How to Spend a Day in Whitby: Our Walking Route from the Abbey to the Beach

We live about an hour and a half from Whitby — two hours if the roads are busy — and we have been coming at least twice a year since 2016, in every season and every kind of weather. Almost always by car, and almost always for the day: close enough to drive home for supper, far enough that it still feels like going somewhere.

We have had beach days, when our daughter and nephews swam in the sea. We have walked along the sand from the town to Sandsend and back. We have had town days with a craft beer and fish and chips, days of mini golf, arcades and crabbing off the pier with the children, and a boat trip out of the harbour to the open sea. Sometimes it is just the two of us, sometimes the whole extended family.

I should be honest about the drive before anything else. The road across the moors is narrow and it winds, and I get carsick on it every single time. If you are the same, sit in the front, open a window, and do not read your phone. It is worth it. It is always worth it.

This is the route we walked on our last visit, and roughly the shape of every visit we make. Whitby is small enough that you park once in the morning and walk the rest of the day.

Where to park in Whitby

Parking is the thing people get wrong, and it sets the tone for the whole day.

We parked at the campsite car park opposite Whitby Abbey — £5 for the day, as advertised on the sign. Cash, no time limit. Somebody takes your money and points you at a space in a field. For a day trip that is the best value in town, and it puts you at the top of the East Cliff with the whole town below you.

The alternative is the West Cliff car park near the beach, which is the right choice if you want to start on the sand and walk into town from the other direction. Both fill up in summer, and on a big weekend they fill up early.

Next to the campsite field is the Abbey Headland car park, the biggest in Whitby. It is the obvious choice if you are visiting the Abbey — but if you park there for the town, it is 199 steps down and 199 back up.

Three ways to start the day

We do not do the same thing every time, and I think that is why we keep coming back.

Start at the Abbey. Park on the East Cliff, walk around the ruins and the churchyard first, then take the steps down into the old town. This is the slow start — history first, town second.

Start on the beach. Park at West Cliff, walk the sand while it is still quiet, then come up into town from the seafront end. Best on a hot day when the town will be unbearable by noon.

Go straight down. Park at the Abbey, walk past it without stopping, and take the steps down immediately. That is what we did this time, and we saved the beach for the evening instead. It turned out to be the right call.

How many steps up to Whitby Abbey? 199

There are 199 steps between the Abbey and the town, and you should walk them both ways. Down in the morning, up at the end of the day (in two ways out of 3).

Going down is easy and the view keeps changing — rooftops, the harbour, the two piers, the sea beyond them. Coming up at the end of a long day with a full stomach is a different experience entirely, and there are benches built into the side at intervals. They were originally there for coffin bearers resting on the way up to the church. Now they are for people like us.

If steps are not possible for you, there is a road — the Church Lane route — that a car or a taxi can take, and the Abbey Headland car park is at the top.

Church Street and the old town

At the bottom of the steps you land on Church Street, which is the oldest and best part of Whitby — cobbles, low doorways, and shops in buildings that were never designed to be shops.

Our first stop is usually somewhere to sit down and use a toilet after the drive, and this time that was the Helmsley Brewing Co Tap Room, in the old Wesley Hall. It is a proper conversion — 1901 wall tiles, herringbone parquet, roof beams, stained glass — and worth walking into even if you only want a soft drink. A word of warning from experience: they have a coffee machine, but on a busy afternoon with one person behind the bar they will politely tell you no. Fair enough, but plan your coffee elsewhere.

Ian has written about the beer side of the day in a separate post, so I will leave that to him.

Lunch: the pork sandwich

Cross the swing bridge to the west side and walk up Golden Lion Bank, and you will find two places directly opposite each other: The Greedy Pig and the Meat and Pie Shop.

This is our lunch, every time. The Greedy Pig does a hot pork sandwich in a floury bap with stuffing, apple sauce and crackling on top, and it is the sort of thing that ruins other pork sandwiches for you. The Meat and Pie Shop opposite does Cornish pasties and pork pies of the same standard. Neither has seating — you take it away and eat it looking at something.

This time we had the pork sandwich. It was, as always, excellent.

The harbour, the bridge and the boats

After lunch we walked back down to the harbour and got lucky. The swing bridge opened, and around ten large boats came through in a line to the top end of the harbour — we worked out later it was the Regatta.

If you have never watched the bridge open, it is a small event and the whole street stops for it. Traffic and pedestrians both wait. The boats go through slowly and everyone stands there watching, and then the bridge closes and the town starts again.

Along the harbour wall people were crabbing — lines, buckets, a lot of patience, mostly children. It is one of those things that makes Whitby feel like it is still a working town rather than a set.

Boat trips from Whitby harbour

We did not go out on a boat this time, but we have done it twice before, and in summer it is the thing I would put ahead of almost everything else on this list. It is a proper little adventure, it works with children, and the view back at the town from the water is one you cannot get from the land.

The boats go from the harbour, below the swing bridge, and the choice is wider than people expect. There are short sails out into the bay and along the coast, fishing trips, longer runs up and down the coastline, wildlife and whale watching cruises, trips out to the seal colony at Ravenscar, and sunset cruises in the evening.

Both times we took the short one — about twenty minutes — on the Bark Endeavour. It is a replica of Captain James Cook’s HMS Endeavour at forty per cent of the size, built by Whitby shipbuilders, and it takes you round the harbour and along the coast to Sandsend. We picked it both times because it looked like more fun for the children than a motor boat, and it was.

Who runs the trips

• Whitby Coastal Cruises — the bright yellow boats. They do every kind of trip, from the twenty minutes into the bay up to the wildlife cruises.
• Bark Endeavour — the replica. Round the harbour and along the coast to Sandsend.
• Black Pearl Pirate Boat — small boats round the harbour and out to sea, with the crew and most of the passengers dressed as pirates.
• Yorkshire Coast Boat Trips — two hours and upwards along the coast, in comfort.

You do not need to book the short trips. Come down to the harbour on the day, look for the boards by the boats — they say whether anything is sailing and what the times are — and buy the tickets there. The longer cruises are worth checking ahead for, because they run to a set timetable and the weather decides.

Where’s the best fish and chips in Whitby? Do your homework first

Whitby fish and chips are a must, and I will not be talked out of this. We have eaten fish and chips in Scotland, across Yorkshire, in the Lake District and all the way down south, and Whitby is the best.

But there is a trick, and it is this: check who has won the award most recently, and go there. The title moves around between three or four places, and the one that is winning now is the one that is on form now.

As of 2026 the town is doing very well. Trenchers was named Restaurant of the Year at the National Fish & Chip Awards 2026, and The Fisherman’s Wife took Best Coastal Fish & Chips in England at the English Fish & Chip Awards the same year. Two national titles in one small town. If you want a wider list to work from, The Yorkshireman’s round-up of the best fish and chips in Whitby is a good starting point.

Our first choice on the day was the Magpie Café — the black and white building on Pier Road that everybody knows. It is small inside and the queue was out of the door, which on a Regatta Saturday is entirely predictable.

So we went to our second favourite, Abbey Wharf, and I am glad we did. It is large — over 250 covers, a second floor, and a long balcony over the harbour — but it was full and we still had to wait for a table. We waited inside, wandering about looking for someone reaching for their coat. That is the honest method.

What we like there: the fish is done in homemade batter and cooked in beef dripping, which we have decided is the correct way to do it. The menu goes well beyond fish — it is a coastal pub menu rather than a chip shop list. And the balcony is the best seat in Whitby for watching the harbour.

They also have live music some evenings, and they book good bands rather than filler.

The beach by the East Pier at the end of the day

This is my favourite part of the day, and almost nobody does it.

After dinner we took the small concrete path down from the houses at the end of the old town, onto the sand beside the East Pier, just to the right of the road out to the lighthouse. The Regatta crowds were all still up in the town. The beach was empty and quiet.

We took our shoes off and walked on the wet sand. After a day of cobbles, queues and crowds, that twenty minutes was the best part of the whole trip.

If you do one thing from this post, do this one. Save the beach for the evening.

The other side of the harbour has its own beach — the long one, under the West Cliff. A few years ago we walked down the Khyber Pass, the road that curves down from the West Cliff, to the West Pier lighthouse. With the West Cliff lift closed since April 2022, that road is now the way down on foot. From there you can walk on the sand under the cliffs all the way to Sandsend, as we have — and back again. The West beach is at its best in the morning.

Back up the 199 steps to Whitby Brewery

Then back up. All 199 of them, at the end of a long day, which is exactly as advertised.

At the top, next to the Abbey, is Whitby Brewery, and we stopped for a last drink. There was an AC/DC tribute band playing, which we had not planned for and which turned the end of the day into something else entirely. Live music is a regular thing there and they book good acts — it is worth checking what is on before you plan your day, because it will change where you finish.

If you are visiting during the Regatta

We were there on the opening day of Whitby Regatta, which runs from Saturday to Monday in early August — 8th to 10th August in 2026. It has been going since 1839 and it is one of the oldest seaside events in Britain.

What that means for you:

• The town is much busier than normal. Every queue is longer. Book, or accept the wait.
• Parking fills early. Arrive before 11am if you can.
• You will see things you did not plan for — rowing races, the bridge opening for boats, a funfair on the West Cliff, and fireworks over the harbour on the Monday evening.

It is a good day out and a bad day for a quiet one. Decide which you want before you go.

Practical notes for a day in Whitby

• Parking: £5 all day at the campsite opposite the Abbey. West Cliff is the alternative. Both fill up.
• Walking: you do not need the car once you have parked. Whitby is small.
• The 199 steps: both directions if you can. Benches on the way up, and a road alternative if steps are not possible.
• The drive: the moor road winds. Sit in the front if you get carsick.
• Toilets: most easily found in the pubs and cafés — buy a drink.
• Cash: useful. The car park did not take cards and gave no ticket.
• Best time for the beach: the East Pier side after dinner, when the town is still full; the long West beach in the morning.
• Cliff lift: the West Cliff lift has been closed since April 2022. Walk down the Khyber Pass instead.
• No car: by train, change at Middlesbrough for the Esk Valley line to Whitby.

Our own visits, our own money, our own opinions. No paid placements, and no arrangement with any venue mentioned.

Addresses

Whitby Coastal Cruises
Brewery Steps, Whitby harbour
visitwhitby.com listing

Bark Endeavour Whitby
Whitby harbour
endeavourwhitby.com

Black Pearl Pirate Boat
Whitby harbour
Facebook page

Yorkshire Coast Boat Trips
Whitby harbour

Whitby Abbey
Abbey Lane, Whitby YO22 4JT
english-heritage.org.uk

Helmsley Brewing Co Tap Room
Wesley Hall, Church Street, Whitby YO22 4DE
helmsleybrewingco.co.uk

The Greedy Pig
5 Golden Lion Bank, Whitby YO21 3BS

Meat and Pie Shop
Golden Lion Bank, Whitby YO21 3BS (opposite The Greedy Pig)

Magpie Café
14 Pier Road, Whitby YO21 3PU
magpiecafe.co.uk

Abbey Wharf
Market Place, Whitby YO22 4DD
abbeywharfwhitby.co.uk

Whitby Brewery
Abbey Lane, Whitby YO22 4JR
whitby-brewery.com

Whitby Regatta
West Cliff and harbour, Whitby — 8–10 August 2026
whitbyregatta.co.uk