Settle to Carlisle Train Round trip

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/

With no other details off-peak day return can be had for £27.80 and anytime day return is £33.20. There are advance tickets also. The direct train is an hour and 40 minute journey that makes 9 stops between Settle and Carlisle.

All northbound trains stop at all stations, but there is one semi fast southbound which skips the smaller stations.

There are insufficient trains in the day to visit all stations. You need to plan your day carefully as some of the stations are remote from their communities.

Timetable- https://settle-carlisle.co.uk/sites/default/files/2026-08/timetable-2026-2.pdf

Garsdale- there is nothing much there (except Ruswarp the dog). The old railway chapel is maybe 20 minutes walk down the road, and the settlement of Garsdale (a scattered place) is at least 30 minutes in the other direction- Church and Methodist Chapel. The third Garsdale Chapel is another half hour down the road.
For such a small community Garsdale is remarkable in having 3 Methodist Chapels
Note in the Dalesbus TT below the bus to Hawes.

Dent- again really nothing there. The village is 4 miles walk down the valley (although there is an isolated Church at the bottom of the Station Hill) Saturday only bus to Sedbergh (the book town) and Kendal.

Kirkby Stephen- is 30 minutes walk from the station, a few buses a day.

Ribblehead has an exhibition centre, a rather nice station cafe (in season), walks to see the sites of the shanty towns and the viaduct, the Station Inn (very good) and Chapel-le-Dale Church (about 2 miles walk away)- but is otherwise remote.

My answer would be to use a £35 Northern Explorer and then you are free to maximise your day by going south to come back north again, to fill in the service intervals.

Check on the buses which serve the stations as they work out usefui-
11- Settle to Horton in Ribblesdale (see Dalesbus)
Dalesbus- various stations between Settle and Garsdale (including Dent on a Saturday only)
563- Kirkby Stephen and Appleby
FellRunner- all stations north of Appleby

Thanks.
I forgot to add our details. Likely 17 May 2026, 2 people 80 years old, flexible depature time to be "Off-Peak.",

Thanks for the comment that most stops are not near the town. So looks like Ribblehead might be the only town of interest within 10 minute walk. What is the "exhibition" there and will it be open?

At Ribblehead the exhibition is about the history of the line, it's building and it's saving from closure.
It, and the cafe, are open from 9am to 4pm daily Easter to October. I was only there on a routine visit yesterday.
The line was built as a fast express line to Scotland, so serving the communities along the way was a bit of a sideshow as well as geographically challenging.
Of the northern stops Appleby is a good one. The town is a very nice town, just down the hill from the station. See the Castle, the Church and the Almshouses.

Lazonby and Kirkoswald- the station is in the middle of Lazonby and Kirkoswald (with its old Church and detached bell tower) is under 30 minutes walk across the river.

And Armathwaite is up a short steep hill from its attractive village. Across the river from Armathwaite is the village of Ainstable.
Unlikely as it sounds in Ainstable Church there is a memorial to a man who fought and died with the Confederate Army in the American Civil War (he had emigrated to Virginia). He was executed by the enemy at New York.

Riubblehead isn't a town - It's just the station with a pub a couple of minutes walk away.