It’s not easy journeying to Whitby, so it’s important to make the most of your time here. On this self-guided GPS audio tour, I'll introduce you to major local characters, engrossing legends and hidden treasures in this historic town, over a millennium in the making. Whether this is your first visit or your thirtieth, this tour is certain to make you look at Whitby in a new light. It also provides an ideal introduction to sites like the Whitby Abbey, the Captain Cook Memorial Museum and the Endeavour Experience, which you can return to at the end of the tour. On this tour, you'll hear about: • Some of the greatest voyages of exploration of all time • Why people once thought the town was infested with serpents • How Whitby jet, a gemstone, inspired the novel Dracula • An illiterate poet • Why there’s a polar bear in the town centre • Why the houses with the best views were some of the cheapest • The Hand of Glory and where to find it

The ruins of Whitby Abbey crown a clifftop over the historic fishing port of Whitby. The headland has hosted St Hild’s Anglo-Saxon monastery, the great medieval abbey and a Stuart mansion, and it’s long been the focus of myths and legends. You can find out more about the headland’s people and stories in the big Whitby Abbey museum, packed with objects and stories. Listening posts, peep-holes and animations tell the headland’s many tales: how St Hild turned snakes to stone, how Anglo-Saxon Caedmon became a poet, how the lost abbey bells are still heard beneath the waves, and how a real shipwreck helped inspire Dracula, which in turn has made Whitby the ‘Goth capital’ of England.

Whitby‘s atmospheric cliffs and shadowy lanes provided the eerie inspiration for one of literature‘s most enduring monsters. On this atmospheric audio tour, you‘ll follow in the footsteps of Bram Stoker, exploring the very locations that sparked his imagination as he crafted Dracula during his 1890 visit to this coastal town. The self-guided tour begins at Number 6 Royal Crescent, where Stoker lodged during his fateful stay in Whitby. You‘ll stroll through the picturesque Royal Crescent gardens before making your way down to the seafront. As you walk alongside the crashing waves, across Whitby Bridge, and through narrow medieval passages, you‘ll discover how this seemingly serene fishing town with its melancholic air influenced Stoker‘s gothic masterpiece.

What sets this tour apart is the combination of Yorkshire’s dramatic coast, ruined abbeys, historic castles and Gothic stories in one private day from York. Rather than joining a coach tour, you travel as your own private group of up to four guests, with hotel pickup, a local driver-guide and a route that can adapt to the day. We combine major sights such as Whitby and its famous abbey with scenic roads, historic towns, castles and viewpoints that are much harder to fit into a day using public transport. The tour is designed to give you a real sense of Yorkshire rather than simply moving from attraction to attraction. There is time for the history, the landscape and the stories behind the places you visit. As an English Heritage travel trade partner, we can also make pre-booked arrangements at participating English Heritage sites where available, helping admissions run more smoothly and giving our guests access to any applicable trade benefits or discounts.