Sheffield to Leeds drive: Best road trip stops, distance & time

The best road trip stops along the Sheffield to Leeds drive are Magna, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the National Coal Mining Museum for England. By car, the distance from Sheffield to Leeds is 37 miles, with a driving time of around one hour.

Planning a Sheffield to Leeds road trip itinerary

The drive from Sheffield to Leeds connects the two biggest cities in Yorkshire.

Interesting Sheffield activities include outdoor escape games, learning about the city’s past and culture on a private walking tour and treasure hunts with cryptic clues.

The best Leeds activities include food tours that visit top local restaurants and Emmerdale filming locations bus tours.

Sheffield to Leeds distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Sheffield to Leeds is 37 miles. That makes for a driving time of around an hour.

The quickest route is along the M1.

The best stops to add to the Sheffield to Leeds drive are Magna, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the National Coal Mining Museum for England.

Attractions between Sheffield and Leeds: Magna Science Adventure Centre

The Magna Science Adventure Centre in Rotherham is one of those fun, button-pushing science museums, where kids can learn about physics while playing with water and diggers.

However, it is much more than that. Magna is inside one of the biggest steelworks ever built. The hulking behemoth of a building is an attraction in itself, and much of the old industrial equipment is left in place. This is brought to life during a spectacular sound and light show.

Other highlights of Magna are the massive playground and water splash park outside. Branch off the M1 at Junction 34.

Sheffield to Leeds road trip stops: Yorkshire Sculpture Park

A short distance from Junction 38 of the M1, between Barnsley and Wakefield, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a large open space with woodland, walking trails, cutesy bridges and plenty of sheep.

Interspersed amongst this are more than 100 sculptures and art installations, including many by internationally-revered artists such as Antony Gormley, Jaume Plensa and Henry Moore.

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park manages to marry the peaceful and the playful.

Sheffield to Leeds drive: National Coal Mining Museum for England

A little further along from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is the National Coal Mining Museum for England just outside of Overton.

The former Caphouse Colliery is now open for underground tours, where visitors can get an idea for what life in the mines was like. But the museum section gives more space to the sense of community fostered in mining villages.

Outside, there are a handful of woodland walking trails and an adventure playground.

Roundhay Park in Leeds.
Roundhay Park in Leeds. Photo courtesy of Leeds City Council.

More Sheffield road trips

Sheffield to Birmingham | Bradford to Sheffield | Doncaster to Sheffield | Sheffield to Durham | Sheffield to Lincoln | Middlesbrough to Sheffield | Sheffield to Milton Keynes | Sheffield to Newcastle | Worksop to Sheffield | Sheffield to York.

More Leeds road trips

Doncaster to Leeds | Huddersfield to Leeds | Leeds to Hull | Middlesbrough to Leeds | Leeds to Milton Keynes | Leeds to Newcastle | Nottingham to Leeds | Leeds to York.