Most people drive straight through the Dales. These ten places are worth getting into.
Limestone, glaciers, and time shaped the Yorkshire Dales. This produces waterfalls, sandy rivers, and plunge pools carved by ancient water. The water is cold and clear.
None of these spots requires a kit beyond a towel and some resolve. A few require more than that.
County: North Yorkshire
National Park: Yorkshire Dales, designated in 1954
Water quality: Generally excellent, particularly in the upper dales; always check local conditions before entry
Best season: June to September for the warmest water; waterfalls flow strongest after rain, October to April
Trail navigation: AllTrails covers all main routes with offline maps
1. Janet’s Foss, Malham
The pool beneath Janet’s Foss, surrounded by mossy rocks and ancient trees, sits in woodland a short walk from Malham. Tufa deposits formed the falls, which drop into a clear pool deep enough for swimming.
The woodland is a National Trust site and one of the last fragments of ancient broadleaf in the Dales. The name comes from Jennet, a fairy queen said to use the cave behind the falls as her home. The cave is shallow and visible from the pool.
This is the starting point for the 6.5-mile Malham Cove circular route, one of the most popular walks in the national park. The foss is best reached early in the morning before the route fills with day walkers.
Where to Stay: Beck Hall sits directly on Malham Beck in the village, 300 metres from the start of the Janet’s Foss path. It has 18 rooms and has been taking in walkers here for over 200 years.
Worth Knowing: Janet’s Foss is managed by the National Trust as part of the Malham Tarn estate. The water stays cold year-round due to the woodland canopy and the gorge’s north-facing aspect.
2. Wain Wath Force, Keld, Swaledale
Wain Wath Force is just off the road at Keld, so most visitors stop for a quick photo. This broad waterfall drops over a limestone shelf into a large plunge pool fed by the River Swale. The deep, sheltered pool is one of the Dales’ most accessible wild swims.
The walk from Keld village is 2.5 miles on well-maintained paths. Keld itself sits at the head of Swaledale, where the valley narrows, and the road runs out. It is the only village in England to appear on both the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast walk simultaneously.
The falls are most dramatic just after heavy rain when the river runs fast and brown. The pool is usually swimmable, but always check the depth after floods.
Where to Stay: Keld Lodge is a former shooting lodge, now a bunkhouse and private rooms, located in Keld village, 400 metres from the falls. It caters specifically to Pennine Way and Coast to Coast walkers.
Worth Knowing: The Pennine Way and Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast walk both pass through Keld within metres of each other. Wainwright described Keld as one of the finest villages in England.
3. Kisdon Force, Keld, Swaledale
Kisdon Force is tougher to reach than Wain Wath. From Keld, the steep path drops into a wooded gorge where the River Swale cuts a limestone ravine. Two falls: the upper drops into a swim-friendly pool, the lower is deeper and more enclosed, reached by a careful ledge path.
The two pools at Kisdon Force are among the Dales’ best. The upper pool has a rope swing and a ledge for jumping at safe levels. The lower is colder, more remote, and seldom visited.
The round trip from Keld is 2.5 miles, but the path into the gorge is steep and rocky. Wet rock is genuinely slippery. Take your time on the descent.
Where to Stay: Keld Lodge in Keld village is the nearest base, a 10-minute walk from the top of the gorge path.
Worth Knowing: Kisdon Force is one of the least-visited waterfalls in the Dales, despite being among the most impressive. The gorge stays in shadow for most of the day, which keeps the water cold and the midges down.
4. Hardraw Force, Hawes, Wensleydale
Hardraw Force, England’s highest unbroken above-ground waterfall, drops 30 metres into a natural bowl. The wide, deep pool once hosted brass band competitions thanks to the acoustics.
Access is through the Green Dragon Inn in Hardraw village. Entry is around £4. A path runs behind the falls, and you can walk through the spray if the flow allows. JMW Turner sketched the scene in 1816, and little has changed.
The 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves used Hardraw Force as a location for bathing. The waterfall is the same. The film’s accuracy to medieval Yorkshire is not a subject worth pursuing.
Where to Stay: Stone House Hotel, in Sedbusk, two miles from Hawes, is a Georgian country house hotel with 23 rooms set in landscaped grounds above the Ure valley.
Worth Knowing: The Hardraw Force Brass Band Contest is one of Britain’s oldest outdoor brass competitions and still runs each September annually in the natural bowl below the falls.
5. Aysgarth Falls, River Ure, Wensleydale
Aysgarth Falls spans three waterfalls over nearly a mile on the Ure. The Upper Falls are most photographed; the broader and quieter Middle and Lower Falls form pools in Yoredale limestone.
The site is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, partly for the geology and partly for the resident dipper population. William Wordsworth, JMW Turner, and John Ruskin all visited and wrote about the falls. Turner painted them twice. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves also filmed the quarterstaff fight scene at the Upper Falls in 1991, attracting a different visitor demographic entirely.
The circular walk covering all three sets of falls is 3 miles on well-maintained National Park paths. Swimming is possible at the Lower Falls in the channels between the limestone shelves.
Where to Stay: The George and Dragon in Askrigg, two miles east of Aysgarth, is an 18th-century coaching inn with rooms above the bar.
Worth Knowing: Aysgarth Falls National Park Centre provides interpretation of the site’s geology and ecology. The Yoredale Series, a sequence of alternating limestone, shale, and sandstone that defines much of the Dales scenery, is particularly well exposed here.
6. Hell Gill, Mallerstang
Hell, Gill is not for beginners. It slices through a collapsed cave system in Mallerstang near the Cumbrian border, where the River Eden rises. The stream slips through a narrow limestone canyon, some sections only wide enough for sideways passage.
The water is cold enough to be uncomfortable without a wetsuit. Helmets are advised. Swimming here is closer to canyoning: low ceilings, deep, narrow channels, and areas where you must follow the flow. Never go alone or without checking local conditions.
The approach is 4 miles from the nearest road. The surrounding Mallerstang valley is one of the most remote in the Dales, with no mobile signal and very little passing traffic.
Where to Stay: The Moorcock Inn sits on the B6259 at the head of the Eden valley, 3 miles from the Hell Gill access point. It has rooms and serves food.
Worth Knowing: The limestone plateau above Hell Gill is the watershed between rivers flowing east to the North Sea and west to the Irish Sea. The River Eden begins within half a mile of the gill.
7. River Wharfe at Bolton Abbey
The River Wharfe below Bolton Abbey flows over sand beside limestone grassland and the ruins of a 12th-century priory. The deep pool formed below the ruins is popular on summer days. Before 10am, it is usually empty.
Bolton Abbey estate, owned by the Dukes of Devonshire, manages access to the river and the surrounding 30,000 acres. A day parking fee applies at the main car park. The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, and the nave was left open to the sky. It is still used as a parish church.
The circular walk from the car park to the Strid is 3.5 miles. Do not enter the Strid, a narrow gorge where the Wharfe compresses to a metre. Tumultuous currents make it deadly.
Where to Stay: Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel is the estate’s own hotel, 300 metres from the priory ruins. It has 40 rooms across the main house and garden wing.
Worth Knowing: Bolton Abbey estate opens from dawn to dusk year-round with a season ticket option for regular visitors.
8. Grassington Weir, River Wharfe
Grassington Weir sits on the Wharfe by the park’s busiest town. Cascade and plunge pools run across the river, clear and fast—excellent for cold swims, even when deeper pools run low.
Grassington itself has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The town’s grid of cobbled lanes above the river dates largely from the 17th and 18th centuries, when lead mining on the surrounding moor drove local prosperity. The Upper Wharfedale Museum in the town square holds material on the mining history.
The walk from Grassington to the weir takes five minutes. Longer routes extend south along the riverside path through Ghaistrill’s Strid, a smaller and far safer gorge than its infamous namesake upstream.
Where to Stay: Tennants Arms at Kilnsey, 3 miles north of Grassington on the B6160, is a refurbished 17th-century coaching inn directly beneath Kilnsey Crag, a 50-metre limestone overhang.
Worth Knowing: Upper Wharfedale Museum in Grassington covers the lead-mining and farming history of the valley. The museum is run by volunteers and is free to enter.
9. Catrigg Force, Stainforth
Catrigg Force falls nearly 20 metres into a wooded limestone chasm half a mile above the village of Stainforth. The plunge pool is deep and clear, enclosed on three sides by rock walls close enough that the sound of the falls fills the hollow entirely. The surrounding woodland is ancient in character, with mosses covering every surface.
The path from Stainforth car park to the force is less than a mile, climbing steeply through a walled lane and across open limestone pasture before dropping into the chasm. The approach offers no indication of what is below until you are already at the edge.
Stainforth itself has a 17th-century packhorse bridge over the Ribble, one of the best preserved in the Dales, accessible on foot from the same car park.
Where to Stay: Falcon Manor Hotel in Settle, 3 miles south of Stainforth, is a Victorian country house hotel with 23 rooms and grounds that back onto the Ribble valley.
Worth Knowing: The Yorkshire Dales National Park classifies Catrigg Force as a permissive path. The surrounding land is private farmland. Stay on the marked route and leave gates as you find them.
10. Scaleber Force, near Settle
Scaleber Force falls 12 metres in two drops over a limestone lip into a deep, clear pool in a Woodland Trust site two miles north of Settle. The upper drop feeds directly into the lower through a narrow chasm, and the combined effect produces a pool large enough to swim in even after dry spells in summer.
The trees around the force are predominantly ash and hazel, and the ground flora in May includes wood anemone and wild garlic. The area was once part of the Scaleber House estate, and the composer Edward Elgar visited while staying in Settle in the 1880s. Whether the force influenced anything he subsequently wrote is unknown, but it is the kind of place that stays with you.
The walk from Settle is 2 miles along a well-signed path. The site is managed by the Woodland Trust, and access is free year-round.
Where to Stay: Falcon Manor Hotel in Settle, 2 miles south along the Ribble Valley path.
Worth Knowing: Woodland Trust manages the site around Scaleber Force. The limestone geology here is the same Craven Fault system that creates Malham Cove and Gordale Scar to the north.
Practical Tips
- Water temperature in the Dales rarely exceeds 15°C even in August. Enter gradually rather than jumping if you are not acclimatised to cold water.
- Always check river levels before visiting. After heavy rain on the fells, pools fill fast, and the current increases significantly. Several sites on this list become dangerous rather than swimmable in spate conditions.
- Hell Gill requires experience, a wetsuit, and ideally a helmet. Do not enter it as a casual walk.
- Do not enter the Strid at Bolton Abbey under any circumstances. It looks crossable. It is not.
- Download offline maps via the AllTrails app before heading out. Many of these locations have no mobile signal.
- Hardraw Force charges a small entry fee payable at the Green Dragon Inn. All other sites on this list are free to access.
Responsible Swimming
Cold water swimming carries real risks. Acclimatise before immersing fully. Never swim alone in remote locations. Check weather forecasts and river levels before setting out. The Dales can change quickly, and a swimmable pool at noon can become dangerous by afternoon after rain on the high ground. Leave no trace and take litter out.
Reader Q&A
Which spot is best for a first-time wild swimming experience? Janet’s Foss at Malham. It is shallow enough to enter gradually, the pool is enclosed and calm, and the walk-in is short enough that you can turn back easily. The National Trust path is clear and well-maintained.
Is Hardraw Force worth the entry fee? Yes. The combination of the falls, the natural amphitheatre, and the path behind the water makes it unlike anything else on this list. The fee is modest and goes to the Green Dragon, which has maintained the site for generations.
What about Hell Gill? Is it really that serious? It is not a place to improvise. The gorge is genuinely narrow in sections, the rock is slippery, and parts of the route require swimming through enclosed spaces where there is no obvious exit above you. If you have canyoning or gorge-walking experience and go with someone who knows the gill, it is extraordinary. Without that, it is a poor decision.
When is the water warmest? July and August give the warmest water, typically 12 to 15°C in the upper dales. The lower Wharfe around Bolton Abbey and Grassington runs slightly warmer due to the lower altitude. Waterfalls produce colder water than still river pools, regardless of season.
Can I take children to these locations? Janet’s Foss, Wain Wath Force, Aysgarth Falls, the Wharfe at Bolton Abbey, and Grassington Weir are all appropriate for families with older children. Hell Gill, Kisdon Force, and the Strid at Bolton Abbey are not. The line is clear at each location once you are there.
Are dogs allowed at these sites? Yes, at most sites. Hardraw Force has a small entrance through the pub, and dogs should be kept under control. All National Trust and Woodland Trust sites permit dogs on leads. The Devonshire Arms estate at Bolton Abbey permits dogs in certain areas.
Where to Stay
- Beck Hall, Malham: 18 rooms directly on Malham Beck, 300 metres from the Janet’s Foss path start. Best base for Malham and Wain Wath Force.
- Keld Lodge, Keld: a former shooting lodge in Keld village, ideal for Wain Wath Force and Kisdon Force. Caters to long-distance walkers.
- Stone House Hotel, Sedbusk, near Hawes: Georgian country house hotel, best base for Hardraw Force and Aysgarth Falls.
- Tennants Arms, Kilnsey: 17th-century coaching inn beneath Kilnsey Crag, well placed for Grassington Weir and the lower Wharfe.
- Falcon Manor Hotel, Settle: Victorian country house hotel, ideal for Catrigg Force and Scaleber Force.
- Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel, Bolton Abbey: estate hotel 300 metres from the priory, the most comfortable base on this list.
The water in these falls has been moving through limestone for centuries before it reaches the pool where you are standing. It is colder and older than anything you will encounter anywhere else. That is the point.
