Malham Cove

How to walk to Malham Cove

Directions:

1. Beginning at the car park at Malham, turn left at the entrance and head through the village. Just after the Buck Inn (on your left) the road forks into two. You need to take the left road, and head up Cove Road. After around 500 yards, you’ll find the well signposted path to Malham Cove on your right.

2. Follow it! I mean this is a walk where you CANNOT go wrong! The path is super well maintained, is sturdy pushchair and wheelchair accessible right up to the cove. And direction wise…. head in the direction of the bloody massive limestone cliff face! You can’t miss it….. LITERALLY!

3. Anyway, jokes aside, this is a walk with options. If you have a pushchair, do a there and back again to the cove and then head back to the village the same way. If you are there in wet weather, I personally wouldn’t recommend taking the steps up to the limestone pavement, as it’s mega slippery. And that is no exaggeration… because we visited during wet weather once and made the mistake of chancing it! Both children fell, and I experienced mega Mum guilt! If it’s gloriously dry? Then head down to point 4. Otherwise, skip to point 5.

4. Explore the cove! In reasonably dry weather, you can get right up to the gap where the water from Malham Beck reappears from the epic cave system inside the rock. Marvel at that, then marvel at the rock climbers as they traverse the limestone face of the cove. Then turn back and take the path that starts to ascend the side of the cove. It’s easy to find, well because it’s Malham and everything’s easy to find, but also because it’s a really steep set of stone steps, that leads you right up to another geological marvel. The limestone pavement. Oh and this is this place where they filmed Harry Potter. Once you’ve recreated that scene from The Deathly Hallows (yes, we did this) then head back down the way you came, taking in the breath-taking views over Malhamdale and beyond!

5. Hello wet weather walkers! We’re back! So you’ve explored the cove, you need to turn back on yourself and head to the stone flagged footbridge over Malham Beck. You will have passed it on your way to the cove. This time, cross it and turn left. There is a well waymarked footpath that returns to Malham on the other side of the beck. All you need to do is follow it and hey presto, you’ll be back in Malham in no time (well in approximately 3/4 of a mile).

Last walked August 2021.

❗ Malham Cove is a veeeeeeeery popular spot. It gets incredibly busy. So if you want to see it as you can see in our pictures? Get there early, VERY early. If you don’t, expect a LOT of people. It’s stunning, people want to see it but it’s definitely NOT a hidden gem, as some may profess it to be!!