Since moving to England almost two years ago, one of my favorite new hobbies is hiking. Living in York, I’m absolutely spoiled for choice with all the walking opportunities nearby! The North York Moors are less than an hour’s drive away, same with the Yorkshire Dales. Both of these national parks are stunning and with so many places to explore! The Peak District is a 2-hour drive away, and I can be in the Lake District in 3 hours. Since I moved, these have become some of my favorite places in the country.

I’ve wanted to share more of these walks on my blog, since you all really seem to enjoy these types of posts! (Or at least like the pictures! 😉 ) And as my interests change and fluctuate, I really want to include that material on the blog. So one of my hikes late this spring took me to East Riding of Yorkshire—to Flamborough Head!

Flamborough Head is famous for two main reasons: the lighthouse along the coastal cliffs, and for its bird-watching opportunities. It wasn’t until I got back from this day that I found out I had missed seeing the beginning of the puffin season by just a few miles! Bempton Cliffs, also on the Yorkshire coast, are home to over 200,000 seabirds including puffins and gannets. This is one of the best spots for bird watching in all of Yorkshire!

I started the walk at Flamborough Head Lighthouse. Parking for 24 hours is a reasonable £2.90, and there’s a few cafes and shops—as well as free toilets!! Like all British seaside establishments, you can get fish and chips here, as well as several other places along the walk.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not heading all the way down to the shore and frolicking in the sea. I said I’d do that on the way back—but of course had forgotten about the tide! So if the tide is out, definitely take advantage of it and enjoy the sea.

You can walk Flamborough Head in a giant loop, so it doesn’t really matter which way you go. I started off walking north along the coast. The views are simply amazing. On a clear day, you can just about make out Scarborough in the distance, past Filey!

The walk is fairy moderate at this end of Flamborough Head. It’s fairly flat and there are just a few steep bits going up and down by the bays.

North Landing is one of the big bays, and was quite popular on the sunny Sunday we were walking! There’s another parking lot here, as well as cafes to get fish and chips. This is where you’ll see the lifeboats by the water.

Just a bit farther from North Landing is Thornwick Bay, which is much quieter. I cut down the path here, but it is quite steep and as there’s a small ravine with running water, be very careful!

The best part was seeing the Smugglers’ Hole—this was a major highlight of the entire walk! There was no one else around on the bay and as the tide was still out, we were able to run around and explore. This would be a great quiet spot for lunch!

Rejoining the coastal path, I walked a little bit further and nearly around another bend before turning left to head towards the village of Flamborough. The path I took is just east of Dane’s Dyke, so if you wanted to add on an extra few miles you could certainly continue on to the Dane’s Dyke path and cut through Flamborough that way.

It’s easy enough to follow the path past farms and into the village. Once you get out onto the main road, carry straight on (slightly left), and you’ll pass the post office, a pub called the Dog and Duck, and (free!) public toilets on Tower Street. When you get down Tower Street, turn right at the junction and go past the church. Directions here were a bit confusing, but basically you’ll go left on Low Manesty/West Street, follow it to the farm and holiday cottages, and cut through the gate. From there, you’ll head straight for the coast!

After I hooked up with the coastal path again, this time on the south of Flamborough Head, it was a bit more difficult route. Mainly because the path takes you up and down staircases as the terrain changes! You get really nice views to Bridlington from this way.

One of the major attractions on this side of the coast is South Landing, which is home to the RNLI Lifeboat Station. This was a really nice area, and quite busy. The big landing for lifeboats makes for easy access to the sea!

From South Landing, it’s more or less straight on to get back to Flamborough Lighthouse and to finish off the loop. Doing the walk at the end of April, there were huge fields of rapeseed which were beautiful! They were also full of bees though, so be careful. It wasn’t long before we could see the lighthouse again and we had made it back!

All in all, the walk we did was around 7-8 miles. It took us just about 5 hours to do at a good pace. While I walk rather quickly, I stop a lot for photos! And of course, I always like to take short breaks for water and snacks here and there.

If you wanted to shave some time and/or miles off of the route, you could cut through the village of Flamborough, and walk along the road (B1259) back to the lighthouse. But I thoroughly recommend doing the full loop, and seeing both the north and the south sides!

As always with hiking, you should bring sturdy footwear (hiking boots), and appropriate layers. It was really windy along the coast, and I was really glad I brought my jacket and zip-up with me. Make sure to pack lots of water, and plenty of snacks—although there are places to buy both on the way.

I lucked out with weather and had a beautiful, sunny day for my walk around Flamborough Head. This was a fabulous walk and definitely one place to visit in the East Riding of Yorkshire!

Check out my other Yorkshire hiking posts:

Walking From Whitby To Robin Hood’s Bay: One Of My Favorite Walks In Yorkshire

Hiking The Hole Of Horcum In The North York Moors

Waterfalls, Caves, And More: Exploring Ingleton In The Yorkshire Dales

Thornton-le-Dale: Why You Need To Visit This Charming Yorkshire Village

Hiking In The Yorkshire Dales: Malham

Have you ever been hiking around Flamborough Head or another coastal walk?!

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