The closest cave to Castleton is Peak Cavern, with an impressive entrance situated at the foot of the hill where the castle stands. For three centuries, until 1974, ropemakers lived here, their houses built at the entrance leading to the cavern. There are still lines of black soot from their chimneys at the top of the cavern.

« One of the most beautiful Neo-Greek buildings in the world», according to Pevsner, was built in 1854 and houses a circular concert hall. Its gallery adorned with caryatids and a vast vaulted hallway is of befitting Roman opulence.
The building is part of a cluster of administrative buildings which were the centre point of the town.

Former second hand clothes shop, this Georgian house (1779) hides some fine architecture behind its white façade. There is a Renaissance square with a sloping colonnade, and the galleries that once rang with the sound of merchants today contain specialist shops.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England stands on the site of Caphouse Colliery, which, until its closure in the 1980s, contributed to Britain's industrial might. There is an array of machinery around the pithead buildings as well as displays evoking the life of the miners. The highlight is the descent (140m) into the old workings.