City Sightseeing York
Hop on, hop off bus tours
The traffic-free footstreets area of York can only be explored on foot, but as an alternative there is a bus tour that skirts most of the walls and cuts across the centre.
TIP It can also be a useful way to get from one side of the city to the other (eg from Bootham Bar to the Castle Museum) for the foot-weary. Buses leave frequently throughout the day.
Tours use open-top buses and 20 stops about the city. Tickets are valid for 24 hours and allow you to get on and off at will.
The red buses belong to the national City Sightseeing company, which runs tours in several cities (multilingual recorded commentary) every 10 minutes in summer, otherwise 15-30 minutes, duration 60 minutes.
There are no services from December 1st till mid-February.
TIP Live guides on some buses. (Look for the "Live guide" sign on the front of the bus.)
TIP Pick up a leaflet on board. It has a helpful map and vouchers to use elsewhere in York. The bus tour is also included in the York Pass from the Visitor Information Office