The Best UK Staycations for Walkers and Hikers

Britain's best walking country tends to cluster around a handful of landscapes: old volcanic rock worn into fells, limestone dales cut by rivers, and coastlines where the path has nowhere to go but along the cliff edge. Some of these regions are demanding enough for a week of serious hillwalking, others suit a gentler few hours before lunch in a market town. Either way, the following destinations are where the UK's walking culture is most deeply rooted.

Lake District

The Lake District is the benchmark against which most English hillwalking is measured, with fells like Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and the Langdale Pikes drawing walkers of every ability. What sets it apart is the variety packed into a small area: valley walks beside Derwentwater or Ullswater that suit an easy afternoon, and exposed ridge routes that demand a map, compass and respect for the weather. Wainwright's guidebooks were written here for a reason, and the network of paths he documented still forms the backbone of routes today.

Snowdonia

Snowdonia gives Wales its highest ground, with Snowdon itself the obvious draw but the Glyderau and the Carneddau offering quieter, arguably better walking for anyone who wants to avoid the crowds. The paths here mix rock scrambling with long ridge walks, and the scenery shifts quickly from slate-grey summits to green valleys and glacial lakes. It's a national park built for multi-day walking, with enough variety in terrain that a week rarely covers the same ground twice.

Peak District

Britain's first national park, the Peak District splits neatly into the gritstone edges and moorland of the Dark Peak in the north and the softer limestone dales of the White Peak to the south. Kinder Scout, site of the 1932 mass trespass that helped establish the right to roam, remains one of the most significant walks in English hiking history. The Peak District's appeal for staycations is its accessibility: it sits within reach of several major cities, yet the moorland plateaus feel remote almost as soon as you're on them.

Yorkshire Dales

The Yorkshire Dales reward walkers with a landscape shaped by limestone: dry-stone walls, exposed scars, and rivers that vanish underground before reappearing miles away. The Three Peaks of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent form a well-known challenge walk, but the valleys in between, Wensleydale, Swaledale, Wharfedale, are just as rewarding at a slower pace, threaded with stiles and drovers' tracks between working farms.

Pembrokeshire

For coastal walking, Pembrokeshire is hard to beat. The Pembrokeshire Coast Path traces the entire county boundary along cliffs, coves and beaches, and it's one of the few UK national parks defined almost entirely by its coastline rather than its mountains. Sections near St Davids and around the Preseli Hills combine dramatic sea views with some of the oldest archaeology in Wales, and the path can be walked in short, self-contained stretches rather than committing to the whole route.

Cairngorms

The Cairngorms form the largest national park in Britain and contain the country's most extensive subarctic plateau, a landscape more akin to Scandinavia than the rest of the UK. Munro-baggers come for the high peaks, but the forests, lochs and glens at lower level offer walking that doesn't require serious mountain experience. Weather here changes fast even in summer, and the scale of the place, both in distance and remoteness, is genuinely different from anywhere else on this list.

Choosing where to go

• For accessible, well-marked routes with plenty of accommodation nearby: the Peak District or Yorkshire Dales.
• For serious mountain walking: Snowdonia, the Lake District or the Cairngorms.
• For coastal walking with sea views throughout: Pembrokeshire.

Whichever region you choose, check conditions and daylight hours before setting out, and pack for weather that can change within the hour, especially at altitude.