Things to Do in Dartmoor
Prices, opening hours, best times to visit and the stuff nobody tells you, everything you need for a first trip to Dartmoor, Devon, plus one pigeon's opinions on all of it.
Dartmoor is 368 square miles of granite tors, wild ponies and the kind of fog that inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write a Sherlock Holmes novel about a supposedly supernatural beast. This is the proper guide to things to do on Dartmoor, what things actually cost, when to go, and which bits are worth the walk. Five main stops below, plus a quiz at the bottom to see if you were paying attention.
Haytor & the Granite Tors
I asked in the quiz what Dartmoor's weathered granite outcrops are called, and the answer is tors, dozens of them scattered across the moor, dramatic, free-standing rock formations rising straight out of the hillsides. Haytor is the most visited and most accessible, right on the edge of the moor near Bovey Tracey, with a car park close enough that you can be at the base within minutes of parking.
The remains of the Haytor Tramway, once used to haul granite down to the coast by horse and cart, run from the base of the rocks, and wild ponies frequently graze in the area, so keep a respectful distance and don't feed them, however tempting.
Getting there Haytor National Park Visitor Centre, well signposted from Bovey Tracey
The Hound of the Baskervilles connection
Arthur Conan Doyle used Dartmoor's bleak, fog-shrouded landscape as the setting for The Hound of the Baskervilles, exactly the answer to the second quiz question, and he began writing it at the old Duchy Hotel in Princetown, now the National Park Visitor Centre. Wistman's Wood, an eerie, moss-draped ancient oak woodland a short walk from Two Bridges, is often cited as one of the atmospheric inspirations for the story's setting, genuinely otherworldly on a misty day.
The Visitor Centre itself has good exhibits on the novel's local connections alongside general information on the park, worth a stop even if you're not planning a longer walk.
Address Tavistock Road, Princetown, Yelverton PL20 6QF
Dartmoor Prison Museum
Dartmoor Prison itself dates to 1809, originally built to hold French prisoners from the Napoleonic Wars, and later, exactly as I asked in the quiz, American prisoners captured during the War of 1812. It remains a working prison today, so you can't visit the prison itself, but the museum in Princetown covers its history in detail, manacles, straitjackets, flogging apparatus, and stories of some of the more daring escape attempts over the centuries.
Princetown itself, the highest town in England, has a handful of shops, pubs and a small brewery, a good base for exploring the surrounding moor on foot.
Address Princetown, Yelverton PL20 6QF
Widecombe-in-the-Moor
One of Dartmoor's most photographed villages, a green, tea rooms, pubs, and a parish church known locally as the Cathedral of the Moor for its unusually tall tower given the size of the village around it. Wild ponies regularly graze right on the village green, close enough for a good look without needing to venture further onto the open moor.
It hosts regular craft markets through the year, and makes a good lunch stop if you're combining it with a walk out to Haytor or the Bronze Age settlement at nearby Grimspound.
Grimspound & the Bronze Age remains
A genuinely striking Bronze Age settlement, the stone footings of 24 roundhouses enclosed within a low boundary wall, sitting in an atmospheric, exposed spot with views across the moor in most directions. It's one of several prehistoric sites scattered across Dartmoor, alongside stone rows and circles at Merrivale, giving the moor a genuinely deep layer of history well before any of the more recent stories involving hounds or prisons.
There's no visitor centre or facilities here, just the site itself and the walk to reach it, part of what makes it feel genuinely untouched compared to more curated historic attractions.
Getting there A short walk from the nearest car park; check a map before setting out
Best time to visit Dartmoor
May to September gives the most reliable weather for walking the open moor and spotting ponies at their most visible, though Dartmoor's famous mists and swirling fog, part of its whole atmosphere, are just as likely in autumn and winter, and some visitors prefer it that way. Whatever the season, check the weather forecast specifically before heading onto open moorland, conditions can change quickly and visibility drops fast in fog.
Getting around Dartmoor
Dartmoor is genuinely large, and a car is by far the easiest way to see more than one part of it in a day, Haytor, Princetown and Widecombe-in-the-Moor are all a reasonable drive apart rather than walking distance from each other. Public transport across the moor is limited, so plan routes carefully if you're relying on buses.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Dartmoor worth visiting?
- Yes, particularly for the combination of dramatic granite tors, genuinely wild ponies, and a real literary connection through The Hound of the Baskervilles, few UK landscapes offer quite the same atmosphere.
- How many days do you need on Dartmoor?
- A day covers Haytor, Widecombe-in-the-Moor and Princetown comfortably. Two or three days lets you add proper walking routes and the more remote prehistoric sites without rushing.
- Is Dartmoor expensive?
- Very little of what makes Dartmoor worth visiting costs money, walking the tors, spotting ponies, and visiting Widecombe-in-the-Moor are all free; the Prison Museum is the main paid stop.
- What is Dartmoor famous for?
- Its granite tors like Haytor, its wild Dartmoor ponies, inspiring Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Dartmoor Prison, still a working prison today.
That's everything I've got.
A note before you plan around this: prices, opening hours, booking requirements and admission details in this guide were correct at the time of writing, but venues change these often and sometimes without notice. Always check directly with the attraction or its official website before you travel or build a schedule around a specific time or price.
Before travelling to any destination featured on this site, please also check your government's latest travel advice, as safety situations, entry requirements and travel warnings can change.
