Coast to Coast itineraries
How many days you need, what each day costs you in miles and climbing, and where you sleep at the end of it.
Most people walk the Coast to Coast Path in 12 to 16 days. The route is 186.9 miles (301.0 km) with about 8813 m of ascent, and our 16 stages each end in a village with beds, so the schedule you pick is really a question of how many of those villages you skip past. 16 days walks one stage a day and has no day over 18 miles; 14 days is the common choice; 12 days needs three days past 18 miles.
- 186.9 mi301.0 km, sea to sea
- 16day-stages
- 8813 mtotal ascent
- 3National Parks
Three schedules
16 days
186.9 mi · avg 11.7 mi/day · longest 17.1 mi
One stage a day. The gentlest way to walk it, and the only schedule with no long day at all.
See the 16 days plan →14 days
186.9 mi · avg 13.3 mi/day · longest 19.4 mi
The common schedule. Two pairs of short stages join up, and nothing else changes.
See the 14 days plan →12 days
186.9 mi · avg 15.6 mi/day · longest 21.5 mi
Four pairs joined. Three days pass 18 miles, and two of them cross open moor — this is a fit walker's schedule.
See the 12 days plan →Compared
| Plan | Total | Average day | Longest day | Days over 18 mi | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 days | 186.9 mi | 11.7 mi | 17.1 mi | 0 | First long-distance walk, walking with children, carrying a full pack, or simply wanting time to look at things. |
| 14 days | 186.9 mi | 13.3 mi | 19.4 mi | 1 | Most walkers. A fortnight off work, two weeks of walking, one rest day if you want it. |
| 12 days | 186.9 mi | 15.6 mi | 21.5 mi | 3 | Walkers with hill fitness and a light pack who have used up their leave and still want the whole line. |
The Coast to Coast is traditionally quoted as 190 miles (306 km), and that is the figure used across this site. Adding up the 16 stage lines we publish gives 186.9 miles (301.0 km). Both are here on purpose: the totals in the tables are the sum of the stages, so they always match the days above them, while the headline figure is the one the route is known by. Exact distance depends on which variants you walk — the Nine Standards Rigg seasonal routes alone differ by over a mile.
How these plans are built
Every itinerary on this site starts from the same 16 stages and joins adjacent ones — never splits them. That matters because each stage ends in a village with beds, so a shorter schedule never strands you somewhere with nowhere to sleep. The distance and ascent for a combined day are the sum of the stages it covers, and each stage figure is the one published on its own stage page.
What the plans do not do is tell you the walk gets easier by taking longer. The climbing is where it is: the five Lakeland stages carry 3879 m of the 8813 m total, and no schedule moves it.
The route, one stage a day
This is the 16-day plan in full — the other two are this table with days joined.
| Day | Walk | Distance | Ascent | Time | Grade | Cumulative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Bees → Ennerdale Bridge Stage 1 | 17.1 mi | 27.5 km | 885 m | 8.6 h | Hard | 17.1 mi |
| 2 | Ennerdale Bridge → Rosthwaite Stage 2 | 13.2 mi | 21.3 km | 671 m | 6.6 h | Hard | 30.3 mi |
| 3 | Rosthwaite → Grasmere Stage 3 | 6.7 mi | 10.8 km | 601 m | 3.9 h | Moderate | 37.0 mi |
| 4 | Grasmere → Patterdale Stage 4 | 7.2 mi | 11.6 km | 594 m | 4.1 h | Moderate | 44.2 mi |
| 5 | Patterdale → Shap Stage 5 | 15.3 mi | 24.6 km | 1128 m | 8.2 h | Very Hard | 59.5 mi |
| 6 | Shap → Orton Stage 6 | 5.4 mi | 8.7 km | 237 m | 2.8 h | Easy | 64.9 mi |
| 7 | Orton → Kirkby Stephen Stage 7 | 14.0 mi | 22.6 km | 438 m | 6.6 h | Moderate | 78.9 mi |
| 8 | Kirkby Stephen → Keld Stage 8 | 10.9 mi | 17.5 km | 654 m | 5.7 h | Moderate | 89.8 mi |
| 9 | Keld → Reeth Stage 9 | 11.2 mi | 18.1 km | 611 m | 5.7 h | Moderate | 101.0 mi |
| 10 | Reeth → Richmond Stage 10 | 10.3 mi | 16.6 km | 377 m | 5 h | Easy | 111.3 mi |
| 11 | Richmond → Danby Wiske Stage 11 | 15.5 mi | 25.0 km | 244 m | 6.9 h | Easy | 126.8 mi |
| 12 | Danby Wiske → Osmotherley Stage 12 | 14.0 mi | 22.6 km | 305 m | 6.3 h | Moderate | 140.8 mi |
| 13 | Osmotherley → Clay Bank Top Stage 13 | 10.9 mi | 17.5 km | 898 m | 6.1 h | Hard | 151.7 mi |
| 14 | Clay Bank Top → Blakey Ridge Stage 14 | 10.1 mi | 16.3 km | 219 m | 4.6 h | Moderate | 161.8 mi |
| 15 | Blakey Ridge → Grosmont Stage 15 | 10.1 mi | 16.2 km | 167 m | 4.5 h | Moderate | 171.9 mi |
| 16 | Grosmont → Robin Hood's Bay Stage 16 | 15.0 mi | 24.1 km | 784 m | 7.5 h | Hard | 186.9 mi |
| Total | 16 walking days | 186.9 mi | 301.0 km | 8813 m |
Common questions
How many days does the Coast to Coast walk take?
Most walkers take 12 to 16 days. The Coast to Coast Path is 186.9 miles (301.0 km) with about 8813 m of ascent. On our 16-stage scheme that is 11.7 miles a day at 16 days, 13.3 at 14 days and 15.6 at 12 days, before any rest days.
What is the shortest sensible Coast to Coast itinerary?
12 days is the shortest schedule we publish that still overnights only in villages on the route. It needs three days past 18 miles, two of them over open moor. Below 12 days you are either walking 25-mile days or leaving the line for transport, which is a different walk.
How many miles a day is the Coast to Coast?
Between 11.7 and 15.6 miles a day depending on the schedule. Individual days range from 5.4 miles (Shap to Orton) to 17.1 miles (St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge) if you walk one stage a day; combining stages pushes the longest day past 21.5 miles.
Should I add rest days?
Most people who take one put it in Kirkby Stephen or Richmond — both are real towns with shops, cash, laundry, food and onward trains or buses. A rest day is on top of the walking days in every plan here.
Which direction should I walk the Coast to Coast?
West to east, St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay. That is the direction Wainwright described and the way most people walk it: the prevailing south-westerly wind and rain are behind you, the hardest fell days come while you are freshest, and accommodation and baggage-transfer services are all organised around it.
Do I have to walk the stages exactly as listed?
No. The 16 stages are a scheme for describing the route, not a rule — they exist because each one ends somewhere with beds. Every itinerary here is built by joining adjacent stages, never by splitting one, so every overnight is a place the guide already covers.
Is the Coast to Coast a National Trail?
Yes. The Coast to Coast Path opened as an official National Trail on 26 March 2026, after Natural England confirmed the upgrade in 2022. Wainwright devised the route in his 1973 guidebook and it had been walked unofficially for half a century before designation.
