Transport

The town is served by four railway stations: Harrogate (for Town Centre), Hornbeam Park, Pannal (towards Leeds) and Starbeck on the Harrogate Line to Knaresborough and York. Trains are operated by Northern Rail, with one daily service to London Kings Cross operated by National Express East Coast. Trains run every half hour to Leeds and Knaresborough, and every hour onto York. There are extra non-stop commuter services at peak times between Harrogate and Leeds. The former railway lines to Ripon and Wetherby (see Wetherby railway station) were dismantled in the 1960s. A prospective railway company, First Harrogate Trains plans to run trains from London King's Cross to Harrogate. If their plans are realised, the first direct trains will begin running in Summer 2009.

Buses are every 20 minutes between Harrogate and Ripon, and Harrogate and Leeds (via Harewood, Moortown and Chapel Allerton) on Harrogate and District route 36. The 770 route also runs to Leeds via Wetherby, Boston Spa and Seacroft as well as other parts of semi-rural Leeds. There are further services to Leeds Bradford International Airport, Otley, Bradford, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge, and in April 2008 a new service to York was commenced under the branding Yorkshire Connect

Harrogate is strongly connected to Leeds, in both rail and road transport. This is also evident in the volume of high school students coming from Leeds to Harrogate everyday. The strong transport connection is very important for some of the Harrogate schools, especially Rossett School. Road transport to Leeds is via the A61 (North & Central Leeds), A658 (North West Leeds/Leeds Bradford International Airport) and A661 (for North East Leeds). The A61 also continues northwards to Ripon, while the A658 connects to Bradford after passing through north west Leeds. The A658 also forms the Harrogate Bypass that skirts the South and East of the town, joining the A59 linking York and the A1(M) to the east and Skipton to the west with Harrogate.