Best camping, glamping, and outdoor stays in Skipton
Known as the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, the market town of Skipton is a handy base for campers and glampers looking to explore the national park.
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A still-thriving market takes place four times a week and the town provides essential amenities, rainy-day activities, outdoors shops and pubs. But more than that; Skipton has a charm all of its own and a history that's well-worth exploring. With a 900-year-old castle and enviable canalside position, it's a popular place with visitors and holidaymakers and there are plenty of camping and glamping sites in the area. As always, only the very best have made it onto our list...
Best camping, glamping, and outdoor stays in Skipton guide
Overview
Camping and glamping in Skipton
If you're looking to pitch your tent in the Yorkshire Dales, how about camping near Skipton? This market town on the southern edge of the national park offers visitors all the amenities of town with shops, pubs and tea rooms on its cobbled high street as well as a castle and canal. It's a charming place to visit but is also well-located close to some of the Dales' most-popular and picturesque places including Bolton Abbey with its ruined priory, Burnsall and Grassington. Walkers, cyclists and outdoor lovers will be right at home in this part of the world which is why we rate it for camping and glamping. Our searches for the best campsites in the UK have taken us through moorland and woodland, up fells and down dales and we've found both classic campsites and luxury glamping sites near Skipton that get the thumbs up from us. Whether it's a grass pitch with nothing more than a fabulous view, an electric hook-up for your campervan or a glamping pad with bells, whistles and more, you should find something within reach of this charming Yorkshire town.
Things to do in Skipton
In Skipton itself, you could easily while away a few hours exploring the independent shops, checking out the latest gear in the outdoor retailers, fuelling up on Yorkshire tea and browsing the market stalls (if you're there on market day). The town's Craven Museum and Gallery has a surprisingly large and varied collection including a Shakespeare First Folio as the prize specimen. You might also want to check out the 900-year-old Skipton Castle, said to be the best preserved medieval castle in the country. The Leeds-Liverpool canal passes through the town and a stroll along the banks to see the passing narrowboats can only be bettered by hopping aboard one for a skippered cruise of the area.
A mile or so outside of town, another type of transport has become a tourist attraction: the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway. No prizes for guessing where passengers disembark at the far end! Passengers travel in Victorian and Edwardian carriages pulled by team locomotives on this preserved and restored railway. Bolton Abbey is an estate with a ruined priory at its heart, about a mile-and-a-half from the railway station and seven miles from Skipton. There are 30,000 acres to explore in the estate, which is owned by the Duke of Devonshire, including woodlands, moorland, waterfalls and stepping stones. As huge as it is, this country estate is just a small part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which is what you've likely come to explore on a camping or Glamping Holiday in Skipton or its surroundings. Crossed with drystone walls and filled with hardy sheep, it's an upland area of the Pennines where high fells stand between the dales or valleys and their rivers, streams and becks. Walking, cycling, fell running and horseriding are some of the best ways to explore with picturesque villages and towns like Burnsall and Grassington making welcome places for pit stops and picnics.
About
Dominated by its medieval castle, the North Yorkshire town of Skipton is known as the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales and is an ideal base for hikers, bikers and campers to stock up on goods before venturing into the national park. Find the best campsites near Skipton with our hand-picked collection.
