United Kingdom · GB

Peak District National Park

England's first National Park, created in 1951, the Peak District packs 555 square miles of wind-scoured moorland, steep limestone dales, millstone grit edges and storybook villages into a landscape that's surprisingly easy to reach. Just a short train ride from both Sheffield and Manchester, it remains one of the most accessible national parks in the country. The park divides into two contrasted worlds: the wild, heather-clad uplands of the Dark Peak around the Hope Valley, and the gentler green limestone hollows of the White Peak to the south. Whether you come to hike a long ridge, cycle a disused railway line, descend into a cavern or simply linger over a slice of Bakewell pudding, the Peak District rewards a few days out of the city.