Hotels in Richmond, North Yorkshire

Richmond's accommodation is concentrated around two very walkable parts of town: the cobbled Market Place, where Georgian coaching inns and boutique bed and breakfasts look out over the square towards the castle, and Frenchgate, the steep Georgian street on the south side of the old town where several of Richmond's best-regarded guest houses make the most of views over the River Swale and Easby Abbey. Both put the castle, the Georgian Theatre Royal and the town's independent shops within a few minutes on foot, so a car is useful for exploring Swaledale but not essential for the stay itself.

At the upper end, Richmond has a handful of properties that go well beyond a standard overnight stop: a storied Georgian coaching inn right on the Market Place, and boutique bed and breakfasts in listed townhouses with the kind of individually decorated rooms, roll-top baths and locally sourced breakfasts that reward a longer stay. Mid-range options include a long-standing hotel with a restaurant and bar built around Yorkshire produce, and a well-regarded country inn out in the dale for those who want a drive into the fells to be part of the stay. For a simpler, better-value base, Richmond's guest houses and B&Bs are generally family-run, often in period buildings, and consistently well reviewed for breakfasts and local knowledge of walking routes.

Booking ahead matters more than the size of the town suggests: rooms fill quickly around the Georgian Theatre Royal's summer season, the Swaledale Festival in late spring, and any weekend with good walking weather, since Richmond draws heavily from both the Coast to Coast crowd and shorter-break visitors from Leeds, York and the North East. Whichever part of town you choose, nothing in Richmond itself is more than a fifteen-minute walk from anything else, which keeps evenings simple even without a car.