Ride the North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Pickering to Whitby behind a steam engine, through Goathland, Hogsmeade in the first Harry Potter film, then spend the afternoon on the harbour and the 199 steps while we wait with the vehicle. Home over the Moors by Robin Hood's Bay.
Pickup from any York or Ryedale hotel. The railway's 2026 season runs 28 March to 4 November, with Santa and dining trains from Pickering in late November and December. Not every train goes through to Whitby or is steam-hauled, so we check the day's timetable and book your seats when you book the day. The first Pickering departure is usually 09:20, into Whitby at 11:10.
| Time | Where | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 08:00 York · 08:40 Helmsley | Your hotel | Pickup. Luggage can go in the store if you're moving on. |
| 08:55 | Pickering station | Tea in the 1930s tearoom, a look at the engine, your seats on the first departure. |
| 09:20 | On the train | Newtondale gorge, Levisham, Goathland (Hogsmeade and Heartbeat's Aidensfield), Grosmont engine sheds, the Esk valley into Whitby. Arrives 11:10. |
| 11:10 | Whitby | We're on the platform. Fish and chips at the Magpie or the Quayside, the harbour, the swing bridge, Captain Cook's house. |
| 13:30 | Whitby Abbey | Up the 199 steps or up the hill in the vehicle. Abbey, St Mary's churchyard and the Dracula view. Entrance about £13 per adult. |
| 15:00 | Robin Hood's Bay | Down the steep street to the slipway. Forty-five minutes. |
| 16:00 | Over the Moors | Blakey Ridge and the Lion Inn, or Fylingdales and Saltergate, cyan blue in August and September. |
| 17:15 | Your hotel | Drop-off. Times move with the day's timetable. |
Not included: train tickets, abbey entrance, lunch. We book the train and the abbey for you at cost so you don't queue. On non-running days, and if the railway's winter bridge works at Grosmont affect through-trains to Whitby in early 2027, we drive the same route and stop at Goathland and Grosmont stations instead.
Our standard Moors, Whitby and the Coast day: Hutton-le-Hole, Goathland village and station, Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, the Lion Inn. No train, more stops.
£545 · 8 hours
Drive to Grosmont, ride to Goathland and back on the steam train (about 20 minutes each way), then on to Whitby by road. Good with small children.
£545 · tickets about £20 per adult
Whitby in the morning, then the coast road north to Sandsend, Runswick Bay and Staithes, the fishing village under the cliff. Back over the Moors.
£545 · 8 hours
We run groups into Whitby for the big weekends and bring them out again when the pubs shut, with the vehicle on standby all day.
Standby day £450
Captain Cook learned his trade here and his ships were built on the Esk. Bram Stoker sat on the West Cliff and wrote Dracula's landing. The abbey on the east cliff has been there since 657. The fish and chips are the best in England and the kippers still come out of a smokehouse that opened in 1872.
Then there's the railway. Eighteen miles of steam from Pickering to Grosmont and on to Whitby, through a glacial gorge no road reaches, with the station that stood in for Hogsmeade in the middle. Three million people have ridden it. It is the thing visitors from America, China and Germany ask us for by name, so we made it a day.
