Start from 39 curated places around York, GB, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Skosh
York's most acclaimed restaurant, a buzzy small-plates room on Micklegate where the chef riffs on global, heavily Asian- and Indian-influenced flavours from an open kitchen. The inventive, ever-changing plates have earned national recognition. Best for an adventurous dinner of shared small plates at the counter.
Roots York
The Michelin-starred city restaurant from a celebrated Yorkshire farming family, serving an ambitious tasting menu built around produce from their own farm. It's the area's destination fine-dining experience. Best for a special-occasion tasting dinner rooted in Yorkshire ingredients.
Trails & outdoors
New Walk
A historic tree-lined riverside promenade laid out in the 18th century along the Ouse south of the centre, leading past meadows to the Millennium Bridge. It's a flat, shaded, genuinely pleasant city walk. Best for an easy riverside stroll out of the centre and back over the footbridge.
Rowntree Park
An Edwardian park given to the city by the Rowntree chocolate family, with formal gardens, ponds, a cafe, and a riverside edge linked to the Millennium Bridge. It's the green heart of the Bishy Road neighbourhood. Best for an easy park-and-river loop with a cafe stop.
Things to do
National Railway Museum
A vast, free museum holding the national collection of locomotives, from record-breaking steam engines to a bullet train and royal carriages, in huge engine halls. It's world-class and a guaranteed hit with all ages. Best for a half-day among the great machines, free of charge.
Jorvik Viking Centre
An immersive museum built on the site of a real Viking-age excavation, with a time-car ride through a reconstructed Jorvik street complete with sounds and smells, plus genuine artifacts. It's a fun, atmospheric dose of York's Norse past. Best for a family visit and a vivid sense of Viking York.
Landmarks & sights
York Minster
The largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, over a thousand years in the making, with the world's greatest concentration of medieval stained glass and a central tower you can climb for rooftop views. It dominates the skyline and rewards a slow visit. Best for the stained glass by day and, if you can, the tower climb on a clear afternoon.
The Shambles
A narrow medieval street of timber-framed shops leaning so close they nearly touch overhead, often called Britain's prettiest street and a model for Harry Potter's Diagon Alley. Once the butchers' row, it's now packed with quirky shops. Best for an early-morning walk before the crowds fill the cobbles.