North Yorkshire by campervan: overnight rules and campsites

Last checked November 2026.

North Yorkshire has two national parks, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors, the coast from Staithes down to Filey, and York, Harrogate, Ripon and Richmond. It’s a big county to tour in a campervan, with steep moorland roads, narrow lanes in the dales and plenty of campsites. The old free overnight spots have mostly gone. Motor caravans are banned overnight on the seafronts at Scarborough, Whitby, Sandsend and Filey, the council car parks on the coast ban sleeping, neither national park allows overnight stays in its car parks, and York keeps motorhomes out of its city car parks. The exceptions are a few council car parks in Settle, Ingleton and Skipton with overnight motorhome bays. Plan most nights on a campsite.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a van that’s legally parked on a public road, but local rules are common and you have to read the signs. Council car-park orders, traffic orders and public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) all restrict it, and a council can direct people living in a vehicle on a roadside or other land to leave; ignoring the direction, or coming back within three months, can mean a fine of up to £1,000. There’s no right to wild camp in a vehicle anywhere in England, the national parks included: you need the landowner’s permission. The National Trust doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places, and Forestry England doesn’t allow it in its car parks. More in wild camping and free camping.

Breaking a car-park or traffic order gets you a penalty charge notice. Breaking a PSPO is a criminal offence; since 26 October 2026 councils can set the fixed penalty at up to £500, and North Yorkshire Council’s order on the coast uses £100.

Area by area:

Scarborough, Whitby, Sandsend and Filey seafronts: North Yorkshire Council bans motor caravans from waiting between 11pm and 7am on Royal Albert Drive on Scarborough’s North Bay and on Sandsend Road (the A174) just south of Sandsend. Both began as a trial in November 2024 and have been permanent since 15 May 2026. The same ban has applied since 2015 on The Parade (the A174 up Lythe Bank) at Sandsend; North Promenade, East Terrace, Royal Crescent, Love Lane, North Terrace and Church Street in Whitby; Sandside, Foreshore Road and the Esplanade in Scarborough; and The Beach, Crescent Hill and The Crescent in Filey. Since August 2026 it has also applied, on trial, to Belvedere Road, Holbeck Road, Esplanade Crescent and Sea Cliff Road on Scarborough’s South Cliff, and the council has agreed to consult on more streets in Scarborough.
Council car parks on the coast: almost all of them, from Staithes to Filey, ban using the car park, or a vehicle in it, for sleeping, camping or cooking. Several also ban motor caravans from 11pm to 7am, including West Cliff and Church Street in Whitby, Marine Drive in Scarborough and the Country Park car park in Filey. Few have motorhome bays: a van too big for a car bay usually goes in a coach bay and pays the coach rate, or pays for each bay it covers.
Scarborough’s parks and Whitby Abbey: since 27 June 2026 a PSPO has banned putting up a tent, gazebo or other shelter to camp overnight, and lighting fires or barbecues, in nine places: Royal Albert Park, Castle Dyke, the South Cliff and Italian Gardens, Scalby Beck, the Open Air Theatre and former Marvels site, Peasholm Park, and Museum Terrace, the Crescent and Valley Park in Scarborough, and Whitby Abbey and Pannett Park in Whitby.
Park and ride: Scarborough’s sites on Seamer Road and Filey Road, and Whitby’s on the A171 north of the town (YO21 1TL), take motorhomes by day but not caravans. Nothing can stay overnight, and they’re locked 15 minutes after the last bus. In 2026 they ran from 29 March to 1 November.
Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Pateley Bridge: the council’s car park order for the old Harrogate district, in force since 3 October 2025, bans using a vehicle in its car parks for sleeping, camping, eating or cooking, and bans leaving a caravan or motor caravan in them.
Settle, Ingleton and Skipton: the council lists overnight motorhome spaces in three car parks: five at Greenfoot in Settle, four at the Community Centre car park in Ingleton and five at Coach Street in Skipton. A 24-hour ticket costs £3.50 at Greenfoot and £5.80 at Ingleton.
Other council car parks, in Richmond, Hawes, Helmsley, Pickering, Thirsk and the rest, mostly have no motorhome bays. Read the tariff board before you stay.
York: City of York Council doesn’t allow motorhomes in its car parks or coach parks. Its park and ride sites have bays for motorhomes by day but no overnight parking, and the overnight parking it proposed in 2025 for two of them would not take campervans or let anyone stay in their vehicle. For the night, the council points to the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s sites.
North York Moors National Park: the park authority doesn’t allow overnight parking in its car parks, such as the Hole of Horcum, Hutton-le-Hole and Danby. Motorhomes can park by day if there’s room; there are no motorhome bays.
Yorkshire Dales National Park: overnight occupation of vehicles, motorhomes included, is banned in all the park authority’s car parks: Aysgarth Falls, Buckden, Clapham, Grassington, Hawes, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Kettlewell, Linton Falls, Malham and Stainforth. You can buy tickets for up to 48 hours or a week, but you can’t sleep in the vehicle. Buckden, Malham and Hawes are Dark Sky Discovery sites, and parking there is free from 7pm to 6am if you’re stargazing.
Dalby Forest: Forestry England’s forest is open from 8am to 8pm. None of North Yorkshire’s forests was in Forestry England’s summer 2026 trial of booked campervan stopovers, which ended on 14 September; the nearest trial sites were Gisburn Forest in Lancashire and Kielder in Northumberland.

If you do stop on a road, park facing the direction of traffic at night, use your parking lights on roads with a limit over 30 mph and in their lay-bys, and don’t block anyone.

Campsites

Most campsites close from November to March. For a winter trip, the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s two York sites and Knaresborough are open all year, Hawes is open all year to members, Middlewood Farm takes motorhomes all year, and Gateway to the Moors never closes. Book ahead for the summer holidays. Seasons are for 2026, or 2027 where the 2026 dates are no longer shown; dates without a year are the ones a site opens every year.

Some sites don’t take every kind of van. Wombleton won’t take panel vans without windows in the back, Sleningford Watermill takes no commercial or repurposed vehicles, York Caravan Park only takes professionally converted vans, Hooks House Farm takes no large vans and Harrogate Caravan Park no commercial vehicles. If you’ve converted your own van, ask before you book.

Area	Campsite	Phone, season and notes
Staithes and Runswick Bay	Serenity Touring Caravan and Camping Park, High Street, Hinderwell, TS13 5JH	Tel: 01947 841122. 29 March to the end of October. A mile from both villages, on a bus route
Whitby	North Yorkshire Moors Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Sneaton, YO22 5JE	Tel: 01947 810505. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Up to 11.6 m. No toilet block
Whitby	Whitby Holiday Park, Saltwick Bay, YO22 4JX	Tel: 01947 602664. 1 March to 14 January. Clifftop touring field
Robin Hood’s Bay	Middlewood Farm Holiday Park, Middlewood Lane, Fylingthorpe, YO22 4UF	Tel: 01947 880414. Motorhomes all year. Big vans: follow the site’s directions, not the first brown sign at Hawsker
Robin Hood’s Bay	Hooks House Farm, on the B1447, YO22 4PE	Tel: 01947 880283. 1 March to 31 October. Phone bookings only. Bus to Whitby and Scarborough
Scarborough	Scarborough Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Field Lane, Burniston Road, YO13 0DA	Tel: 01723 366212. 22 March to 25 October 2027. In Scarborough, not Burniston village. Bus stop outside
Scarborough	Scarborough West Ayton Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Cockrah Road, West Ayton, YO13 9JD	Tel: 01723 862989. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Up to 8.5 m
Cayton Bay	Cayton Village Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Mill Lane, YO11 3NN	Tel: 01723 583171. To 4 January 2027, then 19 March 2027 to 3 January 2028. Up to 8.5 m. Buses to Scarborough and Filey
Filey	Filey Brigg Touring Caravan Park, Church Cliff Drive, YO14 9ET	Tel: 01723 513852. Run by the council. Mid-February to early January. No large American motorhomes
Pickering	Black Bull Caravan Park, Malton Road, YO18 8EA	Tel: 01751 472528. 1 March to 1 November. The 840 bus to York and Whitby stops outside
Thornton-le-Dale	Overbrook Caravan Park, Maltongate, YO18 7SE	Tel: 01751 474417. Adults only. 1 March to 4 January. All hardstanding
Helmsley	Golden Square Caravan Park, Oswaldkirk, YO62 5YQ	Tel: 01439 788269. 1 March to 31 October
Helmsley	Wombleton Caravan Park, Moorfield Lane, Wombleton, YO62 7RY	Tel: 01751 431684. 1 March to 31 October
Hutton-le-Hole	Hutton le Hole Caravan Park, Westfield Lodge, YO62 6UG	Tel: 01751 417261. 19 March to 31 October 2027. Use a map, not satnav, for the last mile
Kirkbymoorside	Gateway to the Moors, Duna Lodge, Keldholme, YO62 6NQ	Tel: 07983 868690. All year. Six pitches, up to 8.5 m. No toilets or showers
Rosedale Abbey	Rosedale Abbey Caravan Park, YO18 8SA	Tel: 01751 417272. 12 March to 24 October 2027. Includes The Howard, the former club site
Osmotherley	Cote Ghyll Caravan and Camping Park, DL6 3AH	Tel: 01609 883425. 1 March to 31 October 2027. Arrive by 7pm (8pm on Fridays)
Thirsk	Thirsk Racecourse Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), YO7 1QL	Tel: 01845 525266. 19 March to 1 November 2027. On race days you move to the rally field
York	York Rowntree Park Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Terry Avenue, YO23 1JQ	Tel: 01904 658997. All year, non-members welcome. A riverside walk into the centre. Inside the flood defences, so ring before you travel
York	York Beechwood Grange Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Malton Road, YO32 9TH	Tel: 01904 424637. All year, non-members welcome. Up to 11.6 m. Park and ride from Monks Cross
York	York Caravan Park, YO32 9UB	Tel: 01904 424222. Adults only. Open to 3 January 2027. Half-hourly buses into York
Knaresborough	Knaresborough Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), New Road, Scotton, HG5 9HH	Tel: 01423 860196. All year, non-members welcome. Up to 8.5 m
Harrogate	Harrogate Caravan Park, Great Yorkshire Showground, Railway Road, HG2 8NZ	Tel: 01423 546145. March to November. Bring a hook-up cable of at least 25 m
Ripon	Sleningford Watermill, North Stainley, HG4 3HQ	Tel: 01765 635201. 1 April to 31 October; 2027 bookings open on 1 March 2027
Boroughbridge	Boroughbridge Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Bar Lane, Roecliffe, YO51 9LS	Tel: 01423 322683. 22 March to 25 October 2027. By the river, with a flood risk
Hawes	Hawes Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Brunt Acres Road, DL8 3PS	Tel: 01969 667338. All year, members only. Up to 8 m
Leyburn	Lower Wensleydale Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Harmby, DL8 5NU	Tel: 01969 623366. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Narrow approach with steep blind bends
Swaledale	Usha Gap, Muker, DL11 6DW	Tel: 01748 886110. Farm site. No hook-ups and no phone signal
Richmond	Richmond Hargill House Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Gilling West, DL10 5LJ	Tel: 01748 822734. 19 March to 1 November 2027, non-members welcome. Up to 10 m
Grassington	Wharfedale Club Campsite (Caravan and Motorhome Club), Long Ashes, Threshfield, BD23 5PN	Tel: 01756 753340. To 4 January 2027, then 19 March 2027 to 3 January 2028. Up to 6.5 m only
Grassington	Wood Nook Caravan Park, Skirethorns, Threshfield, BD23 5NU	Tel: 01756 752412. 1 March to 31 October. Set the satnav to Skirethorns Lane, not the postcode
Settle	Knight Stainforth Hall, Little Stainforth, BD24 0DP	Tel: 01729 822200. Hardstandings 1 March to 10 January. Follow the site’s directions from the A65
Ingleton	Thornbrook Barn, Thornton in Lonsdale, LA6 3PD	Tel: 015242 41432. 1 March to 31 October 2027, and 18 December 2026 to 2 January 2027. No tents

There are also many small Certificated Locations (Caravan and Motorhome Club) and Certificated Sites (Camping and Caravanning Club) on farms in the dales and on the moors. They’re for club members only and take up to five vans, so they’re quiet and usually cheap. In England, pop-up campsites can now open for up to 60 days a year and can take campervans and motorhomes as well as tents. Brit Stops members can also stay a night at some pubs and farm shops that host self-contained vans.

Getting there and driving

The A1(M) runs north to south through the county, past Ripon and Scotch Corner. The A64 runs from the A1(M) east of Leeds, round York, to Malton and Scarborough. Across the moors, the A170 runs from Thirsk through Helmsley and Pickering to Scarborough, the A169 from Pickering to Whitby, and the A171 from Scarborough to Whitby. In the dales, the A59 runs from Harrogate to Skipton, the A65 from Skipton through Settle and Ingleton, and the A684 up Wensleydale to Hawes.

Some roads are hard work in a big van:

Sutton Bank: caravans aren’t allowed on the A170 up Sutton Bank, east of Thirsk, a very steep climb with a hairpin bend where lorries have repeatedly got stuck. Campsites send anyone towing round the signed caravan route, south from Thirsk on the A19 and through Coxwold and Ampleforth. Motorhomes aren’t banned, but in a big or heavy van it’s worth going round too.
Blue Bank: the A169 drops into Sleights, near Whitby, at 1 in 5.
Rosedale: Chimney Bank, the road up the hillside west of Rosedale Abbey, is very steep with tight bends. Come and go along the valley through Cropton instead, minding its steep hill and humpback bridge.
The dales: many roads are narrow or single track, and campsites warn that satnavs pick unsuitable routes. For the Wharfedale club site, come in only on the B6265 from Skipton. North of the A59, the B6160 goes through an archway at Bolton Abbey 3.3 m high and 2.8 m wide. The road from the M6 at junction 37 through Sedbergh to Hawes is narrow in places, and the Buttertubs Pass road from Hawes to Thwaite in Swaledale is narrow and steep, with drops beside it.
York: the footstreets in the centre are closed to vehicles from 10.30am to 5pm every day. For Rowntree Park, follow the club’s route from the A64 and A19, which avoids the city centre and low bridges.

No clean air zone in North Yorkshire charges cars, vans or motorhomes; York’s only applies to local buses. The nearest charging zones are Bradford, where vans are charged but motor caravans registered as M1 are exempt, Sheffield and Tyneside. Campervans and motorhomes up to 3.05 tonnes unladen have the same speed limits as cars: 60 mph on single carriageways and 70 on dual carriageways and motorways. Heavier motorhomes are limited to 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 on dual carriageways.

The coast

Staithes, Runswick Bay and Robin Hood’s Bay

Three old fishing villages at the bottom of steep hills. Leave the van in the council car parks at the top of the bank (Runswick Bay also has one at the bottom) and walk down. At Robin Hood’s Bay’s Station car park a van too big for one bay pays for each bay it uses. None of them allows sleeping in the car park.

Whitby and Sandsend

Whitby has the harbour, the abbey ruins on the East Cliff and the West Cliff above the beach. Head for the West Cliff signs and you used to find coastal parking where a van could stay 24 hours for £5. Whitby has a strict policy against sleeping in vehicles, though, and now the West Cliff car park on Pavilion Drive charges £13.10 for 24 hours in season, bans motor caravans from 11pm to 7am and bans sleeping at any time. The streets around it have had the same overnight ban since 2015. The park and ride north of the town is easier in a big van; its P1 bus runs via the West Cliff. Sandsend, three miles north, has the ban along the A174 by the beach.

Scarborough

Scarborough has two bays split by the castle headland. The North Bay, once the place for coastal views from a van, now has the 11pm to 7am motor caravan ban on Royal Albert Drive and in the Marine Drive car park, and so do the South Bay seafront and the streets on the South Cliff. The coach and car park on Wrea Lane, now William Street car park, was once somewhere a van could stay the night; today a van too big for a car bay parks in a coach bay and pays £12 for 24 hours, and you can’t sleep there. Scarborough still has good park and ride, with buses every 20 minutes from Seamer Road and Filey Road from late March to early November.

Filey

A quieter resort with a long sandy beach and the rocky Filey Brigg at its northern end. The council’s Filey Brigg Touring Caravan Park is in the country park on the cliffs above the Brigg, open for most of the year.

The North York Moors

The Hole of Horcum and Blue Bank

The A169 from Pickering to Whitby crosses the high moor past the Hole of Horcum, a huge hollow in the hills about eight miles north of Pickering. The national park’s car park at Saltergate, beside it, charges and doesn’t allow overnight parking. Further north, before the road drops at 1 in 5 down Blue Bank to Sleights, there are two car parks at the top. Both are fine for a stop by day; the club site at Sneaton is a few miles away for the night.

Pickering and Dalby Forest

Pickering is the southern end of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Whitby. North-east of the town, Dalby Forest has over 8,500 acres of forest, with walking and cycling trails and a forest drive. It’s open from 8am to 8pm, the barriers read your number plate, and parking costs from £3.50 for an hour to £15 for over four hours; driving straight through is free if you take under 30 minutes.

Helmsley, Hutton-le-Hole and Rosedale

Helmsley is a market town on the A170 at the edge of the moors, with Rievaulx Abbey nearby and Sutton Bank to the west. Hutton-le-Hole is a stone village round a green north of Kirkbymoorside, and Rosedale Abbey is in the next valley east. All three have campsites close by.

York

York has the Minster, the city walls and the old streets inside them. Don’t try to park a motorhome in the centre. Of the park and ride sites just outside the city, Askham Bar (A64 and A1036, south-west), Grimston Bar (A1079, east), Rawcliffe Bar (north) and the Designer Outlet (off the A64) have bays for motorhomes by day, with frequent buses into the centre. They used to be a place to stay the night, but they’re closed overnight now. Nearer the centre, the council points motorhomes to the large on-street bays on Foss Islands Road (YO31 7UP), paid by phone. Rowntree Park is the closest campsite, a walk along the river from the centre.

Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon

Harrogate is the spa town, with Knaresborough’s castle and viaduct over the River Nidd a few miles east and Ripon, with its cathedral, to the north. Fountains Abbey, the National Trust’s World Heritage Site, is just west of Ripon.

In Ripon, the Victoria Grove car park in the centre of town used to be a quiet place to stay the night. It still only charges from 8am to 6pm, £3.70 for over four hours, but the 2025 order bans motor caravans and sleeping there. Stay at Sleningford Watermill or Boroughbridge instead.

The Yorkshire Dales

Malham

Malham Cove, Gordale Scar and Janet’s Foss are all a walk from the village, and Malham Tarn is up on the moor above. The main car park in Malham, with the visitor centre, is the national park’s, so you can’t stay in it overnight. Street Gate, at the end of the lane above Malham, is informal roadside parking for walks on the National Trust’s Malham Tarn estate. For the night, stay near Grassington or Settle.

Ribblehead and the Three Peaks

The Ribblehead viaduct carries the Settle to Carlisle railway across the moor on the B6255 north of Ingleton. The common land beside it, near the Station Inn, is a popular place to park for walking the Three Peaks. Parking and camping on the grass damaged the ground, so a project with the national park, the Ingleborough Estate and the county council built earth banks to stop verge parking and repaired the parking areas. Stay the night at Ingleton or Stainforth, or in the overnight motorhome bays in Ingleton and Settle.

Settle, Grassington and Wharfedale

Settle is a market town on the A65 with a station on the Settle to Carlisle line. Grassington is the main village in upper Wharfedale, with the river walks at Linton Falls, and further down the dale are Burnsall and Bolton Abbey, with the priory ruins by the river.

Hawes, Swaledale and Richmond

Hawes is the market town at the head of Wensleydale, with the Dales Countryside Museum; down the dale are Aysgarth Falls and Leyburn. Over the Buttertubs Pass, Swaledale runs east from Keld and Muker to Richmond, a hilltop town with a castle above the River Swale. In Richmond the council car parks with coach bays are Nuns Close, on Hurgill Road, and Round Howe, by the river. Neither has motorhome bays, charges run from 8am to 6pm, and it’s a steep climb to the town centre.

More on England

England by campervan
East Yorkshire, for Bridlington and the coast south of Filey
County Durham, the next county north
Cumbria and the Lake District, west of the Dales
Lancashire
Northumberland
Campsites
Wild camping and free camping
UK campervan hire

Sources: North Yorkshire Council traffic regulation orders and reports on overnight motor caravan parking (2015 order, 2024 and 2026 reports and decision, 2026 order for Royal Albert Drive and Sandsend Road, 2026 experimental order for the South Cliff), its public spaces protection order on unauthorised camping, fires and barbecues (2026), its Harrogate off-street parking places order (2025), Craven car park charges (2026), car park directory and park and ride pages; City of York Council motorhome parking, park and ride, footstreets and clean air zone pages; North York Moors National Park Authority; Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority; Forestry England; National Trust; Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership; Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe Parish Council; Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014; Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; gov.uk (Highway Code, speed limits, clean air zones); the Caravan and Motorhome Club, the Camping and Caravanning Club and campsite websites; checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.