York Tourist information - What to see and do, where to stay and places to eat in historic York

Welcome to York, an ancient city founded more than 2,000 years ago by the Romans; a modern city packed with the latest attractions; a city with something for everyone.

York Minster: renowned worldwide as an artistic and architectural masterpiece.

York is one of Britain’s most popular tourists destinations.

Historically, it has played a vital role in the development of the country. And geographically, its central position has made it a sought-after site since prehistoric times.

In the days when much of Britain was covered in thick forest, York occupied a much envied position. The junctions of its two rivers, the Ouse and the Foss, made it easily defendable, and the Ouse – tidal until the building of Naburn lock in 1757 – and its tributaries were a splendid highway for travelling around a great county.

Signs of ancient habitation are few, but polished flints and hand axes have been found off the Mount and Holgate, while a splendid Celtic burial urn was unearthed during the construction of York’s first railway station, off Toft Green.

York was part of the Celtic kingdom of the Brigantes, said to be Britain’s most warlike tribe and rulers of lands stretching from South Yorkshire to Strathclyde. It was the Celts who gave the place its first recorded name – Caer Ebruac.

Everything changed in AD71 with the arrival of the Roman Ninth Legion. They forged the river near modern Lendal Bridge and established a legionary fortress.

This fortress, the most northerly permanent legionary fortress in Britain, was to prove vital in the shaping of England’s history. It was near enough to Scotland to provide a handy base for operations against our northern neighbours, yet close enough to London to retain good communications.

It rapidly became England’s second city, and prospered as a result. Indeed, in times of real trouble, such as during Edward I’s and III’s campaigns against the Scots, it became England’s capital, with the court and Royal Mint moving from London to the city.

The Romans called their new base Eboracum. They left the city more than 1,600 years ago but their influence is all around.

New developments often turn up Roman remains; sections of the Roman wall are still to be seen, including the spectacular Multangular Tower; and the Roman street plan of the city centre is still intact.

York played a lesser role in Saxon times, when it was renamed Eoforwic, but rose to prominence again with the coming of the Vikings.

The Vikings, not only warriors but also traders and craftsmen, made Jorvik – their name for the city – the capital of their kingdom. Their thriving trading centre, built on craftsmanship and voyages around the known world, was based in what is now Coppergate.

Remains of this quarter were uncovered in the 1970s and now form the basis of the Jorvik Viking Centre. Our modern street names also reflect the Vikings influence. ‘Gate’ is the Scandinavian for street and York abounds with ‘gates’, from Walmgate to Micklegate, Fossgate to Ousegate.

The Normans also saw the potential of the site and developed it into a major city. They rebuilt the Minster (after burning down the old one!) and erected two massive wooden towers to overawe the rebellious English. One has now gone, although the mound it stood on – Baile Hill – remains. The other still stands proud.

Now rebuilt in stone, after one of York’s most shameful episodes which saw the city’s Jewish inhabitants commit suicide rather than face the wrath of the mob, Clifford’s Tower is a famous emblem of the city.

York prospered in medieval times. It remained a major garrison town against the Scots, who often made the city the object of their incursions south, but despite the evidence of film Braveheart, William Wallace never besieged the city – although he came close.

York also did well out of trade. It was the great market town for North Yorkshire and pivotal in medieval England’s wealthy wool trade as the great northern monasteries producing that wool shipped much of it through York.

That wealth bought a host of churches, guildhalls and quality housing, much of it still remaining, not only in Shambles, the famous butchers’ street, but in other locations around the city. And it paid for a new Minster, the jewel in York’s crown.

York suffered in the late Middle Ages, first by supporting the Lancastrian cause in the War of the Roses. It sent 1,000 men to fight at Towton – up to a third of all able-bodied men in the city – and suffered in the terrible slaughter. The Yorkist King Edward IV never forgave the city for backing the wrong side, and for sticking his father’s and brother’s heads on Micklegate Bar after the Battle of Wakefield.

Nor were things much better in Tudor times. York suffered from its closeness to the Pilgrimage of Grace and Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries hit the local economy hard. The wool trade moved to the West Riding, York lost its political clout and things were never the same again.

Brighter days lay ahead. York bloomed in Georgian times as it became a fashionable place to spend “the season”. The legacy of those times lies in some splendid town houses, a wonderful racecourse and York’s Theatre Royal.

In Victorian times “railway king” George Hudson and chocolate dynasties the Rowntrees and the Terrys provided an economic revival.

All this history has not disappeared. It’s still here on every street corner and down every snickleway. As you explore York, just plod from A to B, look around you.

And if the history in situ is not enough, York is home to some of the country’s top museums. In addition to Jorvik and the National Railway Museum, there are excellent collections at the Castle Museum and the Yorkshire Museum, which sits in lovely gardens by the river.

There are other smaller museums and attractions, wonderful shopping both in the city and at out-of-town shopping centre, parks and gardens, river trips and guided walks, friendly pubs, trendy bars and a host of restaurants catering for all tastes and pockets.

York has so much to offer. Why not stay a while?