Best Places to Visit in South Yorkshire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in South Yorkshire are Derwent Dam Viewpoint, Stanage Edge, Higger Tor, Howden Dam, The Lost Gateway, Sheffield General Cemetery and Burbage Brook.
South Yorkshire runs from Sheffield straight up onto the eastern moors of the Peak District, and much of its finest ground lies on that gritstone edge. The long crag of Stanage Edge and the flat-topped Higger Tor rise over the moors north of Hathersage, with Burbage Brook running down its valley between them into Padley Gorge.
In the Upper Derwent Valley, the great stone dams of Derwent and Howden hold back their reservoirs, the Derwent Dam remembered as the Dam Busters' training ground. Back in the city and its edge, Sheffield's Victorian garden cemetery keeps its chapels and catacombs, and the Lost Gateway sculpture hides in Woolley Woods to the northeast.
The Peak District moors run right up to the city's western edge, so wild country and streets sit close together here. Some are wild moorland walks, others quiet city corners.
Here are seven places to visit across South Yorkshire.
Derwent Dam Viewpoint
Photo: David Lally via Geograph.org.uk
The Derwent Dam is a huge stone dam in the Upper Derwent Valley of the Peak District, its face set between two castellated towers. When the reservoir is full the water pours over the top in a broad sheet down the stone wall.
It was here that the Dam Busters flew low over the water in 1943, training for their raid on the German dams, and a memorial marks the link. The Fairholmes visitor centre nearby is the usual starting point for the walk to the dam.
Stanage Edge
Photo: Stephen Burton via Geograph.org.uk
Stanage Edge is a long gritstone crag running for some three to four miles along the moors north of Hathersage, in the Peak District, one of the best-known rock climbing spots in the country. A near-continuous wall of dark rock faces west over the Hope Valley, with a broad, breezy path along the top giving wide views over the moors and dales, rising to its high point at High Neb.
Below the crag lie scattered old millstones, left where they were cut and abandoned when the trade for them collapsed. It draws walkers, climbers and photographers, especially at sunset.
Higger Tor
Photo: Philip Thompson via Geograph.org.uk
Higger Tor is a flat-topped gritstone tor on the eastern moors of the Peak District, near Hathersage, rising above the Burbage valley with the Iron Age enclosure of Carl Wark on the plateau just below. Its summit is strewn with large boulders among heather and cotton grass, reached by a short, easy walk from roadside parking on the Fox House road.
It is a popular spot for wide moorland views and for sunrise and sunset photography, often walked as a circuit with Carl Wark.
Howden Dam
Photo: Steve Fareham via Geograph.org.uk
Howden Dam Uppermost of the great stone dams strung along the Peak District's Upper Derwent Valley, Howden Dam rises just above its close relation at Derwent, both dating from the early 1900s. Its wall is clad in rock-cut gritstone and topped by two castellated towers, giving it the same neo-Gothic character as its neighbour.
Water gathered behind it runs on down through Derwent and Ladybower to reach the towns beyond. Because the crowds tend to gather at Derwent Dam lower down, Howden stays the calmer of the two, and the only ways to it are on foot or by bike along the valley floor.
Save it for a slow, peaceful ride out.
The Lost Gateway
Photo: Nic Franklin-Woolley via Geograph.org.uk
The Lost Gateway Deep in Woolley Woods, an ancient wood on the northeastern side of Sheffield, The Lost Gateway looks for all the world like the last fragment of some tumbledown archway. In truth it is a sculpture from 2010, assembled from reclaimed local stone and inscribed with words, runes and images borrowed from the Norse tale of the wolf Fenrir.
Its low arch is made to be walked beneath, and it sits on a woodland path as one stop on a local art trail, with nothing built up around it and no facilities to speak of. Weathered as it seems, it is a modern piece and never a real ruin.
Track it down and step through for yourself.
Sheffield General Cemetery
Photo: Richard Cooke via Geograph.org.uk
Sheffield General Cemetery Laid out across a former quarry with Greek and Egyptian flourishes, this Victorian garden cemetery opened in 1836 as one of the country's first landscaped commercial burial grounds. It sits in Sharrow, just southwest of the Sheffield city centre, and holds around 87,000 burials, closing to new ones in 1978.
Among the monuments stand a restored Nonconformist chapel, a Gothic Anglican chapel, a gatehouse spanning the Porter Brook and catacombs cut into the hillside. A heritage trust now keeps it as green space and an events venue, its paths restored, its chapel put to use and guided tours on offer.
Burbage Brook
Photo: John Fielding via Geograph.org.uk
Burbage Brook Rising in the moors near Stanage Edge, Burbage Brook threads down the Burbage valley across the eastern side of the Peak District, hemmed by Burbage Edge on one flank and the crags of Higger Tor and Carl Wark on the other. Past the Toad's Mouth rock beside the road, the water slips into the National Trust's Longshaw estate and tumbles through Padley Gorge, a shady ravine of ancient oaks, moss-covered boulders and little cascades, before it meets the River Derwent.
Gentle paths trace its course from the Longshaw visitor centre, and birdwatchers watch for pied flycatchers and dippers among the trees. It makes a lovely half-day on foot.
FAQs
Which places in South Yorkshire are best for a moorland walk?
Stanage Edge, a long gritstone crag north of Hathersage, has a breezy path along the top with wide views and old millstones below, and Higger Tor nearby is a short, easy walk to a boulder-strewn summit above the Burbage valley, often combined with the Iron Age Carl Wark. Burbage Brook links them down its valley.
Why is the Derwent Dam well known?
The Derwent Dam, in the Upper Derwent Valley, was used by the Dam Busters in 1943 to train low over the water for their raid on the German dams, and a memorial marks the link. When the reservoir is full the water pours over the top in a broad sheet, and the Fairholmes visitor centre is the usual starting point.
What can you visit in Sheffield itself?
Sheffield General Cemetery in Sharrow is a Victorian garden cemetery with chapels, a gatehouse over the Porter Brook and hillside catacombs, now a green space with guided tours, and the Lost Gateway is a modern Norse-themed stone sculpture on a woodland art trail in Woolley Woods, in the northeast of the city.
Conclusion
South Yorkshire runs from Sheffield straight up onto the eastern moors of the Peak District. The long crag of Stanage Edge and the flat-topped Higger Tor rise over the moors north of Hathersage, with Burbage Brook running down its valley between them into Padley Gorge.
In the Upper Derwent Valley, the great stone dams of Derwent and Howden hold back their reservoirs, the Derwent Dam remembered as the Dam Busters' training ground. Back in the city, Sheffield's Victorian garden cemetery keeps its chapels and catacombs, and the Lost Gateway sculpture hides in Woolley Woods.
From gritstone edge to city cemetery, these are the places to seek out across South Yorkshire.
