Ilkley Walks
Family friendly walks for kids in Ilkley and the Surrounding area
Looking for family friendly Ilkley walks?
Well look no further! We have got Ilkley COVERED! These family friendly walks explore the epic Ilkley Moor, the beautiful Middleton Woods, the secret Ilkley waterfalls, give you the best places to splash, paddle (and even swim) the whole lot! We even cover all of the outlying areas around Ilkley too! Why? That’s because we live here, and we’re pretty blummin’ proud of it (also spent most of 2020 and 2021 walking around it. A LOT)
Want to know more about Ilkley?
It is a beautiful Spa Town on the edge of the legendary Ilkley Moor (B’aht ‘at), in West Yorkshire. A literal stone’s throw away from the Yorkshire Dales National Park (if you can throw a stone 2 miles - bet Rombalds the giant could…), it is a fantastic town to explore, with local history aplenty! If you fancy a walk to the original Ilkley Spa, check out our walks involving White Wells Spa, visited by Charles Darwin himself! (Charles Darwin? Victorian naturalist behind the Theory of Evolution no less….)
All of our walks are given a kid friendly rating for difficulty and have a quick look key to show you all of the necessary kid friendly info!
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Thank you for taking the time to have a look at my website and for reading this now!
I set up the Reluctant Explorers and maintain the website and attached social media accounts in my spare time, around mum-life and two jobs. It was designed to provide access for parents to free resources to help get more families outside and exploring in nature. These walks have all been created by myself and the kids and we have walked each one ourselves (and re-walk them regularly to keep the information as up to date as we can).
If you would like to support us and can afford a few pennies, you can make a donation to our ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ page. Simply tap the button below to head there!
The Star Guides
Each of our has been walked by our own 6 feet (in the sense of us being three actual humans, not in a kind of weird monster-like way!) Often, they have been walked several times and sometimes, they have been walked so often that they have been added to. This website has been growing alongside the OG Reluctant Explorers and now they can handle a little bit more - maybe yours can too.
I will say. As parents we know our kids better than anybody. I have done my best to include as much information as I can in each individual walk, so you can make your own judgement as a family. So the star ratings are just a guide to get you started.
⭐ Little Monkeys:
Walks suitable for younger children up to preschool (and beyond!) Shorter length walks with occasional pushchair access, no technical or tricky terrain. Perfect for those who are just getting out of the pushchair (and then back in again… and then back out…. and then… you know how it goes!)
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers:
Walks suitable for pre-schoolers and younger kids. Medium length/ difficulty walks. In these walks, there may be some more challenging terrain, but they are still fairly short.
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers:
Walks suitable for older children. Not necessary longer length, but they are more technically challenging in the terrain, and on occasion the distance as well.
The Walk Emojis
I’m renowned for a heavy used of emojis in my regular life, so why on EARTH should my website be any different?! Here is a guide as to what they all stand for.
Essentially, it’s a brief look at what you can expect from the walk, but in emoji form. (I’m campaigning for a pram emoji. It would make my pushchair friendly walk life MUCH easier.)
👶 Suitable for Pushchairs (see? no pram emoji)
🎒 Suitable for Carriers (that’s a rucksack, not a weird satchel. Closest thing to a kid carrier I could find!)
🚘 Car Park/ On Street Parking (plain sailing there - all of our walks have places to park, although if possible try….
🚌 Public Transport (PLEASE! To try and alleviate parking problems and to just in general be an excellent egg.)
🐶 Dog Friendly (plenty of those!)
🥾 Sturdy Footwear or Wellies (I’d say for most, walking shoes/ boots, for some, wellies)
🛝 A park or play area (I try my hardest to find one, or at least tell you where the nearest one is!)
🦆 Ducks to Feed (bring your duck food!)
🍦 Ice Cream! For Ice cream is truly a WONDERFUL addition to a family walk!
☕ As is coffee (for the adults obviously - I’m not going to subject you to a caffeine fuelled reluctant explorer THE HORROR!) This one means you can find coffee, tea or hot chocolate (ok - that one’s for the WHOLE family!)
🍻 Because I know how a family walk can go, you’ll be relieved to know that I’ll also tell you if there’s a pub at the end!
💦 Water play/ paddle/ swim (Check out our advice on Wild Swimming with Kids and the RLSS Water Safety info)
✨📚 Cool history, geology, something blummin’ awesome to talk about.
👻 Legendary Story. Ghosts, horrible history, witches and trolls!
🌳 Walking Games - they all have these!
The Ilkley Moor Walks
Ilkley Moor is a pretty expansive place! So all of our family friendly Ilkley Moor walks have been cut down to kid sized chunks!
Ilkley Tarn
📍 Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire
⭐ Little Monkeys
🚘🚌👶🦆💦🌳🐶
📏 1 mile
An awesome pushchair friendly walk for little legs. With ducks. Sadly not ones you can feed anymore as a result of the quest to improve the tarn water quality. BUT…
This walk is short, sweet, and has plenty of snack stops! The perfect walk for the youngest walkers (plus they can bring their scooter!)
White Wells, Ilkley Moor
📍 Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
🎒🦆🚌💦✨🥾🚘🌳
📏 less than 2 miles
White Wells is THE original Spa of Ilkley. Dating back to the 1700’s the building is open to the public and serves hot drinks. The walk here packs so much in for less than 2 miles. The perfect walk for a budding adventurer!
Sadly, there are no massages at this spa though - but you could take the plunge in the ancient restorative waters for the price of a cup of tea?
The Beck Stone
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers*
📍 Ilkley Moor, West Yorshire
📏 less than 2 miles
🎒🥾🚘💦✨🐶🚌🌳
One of the Stanza Stones, the walk to and from The Beck Stone is PACKED full of exciting things to spot. Carved stone faces hidden on the rocks, secret waterfalls and prehistoric rock markings. This one packs a punch for less than 2 miles.
*this walk has been given a top rating because there are some steep sections and some trickier terrain.
Ilkley Moor
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
📍 Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire
📏 6.5 miles
🎒🥾🚘💦✨🐶🚌🌳
This walk is the Ilkley Moor BIGGY. It takes in the historic White Wells Spa, the Ilkley Moor Trig Point, super cool natural rock formations, a stanza stone, a 12th Century cross, cup and ring marked rock and a hidden waterfall! BOOM!
Worth the whinges for 6.5 miles? I think so, but I’ll let you decide!
Heber’s Ghyll
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire
📏 Less than 2 miles
🎒🥾🚘💦✨🐶🚌🌳
An awesome amble around the woodland and waterfalls of Heber’s Ghyll with the chance to go and hunt down the neolithic carved rock called the ‘Swastika Stone’ (*this in no way has any association with the modern use of the Swastika, but is a carved rock that is thousands of years old).
Heber’s Ghyll is also the home to many, many dinosaurs… intrigued?
Ilkley Town Walks
All of these family friendly walks start and end in and around the centre of Ilkley, where you’ll find the playpark and plenty of cafe’s for a cheeky coffee!
Ilkley Riverside, ‘The Three Bridges’
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Ilkley, West Yorkshire
📏 2 miles
👶🛝☕🍦🦆🚘💦✨🐶🚌🌳
This well known circular will take you around the Ilkley Riverside, crossing the three bridges, the old, the new and the suspension! It has the park, paddle spots, ducks (that you can actually feed this time) and more!
Middleton Woods
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Ilkley West Yorkshire
📏 2 miles
🎒🥾🛝☕🍦🦆🚘💦🐶🚌🌳
This is a fabulous little wander along Ilkley riverside, and around Middleton Woods. You’ll find a park, plenty of stick dens, stone throwing, paddling and picnic spots here.
And it’s perfect in Spring or Autumn!
Surrounding Areas of Ilkley
Here you will find family friendly walks in the outlying villages surrounding the town of Ilkley, including Burley in Wharfedale and Ben Rhydding.
⭐ Little Monkeys
📍 Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, West Yorkshire
📏 less than 1 mile
🚘👶☕🥾🦆🐶🌳
A nature reserve is a top way to engage a budding explorer, with plenty of creepy crawlies, birds and plants to spot. This one is a very short little wander with plenty to see and if you’re lucky, you might spot an otter!
Even better, you can start from a top little garden centre (with a brilliant cafe!)
Ben Rhydding Nature Reserve
Burley Stepping Stones
⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Burley in Wharfedale, near Ilkley, West Yorkshire
📏 2 miles
👶/🎒🥾🛝🍦☕🚘💦🐶🚌🌳
This is a classic Burley in Wharfedale wander! With geocaches, stepping stones, stone throwing spots and the park, what’s not to love?!
The Twelve Apostles
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
📍 Burley in Wharfedale, near Ilkley
📏 5.5 miles
🎒🥾🍻🚘💦✨🐶🚌🌳
This walk will take you from Burley Woodhead up to the Twelve Apostles, which are located between the Burley and Ilkley Moors. The Twelve Apostles are a series of bronze age stones placed in a circle. Pretty cool right?
Visit Ilkley with Kids
Stuff to do in and around Ilkley with the Kids
Located just outside of the south eastern border of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in lower Wharfedale, Ilkley is a Spa Town with a WHOLE lot of stuff to do with the Kids!
And we know the best places. Oh yes we do. Because this is our home town!
So check out all of our insider info about the best places to go with the kids in Ilkley!
Scroll using the arrows for all our Family Friendly Walks
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![Swimming in Janet's Foss Yorkshire Dales]()
Waterfall Walks
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![Malham cove walk for kids]()
Pushchair Friendly
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![Pinhaw Beacon trig point walk near Skipton]()
Peak Bagging Walks
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![The Park at Greenhow Nidderdale]()
Walks with Play Parks
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![Gordale Scar in Malham Yorkshire Dales]()
Organised by Location
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![Walking in the woodland in Wensleydale]()
Woodland Walks
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![Playing on the shore of Embsay Reservoir Yorkshire Dales]()
Reservoir Walks
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![The ruins of Bolton Abbey]()
Bolton Abbey Estate Walks
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![Leaping over the stile at Almscliffe Crag]()
Walks Under 2 Miles
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![Child walking into a pub in Appletreewick]()
Walks with Pubs and Cafes
Follow us for up to date Outdoors Adventures!
We live and BREATHE the Yorkshire Dales outdoors life!
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Follow us on Social Media for all the up to date info: @thereluctantexplorers
Leave No Trace
The Yorkshire Dales is our home, and the home of so many others who care deeply about this beautiful space.
Should you visit, make sure to:
Take home anything you bring, leave no rubbish behind.
Make the world a better place by picking up any rubbish you see, even if it isn’t yours.
Leave everything else as you found it.