Harrogate is a busy town for its size, with a population of around 160,000, and there is always something happening. It has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest and a leg of the Tour de France, so you just need to know where to look.
This guide signposts the key venues and events worth watching out for, because there may well be something happening in town that shapes the timing of your visit. If you are still deciding what to fill your trip with, our full weekend break in Harrogate guide is the place to start.
The best time to visit Harrogate is whenever you can line your dates up with either the cherry blossom, which peaks in late April and early May, or one of the town’s many festivals and events across the year. Spring is our personal favourite, but there is something on in every season.
Harrogate packs a lot into the calendar, and most of it is tied to a handful of venues. Here is where to look.
Harrogate has long been a conference town, and the purpose-built HCC complex runs an active programme all year. Check the Harrogate Convention Centre website for what is on across these spaces:
HCC Auditorium: With 2,000 seats, this large auditorium was built in 1982 and, in its opening year, hosted the 27th Eurovision Song Contest following Bucks Fizz's win for the UK the previous year. It now hosts speakers, comedians and musicians..
Exhibition Halls: Home to many annual trade shows and public exhibitions, including the ever-popular Wedding Fair, the Christmas and Gift Trade Fair, the Harrogate Beer Festival and more.
The Royal Hall: A stunning Grade II listed Edwardian performance hall serving as the town's second theatre. It is decorated with more gold leaf than the Buckingham Palace ballroom, and both Louis Armstrong and The Beatles have played here.
Harrogate Theatre is a Grade II listed theatre that opened in 1900 and today offers a variety of top-quality plays, drama, dance and music. It also organises the annual Harrogate Comedy Festival, which takes place in October and attracts many popular comedians, including home-grown talent Maisie Adam. The biggest event in its calendar remains the well-established Harrogate Pantomime, which runs from mid-November to mid-January and usually sells out. Check the Harrogate Theatre website for listings.
Harrogate International Festival hosts a full and varied programme across the year, with something for everyone. The main elements are:
Harrogate Music Festival: Three long weekends of classical, chamber and jazz music, in June and July.
Berwins Salon North: Accessible TED-style talks, across the year.
Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival: Attracts the best crime authors to talk about their books and writing, in July.
Spiegeltent: A Spiegeltent is erected on Crescent Gardens each year and hosts events such as the Silent Disco, House of Burlesque and musicians (July).
Carnival: A one-day spectacular which varies from year to year (July).
Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival: Authors and celebrities of all types give talks and promote their books (October).
International Sunday Series: Sunday morning coffee concerts featuring World class classical and chamber musicians (Jan to April).
The Yorkshire Events Centre
forms part of the Great Yorkshire Showground and hosts events throughout the year, including Comic Con Yorkshire in June, the Harrogate Spring Flower Show in April, the Harrogate Art Fair and the Quilting Show. But the biggest date in its calendar is the annual Great Yorkshire Show.
For three days each July, Harrogate hosts the Great Yorkshire Show, the largest agricultural show in the north of England. It dates back to 1838 and currently sells out 35,000 tickets per day. Book online and early to avoid missing out on livestock displays and competitions, shopping for tractors and farming machinery, gifts and clothing, and grabbing a bite to eat. The Army usually sets up a zip wire and assault course to keep children amused, though you do not need children with you to enjoy it. Please note that dogs are not allowed at the show.
In 1926 the famous crime author Agatha Christie went missing for 11 days and was the subject of a nationwide hunt. She was eventually found safe and well at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, possibly suffering from amnesia. As one of the best-selling writers of all time, it seems fitting that the hotel now hosts murder mystery evenings and afternoon teas, which are great fun to do.
It is quite a challenge to multitask at a Murder Mystery Evening: chatting to the other guests, following the mystery delivered by character actors among you, eating your meal and working out whodunnit. You need your wits about you and to go easy on the wine. We really enjoyed ours and would recommend it for the novelty. Check The Old Swan Hotel website for forthcoming events.
Several areas of Harrogate have a large concentration of beautiful cherry trees, most notably on The Stray, a piece of common land around the town centre protected by an Act of Parliament. The trees were planted in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and they draw residents and visitors from far and wide. It is not unusual to see families in coordinated outfits, or a bride and groom in full wedding attire, having professional photos taken under the blooms.
The trees put on an incredible white and pink display, usually around the last week of April and into early May (dates may vary!). There is no prettier sight than the avenues of blossom on The Stray, called Cherry Tree Walk and Milton Way, when the trees are in full bloom, all within a 10-minute walk of the train station. It is our favourite time of year in Harrogate, and it sometimes overlaps with the daffodils, so you get double the colour. If you are visiting for the blossom, it pairs beautifully with our favourite walk through Valley Gardens to Harlow Carr, when the gardens are at their spring best.
We are yet to see a finer display of cherry blossom anywhere in the country, hence the claim that this is the best cherry blossom in the UK.
The best time to visit Harrogate, in our opinion, is whenever you can line up your dates with either the cherry blossom or an event in town that you want to see. If you prefer the quieter, cosier end of the year, the colder months have their own appeal, and a session at the Turkish Baths Harrogate is one of our favourite ways to spend a chilly afternoon.
Whenever you come, you are sure of a warm Yorkshire welcome, as the people really do make the place. Charles Dickens is reported to have had some reservations, once describing Harrogate as “the queerest place, with the strangest people in it, leading the oddest lives of dancing, newspaper reading and dining“, but we say, what is queer about that?
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