With a wide variety of historic sites, museums, and natural parks with free admission, Yorkshire offers endless opportunities for learning, entertainment, and fresh air without hurting your wallet. We’ve compiled a list of Yorkshire’s 11 best free activities to help you sort through the options and find your top picks. They’ll fuel your love for culture, heritage, arts, history, and nature while helping you stay on budget.
If you find yourself intrigued by one of the sights, look online for more details to plan the perfect, budget-friendly day—the same way you’d research before a holiday to another country or use the complete guide from casinos.com before gambling online.
1. York Minster
While York Minster Cathedral doesn’t allow free admission to everyone, children and York residents are exceptions. With proof of residence, you get a free pass to the history and beauty of this historic and religious site. The cathedral, featuring soaring vaulted ceilings and intricate stained glass windows, is an example of medieval architecture. It’s also home to historical artefacts, books, and manuscripts that appeal to history and library lovers alike. Remember that the site is an active worship space, so you need to be respectful of service-goers and may need to plan your visit around services.
2. Royal Armouries Museum
The Royal Armouries Museum is a fantastic opportunity to explore human history through ancient armour and weaponry from around the globe. The museum spans five floors, and within the exhibition spaces, visitors will find jousting armour from the time of King Henry VIII, the evolution of warfare from Ancient Rome to the present day, Samurai swords and armour, and Chinese Imperial Guard armour.
3. Hull and East Riding Museum
Over 235 million years of history are explored at the Hull and East Riding Museum, delighting people of all ages. Among the exhibits, you’ll find a massive woolly mammoth, a reconstructed mosaic from a Roman bathhouse, dinosaur bones, artefacts from prehistoric times, and more.
4. Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum is an eclectic collection of the Leeds area throughout history, including its natural history, connections to the continent of Asia, and the histories of Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece. The museum also offers many family-friendly activities and events that keep children and their guardians busy, including Rory’s Saturday Club, which allows kids to participate in arts and crafts and use the museum exhibits as inspiration.
5. North York Moors National Park
Get lost in the natural beauty of Yorkshire at North York Moors National Park. The park includes scenic drives, hikes and walks, horse riding trails, and bicycle paths across 554 square miles of land. The park has plenty of accessible sites, making it an enjoyable place where everyone can enjoy the scenic vistas and fresh air. The park offers activities year-round and is an ideal place for stargazing.
6. Yorkshire Dales National Park
The Yorkshire Dales National Park is another place teeming with natural beauty within Yorkshire. Named for its dales (the valleys in the region), this national park delivers opportunities to climb to the top of hills and peaks to soak in stunning views of the region. The Yorkshire Three Peaks are the most notable climbs, and many aim to walk all three in a single visit by embarking on the 24-mile trail.
7. Shibden Park
Shibden Park is a heritage site encompassing reconstructed grounds and gardens to recreate how they appeared 200 years ago. The reconstruction included the addition of heritage fruit trees to display the different types of trees that have resided on the land in the last 200 years. Alongside the fruit trees, you’ll also find a wilderness garden and a recreation of the grounds’ kitchen garden. It’s a charming walk through history and the countryside.
8. The Hepworth Wakefield
The Hepworth Wakefield is a building with a modern and minimal design. Once you step through the front doors, you’ll find yourself surrounded by contemporary art ranging from sculptures and surrealist paintings to screen-printed posters. Like the York Minster Cathedral, the gallery isn’t free to everyone, but if you’re a Wakefield local, it’s free and well worth a visit.
9. Leeds Street Art Trail
If you find yourself with fine weather and free time, following the Leeds Street Art Trail is one of the best ways to spend your day and is, of course, free. Street art has been prominent in Leeds for many years, even before it became a widely popular art form, and within the city, you’ll find murals in seemingly every nook and cranny. There are well-known and celebrated works and some under-appreciated pieces, and you’ll be able to take in all of them walking along the Leeds Street Art Trail.
10. Ilkley Moor
The Ilkley Moor is a conservation area within the Leeds moorlands. It’s a beautiful place to connect with nature, birdwatch, or simply step out into the fresh country air. There are several heritage walking sites, including one with Neolithic stone carvings featuring intriguing rings, cups, and lines. The moor was also connected to a UFO sighting in the late 1980s when a man spotted an alien and dome-like object in the sky—but it’s hard to say if such a sighting is likely to happen again (or if it even happened in the first place).
11. Sheffield Winter Gardens
Year-round, the Sheffield Winter Gardens offers a taste of warm, inviting air and lush, full greenery through its massive greenhouse. The greenhouse is one of the largest in Europe at 70 metres long and 22 metres high. The ceilings are arched and cascading, giving a beautiful dramatic effect. You’ll want to spend an entire day exploring the greenhouse and all its wonders.
Yorkshire Delivers the (Free) Goods
Yorkshire offers endless options to keep you entertained and engaged in the community and the greater world. You’ll find activities that delight, inform, and allow you to step away from tech-filled daily life to reconnect with nature. The best part? They won’t cost you a penny.
