Robin Hood’s Bay

Tips for a Happy Stay

Welcome to Robin Hood's Bay, and we hope you have a great time here whether you’re here for the day or staying a while.

The lower part of Robin Hood's Bay is the old fishing village, with the cottages and houses built very close to each other. The streets and alleyways are twisting and narrow with lots of steps in places so take care underfoot when exploring. There is much history and folklore associated with the old village.  To learn more, why not take one of the "Ghost Walks" which run a couple of days each week during the holiday season.  As well as being an interesting and quirky place to visit, there are still a lot of local people who live and work here.  In the summer, you will see small boats being taken out and returning from a day's fishing.  Please take care when boats are being moved around near the slipway, they have no steering wheel nor brakes!!

There are public toilets in the upper village at the main Station Road carpark (free) and at Bank Top (40p cash only), and in the lower village at the Old Boathouse in the Dock (40p card or cash).

As with most beaches there are no litter bins on the beach itself.  However there are plenty of bins in the village and on the Quarterdeck just above the beach for you to put your rubbish in. We are passionate about recycling and cutting down on the use of plastics to help save our seas and sea-life. We’d really appreciate it if you could recycle as much as you can, and keep the village and the beach as litter free as possible. 

If you are holidaying here in one of the many beautiful cottages please remember not to leave bags of rubbish in the street overnight.  The badgers, foxes and seagulls make a bee-line for bags of rubbish and will not only have a feast but will spread your rubbish all over Robin Hood's Bay !!!  Badgers often try to tip a dustbin over to get to your leftovers, so don’t be surprised if you find a heavy rock in the bottom of your dustbin in a bid to outwit them. 

The old cottages in the bay all sit within the conservation area of the North York Moors National Park and therefore generally do not have any form of double glazing or sound proofing.  So, although the walls can be quite thick, the windows let in every bit of noise - as you will find out with those noisy seagulls first thing in a morning!!

Tide times are available to view on the opening page of this website.  We cannot emphasis enough for you to be aware of the potential dangers of the sea particularly as the tide is coming in.  It is easy to get cut off on the beach at high tide.  When it is stormy, the waves and tide crash up the slipway quite unexpectedly, so although it is a great sight, please make sure you watch from a safe distance, Click here for more information on  staying safe in and around the Sea. 

Unfortunately as with much of the British Coastline, Robin Hood's Bay is suffering from coastal erosion.  The cliffs around the bay are very unstable and are eroding away quite quickly, with rock falls and mud slides happening almost every day.  Therefore we strongly dissuade people from walking too close to the cliffs or from trying to climb them in any way, and to stay away from the cliff edge when walking. 

Robin Hoods Bay Beach is one of the few beaches which is dog friendly all year round and there's nothing better than seeing you and your pooch enjoying the seaside. Please make sure you have a good supply of poo bags with you, and when you've poopa-scooped they can be placed in any of the bins in the village.

Finally, please do not to feed the seagulls.  They are getting cheekier by the day and feeding them will only encourage them to swoop down to steel food.  This can be quite alarming not to mention being left with no chips or ice cream!

Robin Hoods Bay is a wonderful place for adults and children alike, with its beautiful beach full of fossils and tales of boggles and smugglers, cobbled streets, windy alleyways and folklore to match. We want all the family to have a memorable time here whilst staying safe.

We hope that you have a wonderful time here in Robin Hood’s Bay and go home with lots of happy memories to treasure, and that you come back soon!

Built by Jack Barber in Whitby, North Yorkshire. Visit Herbal Apothecary for herbal practitioner supplies, Sweet Cecily's for natural skincare, BeeVital for propolis health supplements and Future Health Store for whole foods, health supplements, natural & ethical gifts.