Staithes is a fishing village squeezed into a narrow cleft in the cliffs, where a beck meets the sea, its cottages packed tightly down to a small harbour. It is one of the most picturesque villages on the North York Moors coast, and has drawn painters since the Staithes Group worked here around 1900.
James Cook worked in a grocer's shop here as a teenager before going to sea from Whitby. The Captain Cook and Staithes Heritage Centre tells his story and the village's. The Cleveland Way runs along the cliffs in both directions, north to Boulby and south to Runswick Bay. Cars have to stay in the car park at the top of the village.