York

The Minster, Jorvik and the railway museum on foot inside York's walls

Nothing inside the walls is more than a 20-minute walk from anything else, so York rewards slow days with time to wander. Three sights matter most: the Minster, the Jorvik Viking Centre and the National Railway Museum. With a single day, pick two. Spend whatever time is left simply wandering.

• Day one: walk the Shambles early, before the tour groups arrive, then give the Minster the morning. Climb the 275 steps of the central tower (ages 8 and up) and look at the Roman finds in the Undercroft Museum. In the afternoon follow the wall walk from Bootham Bar towards Monk Bar for the best views of the Minster's north side, and return for Evensong in the late afternoon.
• Day two: Jorvik and Clifford's Tower in the morning, then the free National Railway Museum just behind the station. Finish with an hour on the Ouse; daytime river cruises run from February to November.
• Day three: Castle Howard, the great country house 24 km north, or the seaside at Scarborough, which has an hourly train through York. Leeds is only 25 minutes away by rail.

Weekends are the problem. Hen and stag parties arrive every Friday. Race meetings on the Knavesmire (above all the Ebor in late August) fill rooms and taxis too. Christmas market weekends are just as busy. Come midweek if you can, and book York hotels inside the walls or near the station so you never need a bus. Afternoon tea at Bettys usually means a queue, so reserve a table if your day is tight.

LNER trains run north to Durham in 50 minutes and Newcastle in an hour, and on to Edinburgh. From Manchester Airport a direct TransPennine Express train leaves every 30 minutes and takes 1 hour 50 minutes; it also stops in Manchester itself. Leave the car at one of the six park-and-ride sites on the ring road, or hire one near the station only for days on the North York Moors.

Sunny summers and frosty, foggy winters in the Vale of York

The city sits low in the Vale of York. That position keeps it drier and warmer than most of Yorkshire. May to July are the sunniest months, averaging six hours of sun a day, and inland summers can push past 27°C while the coast stays cool. Winter is a different story. The flat valley traps frost and fog, January runs from 1°C at night to 7°C by day, and snow can fall from December into April, though it rarely lies for long.

Events set the calendar more than weather. In February the JORVIK Viking Festival, the largest in Europe, fills the streets with Norse re-enactors. It makes a cold month worth the trip. Flat racing runs on the Knavesmire from April to October. July brings the Early Music Festival, and September the Food and Drink Festival and Yorkshire's biggest beer festival.

From mid-November to just before Christmas the St Nicholas Fair puts wooden chalets on Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square. It is lovely on a Tuesday afternoon and a crush on a Saturday. The UK Snooker Championship is usually played here around the same time.

Best months: late May, June and September give long light evenings for the walls without the August school-holiday crowds in the Shambles. In any season carry a rain jacket, because the weather turns quickly.

York ham, Kit-Kat chocolate, Yorkshire ale and tea at Bettys

York's food comes down to York ham, chocolate from the city where Rowntree's invented the Kit-Kat, and Yorkshire ale from York Brewery and Brew York, with Wensleydale and other Dales cheeses close behind. Reserve Bettys for afternoon tea, and book tasting-menu kitchens at a weekday lunch, when they cost far less.

Yorkshire cooking is generous and plain. Expect Yorkshire puddings with everything, plus pies and big sharing platters, with local cheeses such as Wensleydale from the Dales and Shepherd's Purse blues on the board. York ham is mild and smoky, traditionally served hot with Madeira sauce. It gave the city its name in food, though it is no longer cured within the walls and now comes from specialist butchers elsewhere in the county.

Chocolate is the real local industry. Rowntree's invented the Kit-Kat, Smarties and Fruit Pastilles here. Terry's made the Chocolate Orange. The factories have changed hands, but small chocolatiers have filled the gap. Look for York Cocoa House and Choc Affair. Bettys serves the classic afternoon tea with Swiss-Yorkshire pastries.

Many restaurants push long tasting menus at dinner. The same kitchens are often far cheaper at a weekday lunch or an early evening sitting, which is when to book.

For drink, York Brewery makes the dark ruby Centurion's Ghost and the golden Yorkshire Terrier. Brew York runs a craft-beer tap room, and the York Gin Company is stocked by dozens of local bars. House of the Trembling Madness on Lendal pairs beer with good food. Micklegate turns rowdy on weekend nights, so pick your pub accordingly. Smart dress is required in the County Stand at the races.

A few local words help with the map. A gate here is a street (from the Viking word), so Stonegate and Goodramgate are roads; the gates in the wall are called bars. A ginnel or snickelway is a narrow passage. The Ouse is pronounced like ooze.