Bus Travel

National Express and Megabus both have numerous daily departures from London's Victoria Coach Station to major cities in Yorkshire. Average travel times are 4¼ hours to Leeds, 6 hours to York, and 8 hours to Scarborough. Once you're in the region, local bus companies take over the routes. There are Metro buses from Leeds and Bradford into the more remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales. Other companies are Harrogate & District for services to Ripon, Harrogate, and Leeds; Yorkshire Coastliner for Castle Howard, Scarborough, Whitby, Malton, and Leeds; Arriva for Whitby, Scarborough, and Middlesbrough; and York Pullman for Hawes and other destinations. In York the main local bus operator is First. Traveline has route information.

Bus Contacts

Arriva (0844/800-4411. www.arrivabus.co.uk.)

First (0845/604-5460. www.firstgroup.com.)

Harrogate & District (01423/566061. www.harrogatebus.co.uk.)

Megabus (0900/160-0900. www.megabus.com.)

MetroLine (0113/245-7676. www.wymetro.com.)

National Express (0871/781-8178. www.nationalexpress.com.)

Traveline (0871/200-2233. www.traveline.org.uk.)

Yorkshire Coastliner (01653/692556. www.yorkshirecoastliner.co.uk.)

Dalesbus (01756/749400. www.dalesbus.org.)

Keighley & District (01535/603284. www.keighleyanddistrict.co.uk.)