Our guide to Britain’s 7 International Dark Sky Reserves

This week (13-20 April 2026) marks International Dark Sky Week, a time to celebrate the night’s sky (and sign the pledge to protect it).

In an era where buildings, vehicles and street lights are adding more and more light pollution to the sky, places where the night sky and its ceiling of stars can still be seen are that much more precious.

Martin Morgan-Taylor, board member of the International Dark-Sky Association and a committee member of the British Astronomical Association’s Campaign for Dark Skies, said:“We are gradually losing the night to light pollution, which is eroding the view of the night sky, and fewer and fewer people are able to see the Milky Way from their back gardens.

“This is not just an aesthetic loss; it is a loss of part of our culture, and the children who would have become scientists if the spark of interest had been ignited by a view of the night sky.”

There are 26 International Dark Sky Reserves across the world, seven of which can be found in Britain. Thinking about visiting yourself? Here, Tiffany Francis-Baker, author of Dark Skies: A Journey into the Wild Night, shares her top tips for making the most of your trip.

Exmoor’s skies are some of the darkest in the UK, and minimal light pollution means that on a cloudless night visitors can see the Milky Way and thousands of stars with the naked eye. So there is no wonder why Exmoor National Park was the first designated dark sky reserve in Europe

Poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth both took night walks here. They dropped small white stones like breadcrumbs to help them find their return journey home.

A number of campsites and accommodation providers across the Exmoor National Park  are Dark Sky Friendly and several Dark Sky Discovery Sites offer locations to stargaze.

Today the Exmoor National Park team hire out everything you need to observe the night sky, including telescopes. They also host a Dark Skies Festival in October/November each year with a huge range of events, including guided stargazing sessions, night walks, stargazing retreats, talks and workshops by expert astronomers, nocturnal wildlife events, astro-themed craft sessions and night time boat adventures under the stars.

Tiffany’s insider tip: Wimbleball Lake, 15 minutes northeast of Dulverton, is a fantastic place to spot red deer, brown long-eared bats and starling murmurations at dusk as the stars begin to appear.

The Brecon Beacons is a cluster of mountains sprinkled with Bronze Age burial mounds, Norman castles, sheep tracks, mines and quarries. The mountains are popular for a variety of outdoor pursuits, such as mountain biking, kayaking, horseriding, gliding and rock climbing. And, increasingly, stargazing.

The Brecon Beacons National Park became the world’s fifth  International Dark Sky Reserve in 2013 and, since then, has made a name for itself among amateur and professional astronomers. On a clear night, you can see the Milky Way, major constellations, bright nebulas and even meteor showers. Local accommodation providers also offer plenty of ‘stay-and-gaze’ options, and the scenic landscapes have inspired stunning examples of astrophotography.

Tiffany’s insider tip: The stunning ruins of Llanthony Priory are one of the park’s most iconic sites where visitors can enjoy pristine dark skies. The priory itself is closed from 4pm onwards but stargazers are welcome to use the car park for views over to Hatterrall Hill.

Overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, Cranborne Chase is a unique and diverse landscape, rich in rare flora and fauna. Fans of the Wessex writer Thomas Hardy might recognise it from early scenes in his 1891 novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

Cranborne Chase was the 14th International Dark Sky Reserve to be recognised in the world, first designated in October 2019. More than 50% of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty has the lowest levels of light pollution found in England.

The undulating landscape of Cranborne Chase offers dramatic scenery and stunning panoramic views of the night sky, including the prominent summits of Breeze Hill (262m), Win Green (277m) and Melbury Hill (263m).

Stargazing events are hosted throughout the year, culminating in their annual Dark Skies Festival in April.

The stars feature regularly in the Welsh Mabinogion stories, a compilation of tales written in Middle Welsh and originating from ancient oral storytelling. So it’s fitting that in December 2015, Snowdonia National Park was the second area in Wales to be designated as an International Dark Sky Reserve.

The designation covers 18% of Wales’s land area. Snowdonia is one of the darkest places in Britain, particularly within its rugged, mountainous interior, and covers a thinly populated land mass of over 2,070 square kilometres (800 square miles).

Whether you’re in the mountains, at the side of a lake or gazing out across the sea, a clear night in Snowdonia will offer you views of the Milky Way, all the major constellations from Orion the Hunter to the Seven Sisters, nebulas and shooting stars.

Tiffany’s insider tip: Llyn Geirionydd, 15 minutes west of Llanrwst, is a popular lakeside picnic and a great place to take in the fantastic night sky views over the water.

They say in Yorkshire that each dale has its own character. It is a land of contrasts, of different moods and distinct landscapes, even at night. It is no surprise then that the Yorkshire Dales National Park became an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2020.

On a clear night in the dales, visitors might see as many as 2,000 stars and, in most places, it is possible to clearly see the Milky Way. You’ll also spot planets, meteors, the moon and even the International Space Station, which orbits the earth every 90 minutes. You might even catch the northern lights.

At any time the dark night sky here offers plenty of enchantment for the everyday astronomer and, with each hill and valley offering something different, the Yorkshire Dales are the perfect place to get lost in the dark.

Officially established in 2010, the South Downs is the UK’s newest national park. It stretches from the valley of the River Itchen near Winchester in Hampshire, down to Beachy Head on the Sussex coast. Just an hour’s drive from London, and given aggressive housing development in the Sussex Downs in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it’s the last place you’d expect to find an international dark sky reserve.

The night sky is dark enough in the South Downs that, from the most popular spots, stargazers are able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye. Thanks to hard work alongside local authorities, light pollution the park has been minimised so that the average darkness in the South Downs has been classified as ‘Bronze Level’.

That was enough for the park to be granted Dark Sky status in 2016. To celebrate, a reserve was named after Sir Patrick Moore, the English amateur astronomer and writer who presented the BBC’s The Sky at Night.

Tiffany’s insider tip: In the Hampshire end of the national park, both Old Winchester Hill and Butser Hill offer beautiful evening views as the sky darkens, as well as having interesting Bronze and Iron Age earthworks.

The North York Moors is the area that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula and is one of the darkest places in the country. Its wide open skies have always made them popular with astronomers, from where moons, planets and more can be seen. But it wasn’t until December 2020 they were officially designated an International Dark Sky Reserve and became one of the newest International Dark Sky Reserves in the world.

Owing to the low levels of light pollution and clear horizons, visitors can see up to 2,000 stars at any one time with the naked eye in the darkest areas of the reserve. Stargazers will find friendly locals, evocative backdrops and peaceful wild spaces making the North York Moors the perfect location for getting closer to the night sky. The park also runs a yearly Dark Skies festival to celebrate the stark beauty of the stars.

Tiffany’s insider tip: Rosedale Chimney Bank is a steep mountain pass that eases out on to the vast expanse of Spaunton Moor, where rare sightings of the northern lights have been reported.

Read next: 10 of the UK’s best stargazing escapes