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Yorkshire's 15 most beautiful places that everyone in the world should visit

Beaches, seacliffs, valleys, views and plenty more around Britain's most scenic county

[Burnsall - a quintessentially quiet Yorkshire Dales village. Sadly the tranquillity is shattered on busy days by antisocial drivers with loud, sometimes illegally modified, exhausts]

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Burnsall - a quintessentially quiet Yorkshire Dales village. Sadly the tranquillity is shattered on busy days by antisocial drivers with loud, sometimes illegally modified, exhausts(Image: Dave Himelfield)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

For example, some people think pugs are cute while others find these squashed-faced canines grotesque. Humankind, however, is pretty united when it comes to landscapes. Few would look at a purely natural scene and say it looked ugly. Bleak, foreboding or monotonous maybe but even the most unremarkable landforms have something going for them.

That's because humans are programmed to find most of nature aside from the scary, dangerous stuff beautiful. Not that we're biased but... Yorkshire has some of the best scenery in Britain and given its vastness, a real variety of it.

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So where are the most beautiful places in God's Own Country? That is in the eye of the beholder but here are some of the places we like best. From spectacular to serene, here's some geographical eye candy with a couple of pretty manmade bits thrown in for good measure.

1. Bay

[The view towards Robin Hood's Bay from Ravenscar]

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The view towards Robin Hood's Bay from Ravenscar(Image: Jasmine Norden)

The jumble of old cottages clinging to the steep hillside, golden sands, craggy seacliffs and verdant clifftops make Robin Hood's Bay our choice.

2. Beach

Long, golden sands, almost zero development and wide views you can see the towering Hunt Cliff in one direction and as far as the Northumberland coast in the other Marske-by-the-Sea is our choice.

3. City

It's only small, but Ripon is a genuinely pretty city which immaculately maintained market streets and floral displays.

4. Clifftop

[Flamborough Head]

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Flamborough Head(Image: Getty)

The tall, near-vertical cliffs of Flamborough Head are pretty spectacular and one of Britain's best places for spotting beautiful seabirds and sometimes marine mammals.

5. Garden

The geometric formal gardens at Harewood House by Capability Brown, no less have the wow factor. So do the Himalayan and Lakeside gardens a short distance away.

6. Garden #2

[Studley Royal Water Garden, near Ripon]

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Studley Royal Water Garden, near Ripon(Image: National Trust Images/Chris Lacey)

The spectacular water gardens at Studley Royal, next to Fountains Abbey, will make your jaw drop. The moon-shaped ornamental lakes, waterfalls and quirky follies feel like a happy, floaty dream.

7. Moorland

Widdop Reservoir between Hebden Bridge and Haworth is beautifully bleak with sharp rock faces to the east which soften from dark grey to reddish on a clear evening.

8. Ruin

[Rievaulx Abbey]

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Rievaulx Abbey

The ruin of Rievaulx Abbey, near Helmsley, is our top pick with views from the ruins down the wooded Rye valley.

9. Sunset

[On the easternmost corner of Yorkshire is a flat, near featureless landscape which is reputed to have some of the best sunsets in the world.]

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On the easternmost corner of Yorkshire is a flat, near featureless landscape which is reputed to have some of the best sunsets in the world.(Image: Chris McLoughlin/Getty)

The sunsets on the easternmost tip of Yorkshire are among the best in Britain. The flat, near-featureless landscape of Spurn and its surrounding area makes for unobstructed views of the sky, North Sea and Humber estuary in an ombre from blue, purple and red, through to peach and yellow.

10. Urban beauty spot

Just one mile from the centre of Halifax is the Shibden Valley which you would not believe was part of a large town. The steep-sided valley is a green haven cut by a babbling stream.

11. Valley

[Hardcastle Crags]

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Hardcastle Crags

The view from the east and west ridges of the Hebden Beck valley as it flows from the wuthering moors of Bronte Country into the ancient woods of Hardcastle Crags has to be our number one choice.

12. Valley #2

It wouldn't be fair to exclude Rivelin which is a wooded pocket of beauty between the Peak District and Sheffield.

13. Village

[Burnsall - a quintessentially quiet Yorkshire Dales village]

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Burnsall - a quintessentially quiet Yorkshire Dales village(Image: Dave Himelfield)

You can take your pick but the broad meanders of the River Wharfe glistening in the summer sun at Burnsall, in the Dales take some beating. The scene is framed by a broad green valley with woods and the odd drystone wall and Yorkshire stone farmhouse.

14. Wetland

Potteric Carr, near Doncaster, is one of the last few natural wetlands in England. And it's not just the mix of lakes, tangled streams and abundant vegetation poking out from the water you'll enjoy. Beauty also comes in the form of rare birds which you'll struggle to find anywhere else.

15. All-round spectacular

How about the view from the top of Sutton Bank? On a clear day, you can see down the Vale of York and across to the Yorkshire Dales.

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