run on a winter Sunday.

Three villages that work well all year

Malham. DalesBus says buses now run to Malham from Skipton and Gargrave daily all year: minibuses 210 and 211 on Monday to Friday, and Cravenlink 864 on Sundays through from Bradford and Ilkley. Malham Cove, Gordale Scar and Janet's Foss are all within walking distance. Note that the 210 and 211 minibuses do not take contactless.

Grassington. Daily service 72 from Skipton makes this the simplest base in Wharfedale, with minibuses further up the dale from Monday to Saturday, and buses most days to Burnsall, Bolton Abbey and Ilkley. The National Park Centre is next to the main bus stop, and the Dales Way passes through.

Hawes. The market town of Upper Wensleydale has the Dales Countryside Museum, and Hardraw Force is a level walk of about a mile and a half away. From Monday to Saturday a minibus links it to Garsdale station, and service 156 comes up the valley from Leyburn. On Sundays the Wensleydale Flyer 856 runs all year from Northallerton through Leyburn.

Long green valley of upper Swaledale seen from Kisdon Hill, with stone-walled fields and the village of Muker on the valley floor
Swaledale and Muker from the Pennine Way on Kisdon Hill. In summer the Sunday 830 calls here. Photo: Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons, cropped.

What changes in the summer

Summer opens up the northern dales. In 2026 the Northern DalesBus 830 ran on Sundays from Ribblehead via Hawes and the Buttertubs Pass, through Muker, Gunnerside, Low Row and Reeth, to Richmond. The 857 ran from Garsdale to Hawes, Askrigg and Castle Bolton. Both ran until 18 October 2026, and the DalesBus site now shows them as finished for the winter. Look for the 2027 season from around Easter, but we cannot promise it, since these services rely on outside support.

If you want one big day without driving, this is the kind to plan for. In 2026 the 830 connected at Ribblehead with a morning train from Leeds and returned in time for an early evening train home. Walk between two stops along the valley, then take the bus back. One-way walks like that are awkward with a car.

Fares and passes

At the time of checking, DalesBus says single fares cost no more than £3 per journey on all scheduled bus services in the Yorkshire Dales. Its page for the 830 also listed a £1 fare for under-19s. English concessionary passes for older and disabled people were accepted on the 830 for free travel. Most buses take cash or contactless, but North Yorkshire Council minibus services are cash only, so keep some coins with you. No booking is needed on the 830; turn up and pay the driver. Check the fares page for special tickets, and the current fare before you go.

What goes wrong, and how to avoid it

  • The last bus. Find it before you find anything else. It can be early: in summer 2026 the final Sunday 857 left Hawes for Garsdale station at 4.05pm. Missing it can mean a long and costly taxi ride, if you can find one.
  • Bank Holiday Mondays. Do not assume a pattern. Most summer DalesBus extras run on Sundays and Bank Holidays, yet the 830 page states that it does not run on Bank Holiday Mondays.
  • Signal. The Code warns that phone signal is unreliable in many rural places. Save or print your timetable.
  • Weather. Ribblehead and the Buttertubs are exposed. Take the same kit you would for a walk, because you may be waiting outdoors.
  • Heavy bags. Staying two nights in one village, and travelling light, usually beats trying to link several dales.

Going car-free changes the kind of walk you can do, and the walls and barns are easier to appreciate at walking pace. Our piece on why the Dales has so many walls will give you something to look at from the bus window. If you have not settled on the Dales yet, read our three-park comparison, and before setting off across farmland, see what to do around livestock.

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