Hotels in Ripon

Ripon's hotels cluster around its market square and cathedral, many of them historic coaching inns with centuries of history behind their frontages, ideal if you want to step out of the door straight onto cobbled streets and into the nightly hornblowing ceremony. Townhouse hotels and B&Bs fill in the gaps along the approach roads, offering a quieter, more affordable alternative within walking distance of the centre. Booking a night or two in the city itself makes sense if your main interest is the cathedral, the museums and the market, since everything is within a few minutes' walk.

If you are planning to spend more time at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, or exploring further into the Yorkshire Dales, it can be worth looking slightly further out. Villages around Ripon and along the Ure valley have country house hotels, farm stays and converted barns offering more space and a rural outlook, usually still within a ten to fifteen minute drive of the city centre. Harrogate, twenty minutes south, has a much larger choice of hotels including several well-known spa and Victorian grand hotels, and works well as an alternative base for anyone wanting to combine a Ripon day trip with a bigger town's restaurants and shops. Whichever you choose, book ahead for race days at Ripon Racecourse and for the summer festival season, when the city's smaller hotels fill up quickly.