Go Ape at Dalby Forest

The two courses work in opposite ways, and that decides how many tickets you buy.

Treetop Challenge: one adult can supervise only two children aged 10–15, and that adult must take part. A family taking two eleven-year-olds up the Treetop Challenge buys three tickets, because a climbing adult is compulsory. Three or four children in that age group means two climbing adults.

Treetop Adventure: one adult can supervise up to eight children aged 6–10 from the ground, so a parent does not have to climb. Under-sixes are different: one adult per two children, and that adult must take part.

Go Ape's ratios allow ground supervision on the Treetop Adventure. Whether a supervising adult who stays on the ground needs a spectator ticket is not published.

Prices are not reproduced here, because they change with the day, the time and the season. For the real figure for your date, use the booking calendar on Go Ape's Dalby page.

Go Ape publish a single "from" figure for each course across their whole network: from £20.95 for the Treetop Adventure and from £36.95 for the Treetop Challenge. Those are the lowest prices anywhere in the network, not what a weekend at Dalby costs.

An opening season is not published in a form this guide can check, so the booking calendar is also the place to see whether sessions are running on your dates.

Go Ape's price is not the price of the day. Dalby Forest charges for parking, and Go Ape's page does not mention it. Forestry England's car tariff is up to 30 minutes free, then £3 for up to 1 hour, £6 for up to 2 hours, £9 for up to 3 hours, £12 for up to 4 hours and £15 for over 4 hours.

The free allowance at the start of that tariff is no help to anyone doing a course. The Treetop Challenge alone runs two to three hours. Add kitting up, the safety briefing and a drink afterwards, and you are in the fourth band at least, and easily the top one.

Forestry England's own wording adds two points. The charge "applies to cars, vans, motorhomes/campervans, minibuses, coaches and blue-badge holders", so blue-badge holders are not exempt. "Seasonal rates and lower prices from 4pm will no longer apply", so a cheap late-afternoon visit you remember belongs to a tariff that has gone. Forestry England members park free.

Forestry England tariff, introduced 1 February 2025, checked against Forestry England's published information in September 2026. Tariffs change, so confirm with Forestry England before you travel. See Forestry England's Dalby Forest page and our parking guide.

Dalby has the Treetop Adventure and the Treetop Challenge, and nothing else. There is no Zip Trekking, no Segway, no Nets and no axe throwing here. Those run at other Go Ape locations, and their rules and limits on Go Ape's main site do not apply at Dalby.

The Go Ape cabin is "a two minute walk across from the Dalby Forest Visitor Centre", which Go Ape describe as "a 10–15 minute drive from Pickering and Malton". From Thornton-le-Dale, Dalby Forest is a few minutes by car up the road; see days out nearby. Toilets are at the visitor centre, not the cabin.

Dogs: "Well behaved dogs are welcome around site but must be kept away from zipwire landing zones and spectators may be required to look after them whilst you are completing the course." Someone not climbing will need to hold the lead. For the guide's other dog notes, see visiting with dogs.

Go Ape's own words: "Wheelchairs and pushchairs can access spectator areas around the cabin, Treetop Adventure and the training areas of Treetop Challenge, but this may become more difficult in wet weather." Accessible baby-changing is at the visitor centre.

By Go Ape's account, then, a wheelchair user can watch a child on the Treetop Adventure and can reach the Treetop Challenge training area, but not the Treetop Challenge course itself. For getting around Dalby Forest more widely, see our accessibility page.