Things to do in York right now
York packs two thousand years into a walled mile: the Minster, the Vikings, the railways and the ghosts are all within ten minutes of each other, and most of them are indoors. When the weather is kind, the walls, the river and the Museum Gardens are the city at its best. This list is re-ordered for the weather and the time in York right now.
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National Railway Museum
Leeman Road
Mallard, the Flying Scotsman’s home and a Japanese bullet train in the biggest railway museum in the world, free.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
York Minster
Minster Yard
The largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, with medieval glass and a tower over the whole city.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Over £25
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Free to attend a service; tower extra
The Shambles and Shambles Market
City centre
The overhanging medieval street of butchers’ shops, now sweets and wizard shops, with the market beside it.
Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
York city walls
Bootham Bar
Two miles of medieval wall to walk around the city, with the best views of the Minster, free.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
Fossgate and Walmgate
Fossgate
The restaurant street: independents from tapas to Yorkshire ale, beside the Foss.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
JORVIK Viking Centre
Coppergate
A ride through a recreated Viking street, smells included, on the site where it was dug up.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
York Castle Museum
Eye of York
A recreated Victorian street, the condemned cell that held Dick Turpin and rooms through the centuries.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Castle Howard
Day trip
The baroque palace of Brideshead Revisited, with a thousand acres of gardens, lakes and temples.
- Over £25
- In and out
- A full day
- Good with kids
Museum Gardens and the Yorkshire Museum
Museum Street
Botanical gardens with abbey ruins, a Roman tower and peacocks, free, with the Yorkshire Museum inside.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Gardens free; museum ticketed
York Art Gallery
Exhibition Square
Six hundred years of painting and the country’s best collection of studio pottery, free, opposite Bootham Bar.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Free; some exhibitions ticketed
Bettys Café Tea Rooms
St Helen’s Square
The Yorkshire tea room since 1936, with a fat rascal, a queue and a mirror signed by wartime airmen.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Micklegate
Micklegate
The Georgian street of pubs from the bar to the bridge, and the Micklegate Run that ends at the river.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
River Ouse cruise
King’s Staith
An hour on the river past the Guildhall, the Museum Gardens and the bishop’s palace, with commentary.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
York's Chocolate Story
King’s Square
Guided tour of the city that gave the world Kit Kat and Terry’s Chocolate Orange, with tastings.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Yorkshire Air Museum
Elvington
A wartime bomber base kept as it was, with a Halifax, a Victor and engine-run days.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Half a day
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Clifford's Tower
Tower Street
The keep of York Castle on its grassy mound, with a new roof deck looking over the whole city.
- Under £10
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Rowntree Park
South Bank
The chocolate family’s gift to the city: a riverside park with a lake, a café and a skate park.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
The snickelways
City centre
The alleys, ginnels and passages that thread the medieval centre, free to explore with a map.
Go now, before the rain arrives. Free.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Barley Hall
Coffee Yard
A medieval townhouse hidden down a snickelway, restored to 1483 and open to touch.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Merchant Adventurers' Hall
Fossgate
A timber-framed guildhall from 1357, still owned by the guild that built it, with a garden by the Foss.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
The York Dungeon
Clifford Street
Actor-led horror history, from the Vikings to Guy Fawkes, with jump scares for the brave.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Over £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Treasurer's House
Minster Yard
A collector’s townhouse behind the Minster, with the cellar where a plumber saw Roman soldiers march through.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
York Cold War Bunker
Holgate
A nuclear monitoring bunker kept as it was in 1991, shown by guided tour.
Rain is due later, and this is under cover.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Guided tours on set days
York ghost walk
The Shambles
The most haunted city in England does its ghost stories every night, by lantern, from the Shambles.
Comes alive in the evening.
- Under £10
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
York Theatre Royal
St Leonard’s Place
A theatre since 1744, with a producing company, a famous panto and a glass foyer over medieval walls.
Comes alive in the evening.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Grand Opera House
Cumberland Street
The city’s touring house for musicals, comedy and bands, in an Edwardian theatre by the river.
Comes alive in the evening.
- Over £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours