Forget The Car!
West Yorkshire really does have one of the best – and most subsidised – public transport systems in the UK today. For example a day trip for the whole family across the entire county on all off-peak buses and trains only costs around £9 – little more than the cost of car parking at a local tourist attraction, let alone fuel, wear and tear and all that pollution and congestion!
Ilkley is just 25-30 minutes by train from both Leeds and Bradford (Forster Square), with trains every 30 minutes to and from both, making four trains every hour throughout the day (varies at night and on Sundays).
Examples of weekday journey times to Leeds by rail are currently:-
London – 2 hour 11mins
Birmingham – 1 hour 59 minutes
Manchester – 57 minutes
York – 23 minutes
Newcastle – 1 hour 28 minutes
Edinburgh – 2 hours 53 minutes
Add journey from Leeds, plus an average 15 minutes connection time from the mainline train, to estimate how long it will take to get to Ilkley.
We are just a 10 minute walk to Ilkley Station from Westwood Lodge, take a taxi, or catch the hourly shuttle bus (962) during the day that stops right outside our gate.
It’s perfectly possible to get by without a car here!
- York – by train
- Bolton Priory/ Bolton Abbey – by bus
- Skipton – by bus
- Leeds or Bradford – by train
- Settle and Carlisle Railway – by train
- Excape (Halifax) – by train
- Magna (Castleford) – by train
- Burnsall or Grassington – by bus
- Haworth and Bronte Country – by train and The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway
- Hawes or Upper Wharfedale (Buckden, Kettlewell etc) – by bus on Sundays
- Harrogate (by bus or train)
Other Bus Services to/from Ilkley (these vary on Sundays)
| Number | Route | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 74 | Ilkley – Bolton Abbey – Grassington | 3 journeys (most days) each way |
| 762/765 | Ilkley – Addingham – Silsden – Keighley | Every 30 minutes. Hourly evenings and Sundays |
| X84 | Leeds – Otley – Ilkley – Skipton | Hourly to Skipton during the day. Every 30 minutes to Otley |
| 962 | Ilkley – Otley | Hourly during the day |
| X52/X53 | Ilkley – Harrogate | Hourly during the day |
Useful Links
Train
West Yorkshire Metro – covers all local trains across the county: wymetro.com
Northern Rail – local rail services to Ilkley from Leeds and Bradford plus Harrogate, York, Morecambe and Settle-Carlise lines: northernrail.org
LNER – rail services to London Kings Cross, York and Edinburgh: lner.co.uk
Cross Country Trains – rail services to Birmingham, Bristol, York, Edinburgh: crosscountrytrains.co.uk
First TransPennine Express – rail services across the Pennines to Manchester and Manchester Airport: tpexpress.co.uk
Bus
West Yorkshire Metro – covers all local buses across the county plus Harrogate and Skipton etc. wymetro.com
Dales Bus – covers all buses into the Yorkshire Dales – Bolton Abbey, Burnsall, Grassington, Hawes etc dalesbus.org