4 Best Sights in Castleton, Manchester, Liverpool, and the Peak District

The area's most exciting cavern has 106 slippery steps leading down to tunnels blasted out by 19th-century lead miners. You transfer to a small boat for the claustrophobic ¼-mile trip through an illuminated access tunnel to the cavern itself. At this point you're 600 feet underground, with views down into the so-called Bottomless Pit, which is filled with water. An on-site shop sells items made of Blue John, a mineral found nowhere else in the world.

Caves riddle the town and surrounding area, and in this massive example, rope making has been done on a great ropewalk for more than 400 years—as evidenced by the remains of a rope-makers' village dating from the 17th century. Some trivia to keep kids amused: the cavern was called the "Devil's Arse" due to the flatulent noise that water makes when draining out of the caves. Events held here include pop-up cinemas, concerts, and Christmas carols.

In 1176, Henry II added the square tower to this Norman castle, whose ruins occupy a dramatic crag. From here you can still see a curving section of the medieval defensive earthworks in the town center below. Peveril Castle is protected on its west side by a 230-foot-deep gorge formed by a collapsed cave; unsurprisingly, it was considered the best-defended castle in England in its day and was never captured or besieged. However, its relative lack of strategic importance meant that it wasn't well maintained, and, in 1609, it was abandoned altogether. Park in the town center, from which it's a steep climb up.

Heading northwest to Edale, the most spectacular driving route is over Winnats Pass, through a narrow, boulder-strewn valley. The name means "wind gate," due to the wind-tunnel effect of the peaks on each side. Beyond are the tops of Mam Tor (where there's a lookout point) and the hamlet of Barber Booth, after which you run into Edale.