York: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
York was founded by the Romans in the year 71 as Eboracum, taken by the Vikings in 866 as Jorvik, and grew in the Middle Ages into the second city of England, ringed by walls that still stand. Two hours; walk part of the circuit on the walls.
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A short history of York
In AD 71 the Romans set up a legionary fortress called Eboracum, and in 306 Constantine was proclaimed emperor there. In 866 the Vikings captured it and called it Jorvik, and it became the capital of a Viking kingdom in northern England. In 1190 almost the entire Jewish community, about 150 people, was murdered here at Clifford's Tower, and it remains one of the worst antisemitic events in English history. The Gothic cathedral, York Minster, was completed in 1472 after about 250 years of building. In the 19th century the city became an important railway junction, and its medieval walls still surround most of the old town.
The ten best sights in York
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1York Minster
The great Gothic cathedral; climb the tower
2The ShamblesThe butchers’ lane with overhanging houses; early morning
3Clifford’s TowerThe site of the massacre of York’s Jews in 1190
4York Castle MuseumA Victorian street and the old prison
5Jorvik Viking CentreA ride through Viking York
6National Railway MuseumMallard and royal carriages; free
7Monk BarClimb onto the walls at a medieval gate
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8Bootham Bar
The gate on the Roman road north
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9Micklegate Bar
Where the heads of traitors were shown
10Museum GardensAbbey ruins and a Roman tower in a park
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in York →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in York:
Free walking tours in York
Inside the walls
York was founded by the Romans in the year 71 as Eboracum, taken by the Vikings in 866 as Jorvik, and grew in the Middle Ages into the second city of England, ringed by walls that still stand. Two hours; walk part of the circuit on the walls.
- York Minster · Built over two hundred and fifty years and finished in 1472, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in northern Europe. Its Great East Window, finished in 1408, is about the size of a tennis court — the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in a single window in Britain. In 1984 lightning set the roof of the south transept on fire, and the heat cracked the rose window into tens of thousands of pieces, which were all put back.
- Holy Trinity Goodramgate · A small church hidden behind a row of shops, almost unchanged for centuries, with uneven floors, wooden box pews of the 1700s in which families sat closed in, and medieval stained glass.
- The Shambles · The street of the butchers, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Meat hooks still hang from the shopfronts, and the upper floors lean so far over the narrow lane that neighbours could almost shake hands across it. Margaret Clitherow, a butcher’s wife who hid Catholic priests, lived here; she was crushed to death in 1586 and later made a saint.
- Merchant Adventurers’ Hall · One of the finest medieval guild halls in Europe, a great timber hall begun in 1357, where the merchants who traded wool and cloth overseas met. Below it is the hospital and chapel where they cared for the poor.
- Clifford’s Tower · On the night of 16 March 1190, the Jews of York, attacked by a mob stirred up by debtors and crusaders, took refuge in the royal keep that stood on this mound. Surrounded, many chose to kill one another rather than be forcibly baptised; the rest were murdered when they came out — about a hundred and fifty people. A plaque at the foot remembers them, and in spring daffodils, with six-pointed flowers, bloom on the mound.
- Micklegate Bar · The gate through which kings entered York from the south, and on which the heads of traitors were set on spikes — among them Richard, Duke of York, in 1460, crowned with paper in mockery. From here the walls, about three kilometres long, can be walked around much of the old city.
Romans, Vikings and ghosts
Under York lie the Roman fortress and the Viking town, and much of what has been dug up can be seen. York also claims to be the most haunted city in Europe, and every evening ghost walks leave from its old streets. Two hours by day, plus a ghost walk after dark.
- Museum Gardens · A park holding the corner tower of the Roman fortress, the Multangular Tower, and the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, once the richest in the north of England. In 1132 thirteen of its monks, unhappy with its comfortable ways, left to found the stricter Fountains Abbey.
- Yorkshire Museum · Here are Roman York and the Vale of York Hoard, a silver cup filled with more than six hundred coins and jewels buried by a Viking around 927 and found by metal detectorists in 2007. Constantine the Great was proclaimed emperor in York in 306.
- Treasurer’s House · In 1953 a young plumber, Harry Martindale, was working in the cellar when he heard a trumpet and saw a troop of Roman soldiers march out of the wall — visible only from the knees up. Later digs showed that a Roman road ran under the cellar, below the level of the floor.
- Stonegate · The street follows the line of the main road of the Roman fortress. Look up for the little red devil above a doorway — the sign of a printer’s shop, where the boy apprentices were called printer’s devils.
- Barley Hall · In the 1980s, when an ordinary old building was about to be redeveloped, workers found behind its later front the timber frame of a medieval townhouse of the 1360s. It was restored and opened as the home of a fifteenth-century family.
- Jorvik Viking Centre · Between 1976 and 1981 archaeologists dug here at Coppergate and found Viking houses, workshops and streets, preserved in the wet ground — wood, leather, cloth and seeds. The centre was built on the spot, and a ride carries visitors through a reconstruction of the Viking street, with its smells.
Trains, chocolate and the abbeys
Industrial York made railways and chocolate, and around the city the Yorkshire countryside holds ruined abbeys, a baroque palace and England’s oldest tourist attraction. A full day; a car or a tour for the last stops.
- National Railway Museum · Here stands Mallard, the blue streamlined locomotive that in 1938 reached about two hundred and three kilometres an hour, still the world speed record for steam. Beside it are Queen Victoria’s royal carriages and a Japanese bullet train. Entry is free.
- York’s Chocolate Story · Two Quaker families made York a chocolate city: Rowntree’s, which invented the KitKat here in 1935, and Terry’s, which made the Chocolate Orange. Joseph Rowntree built a model village for his workers, and at one time the factories employed thousands of the city’s people.
- York Castle Museum · The museum is built into the old prisons. Inside is Kirkgate, a whole Victorian street of shops rebuilt with real shopfronts, and the cells where the highwayman Dick Turpin was held before he was hanged in York in 1739.
- Castle Howard · A baroque palace with a great dome, designed by John Vanbrugh, a playwright with no training as an architect, and begun in 1699. It was the setting of the television series Brideshead Revisited, and its grounds hold temples, lakes and a mausoleum.
- Fountains Abbey · Founded in 1132 by the thirteen monks who left St Mary’s in York, it grew into one of the richest Cistercian abbeys in England before Henry the Eighth closed it in 1539. Its roofless ruins stand beside an eighteenth-century water garden, together a world heritage site.
- Mother Shipton’s Cave · Opened to visitors in 1630 and said to be the oldest paying tourist attraction in England. Water rich in minerals drips over a rock ledge, and objects hung beneath it — teddy bears, hats, a bicycle — slowly turn to stone over months. The cave is said to be the birthplace of a prophetess of the 1400s.
Getting to York and getting around
- Leeds Bradford Airport · The nearest airport; Manchester has more flights
- York Station · About two hours from London King’s Cross
Cheap eats in York
Yorkshire eats hearty: the Yorkshire pudding, a puffed batter cooked in hot fat, sometimes as a whole wrap around a roast; fish and chips; parkin, a sticky ginger and oat cake; Wensleydale cheese eaten with fruitcake; and at Bettys the fat rascal, a big fruity scone with a face of cherries and almonds.
- Bettys · Fat rascals and tea
- Shambles Market · Yorkshire pudding wraps and pies
- York’s Chocolate Story · Make your own chocolate
- Stonegate · Tea rooms and old pubs
- Knaresborough · Lunch by the river gorge
Museums in York
York’s museums cover two thousand years: Romans, Vikings, medieval guilds, Victorian streets, trains and chocolate.
- Jorvik Viking Centre · The Viking street ride
- National Railway Museum · Mallard; free
- York Castle Museum · The Victorian street
- Yorkshire Museum · The Viking hoard
- Merchant Adventurers’ Hall · The medieval guild hall
Nature and day trips near York
Around York the Vale is flat farmland, with the moors and dales an hour away; the river and the walls make the city’s green walks.
- Museum Gardens · Ruins in a park
- Lendal Bridge · River walks and cruises
- Monk Bar · Walk the walls
- Fountains Abbey · The water garden and deer park
Things to do in York with kids
With children: a Viking ride, trains to climb on, a Victorian street, ghost walks and a well that turns teddy bears to stone.
- Jorvik Viking Centre · The Viking ride
- National Railway Museum · Trains to climb on
- Mother Shipton’s Cave · The petrifying well
- York Castle Museum · Victorian shops
Holy places in York
York has a great cathedral, many medieval parish churches, and a dark memory of its medieval Jews.
- York Minster · The Great East Window
- Clifford’s Tower · The memorial to 1190
- Holy Trinity Goodramgate · Box pews
- Fountains Abbey · The great ruin
Nightlife in York
York is said to have a pub for every day of the year; in the evening the old streets fill with ghost walks and the pubs with students.
- The Shambles · Ghost walks start nearby
- Stonegate · Old pubs
- Lendal Bridge · Riverside bars
Frequently asked questions about York
What is there to see in York?
The top sights in York are York Minster, The Shambles and Clifford’s Tower. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in York?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of York without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in York?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in York, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Inside the walls.
How do you get to York and get around?
The main ways are Leeds Bradford Airport and York Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in York, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in York that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in York for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.