White Scar Cave

Overview

About White Scar Cave

Why stop

Striking underground waterfalls and limestone formations

Heads up

97 steps, low passages and damp metal walkways

This is the longest show cave in Britain, and the only way in is on a guided tour that runs about 80 minutes and covers roughly one mile underground, out and back the same way. Guides do the talking and the lighting does the rest, so you get a proper look at a working cave system without any caving experience.

Parkwolf’s verdictWhy stop here

Map

Where it is

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Full map

SightWhite Scar Cave54.16562, -2.44226

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Plan your stop

Before you go

Best time to go

Tours run daily through the main spring-to-autumn season, with weekend running at quieter times of year. Weekdays and earlier tours are usually calmer than peak weekend afternoons. Because the cave is a steady 8C year round, it makes a strong wet-weather or hot-day option. Heavy rain can raise water levels and push tours back, so check before you travel if the weather has been rough.

Honest drawbacks and access limits

There are 97 steps, most of them in the tunnel up to Battlefield Cavern, and much of the walkway is metal grid flooring over water. Two passages mean bending low while walking, and the ground is damp throughout. Pushchairs, wheelchairs, guide dogs and babies in backpacks cannot go into the cave, and the tour does not suit anyone with limited mobility or a strong dislike of enclosed spaces; it works best for adventurous older children and adults. There are no toilets on the route, so use the ones at the entrance first.

1 active Yorkshire Dales alert

ClosureTemporary closures on public rights of wayAvoid the listed sections of public rights of way while their temporary closures or pedestrian prohibition are in force. - Public Bridleway No. 52 (05.Official details

Yorkshire Dales alerts

A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone — Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide

Your drive to White Scar Cave, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yorkshire Dales National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

Recorded for this place

White Scar Cave

0:00 / 0:36

“You're approaching White Scar Cave, where a guided tour follows an underground stream past waterfalls and into a chamber crowded with stalactites.”

Plays as you drive up to White Scar Cave in the Parkwolf Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide.

More about White Scar Cave

What you see undergroundAn underground stream and waterfalls, including the first waterfall found by a Cambridge…

An underground stream and waterfalls, including the first waterfall found by a Cambridge student in 1923, which can thunder after heavy rain
Named formations along the route: the Witch's Fingers, Judge's Head, Arum Lily, Devil's Tongue, the Carrots and the Face
The Battlefield Cavern, a huge chamber hung with thousands of stalactites, reached through a sloping access tunnel added in 1991
Tight spots with character, including the Squeeze and two low-roof passages
At the entrance, a visible junction where flat-lying limestone sits on top of steeply tilted, far older slate

What to bringA jumper or jacket, whatever the surface weather is doing

A jumper or jacket, whatever the surface weather is doing
Flat, grippy shoes you do not mind getting damp; waterproof footwear is better still
Hard hats are provided and must be worn
Cameras are fine except in Battlefield Cavern; video equipment is not allowed

Practical notesThe site sits on the lower western flank of Ingleborough, about two miles from Ingleton on the…

The site sits on the lower western flank of Ingleborough, about two miles from Ingleton on the main road, with free parking beside the ticket office, plus a cafe and shop. The visitor centre has a gently sloping ramp from the car park, a wheelchair-user toilet and disabled parking bays, even though the cave itself is off limits. Walking out from Ingleton takes around 30 minutes along the road; bus services stop nearby but are less convenient. Dogs are welcome on site under control but cannot join the tour.

Wildlife

Wildlife in Yorkshire Dales

All Yorkshire Dales wildlife maps

10 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map

11 sightingsAtlantic SalmonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map

12 sightingsShort-eared OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map

22 sightingsWestern Barn OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map

27 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map

34 sightingsCommon KingfisherMost seen around 7 AMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yorkshire Dales. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.