Malham National Park Centre, Malham - 01729 833200 Town Hall, Cheapside, Settle - 01729 825192 malham@yorkshiredales.org.uk

Malham lies at the upper end of the valley of the River Aire, known above Airton as Malhamdale, in the Yorkshire Dales. The surrounding countryside is well known for its limestone pavements and other examples of limestone scenery. Tourist attractions include Malham Tarn, Malham Cove, Gordale Scar, Janets Foss and the Dry Valley. The village hosts an annual agricultural and horticultural show on the Saturday before the August Bank Holiday. Known as the Malham Show, it has competitions for everything from Lego models to fell running. Another major annual event is the Malham Safari, when the villagers and particularly the local school build sculptures around the village. This event attracts many tourists and stalls are put up on the green.

Malham is a popular walkers' destination. The rise in tourism over Malham's history has led to some deterioration of the area's surrounding paths as tourists wander off the paths and cause pockets of erosion, a process often called "footpath erosion". The footpaths in the area are maintained by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

In the village there is a National Park Information Centre and a large car park. The Pennine Way long distance path passes through the village. Nearby natural landmarks include Malham Cove, Malham Tarn, Gordale Scar and Janet's Foss. The Malham Show Fell Race course runs over the nearby 301-metre (988 ft) Cawden.

In May 2006, it was reported that a covert listening device was discovered hidden in the local parish hall, leaving the villagers baffled. The electronic transmitter was found in a wall socket during a safety inspection at Malham village hall.

Part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was filmed around the Malham Cove limestone pavement.

In the 1950s the village gave its name to a Ham class minesweeper, HMS Malham.

The cove was formed by a large Ice-age river that fell at this point as a cataract. The water drop was 80 m (260 ft) high and more than 300 m (980 ft) wide. The colossal amount of water flowing over the waterfall created the curved shape of the cove because the lip was more heavily eroded than the sides.

Today the water course is marked by a stream that flows out of Malham Tarn 1.5 mi (2.4 km) north of the cove. It becomes a subterranean stream at 'Water Sinks' about 1 mile (1.6 km) before the top of the cove. Another stream named Malham Beck emerges from a cave at the bottom of the cove. The two streams were once thought to be one and the same. However, experiments with dyes have shown that they are two separate waterways that go underground at different locations. Their paths cross without mixing behind the limestone cliff re-emerging a few miles apart. The experiments show that there is complex system of caves and tunnels within the limestone cliff. The system is estimated to be about 50,000 years old. Cave divers, entering the system through the cave at the base of the cove, have so far explored about 1 mi (1.6 km).

The cave systems usually carry away any waters before they reach the fall; however, Malham Cove temporarily became a waterfall for what is believed to be the first time in centuries on 6 December 2015, after heavy rainfall from Storm Desmond.