York City Sightseeing Open-Top Bus Tour

York is a city that rewards a slow look from a high seat, and the open-top sightseeing loop from Exhibition Square is built for exactly that. The bus pulls away with the honey-coloured stone of the City Art Gallery on one side and the King's Manor on the other, then noses up Gillygate, where a terrace of independent shops and Georgian frontages frames a first glimpse of the Minster's twin western towers rising over the rooftops.

At Monk Bar, the tallest of York's four surviving medieval gateways, the route swings beneath one of the finest stretches of the city walls. The portcullis is still in place above the arch, and from the upper deck you can look straight along the wall walk towards the deer park of the Minster precinct. The bus then drops down to Foss Bank, following the line of the little River Foss past the cobbled corner of Peasholme Green, where the timber-framed Black Swan Inn leans into the street.

Stonebow brings the first of the central stops, handy for the Shambles and the daily market. From here the bus rolls down to Clifford's Tower, the lone quatrefoil keep of York Castle perched on its grassy mound, with the Castle Museum and the Eye of York opposite. The route then weaves around the Barbican before crossing the Ouse and turning south along Bishopthorpe Road, a stretch of cafes, delis and Victorian terraces that locals simply call Bishy Road.

South Bank delivers the loop's most open view: the long green sweep of York Racecourse on the Knavesmire, where Dick Turpin was hanged in 1739 and where the Ebor meeting still draws crowds each August. Tadcaster Road climbs gently past the genteel villas of Mount Vale before the bus rejoins the city at Blossom Street, with Micklegate Bar and its severed-head history just along the road.

The final stretch runs past York Rail Station, the great curving trainshed designed by Thomas Prosser, then on to Leeman Road for the National Railway Museum and its hall of locomotives. A swing across Lendal Bridge gives a postcard view of the Museum Gardens, the ruins of St Mary's Abbey and the river before the bus returns to Exhibition Square, ready to begin the circuit again.

A perfect day on the open-top sightseeing tour begins in Exhibition Square, with a coffee at one of the cafes opposite the City Art Gallery and a quick look up at the statue of William Etty before climbing to the upper deck. A 24-hour hop-on, hop-off ticket gives you the freedom to treat the loop as a string of mini-adventures rather than a single ride.

Hop off first at Monk Bar to climb the city walls. The walk along the ramparts towards Bootham Bar gives the best free view in York: the Minster rising over the deanery gardens, with the green of the Dean's Park below. From here it is a short stroll to York Minster itself, where the Chapter House, the undercroft and the climb up the central tower reward an unhurried visit.

Back on the bus, ride down to the Stonebow stop for the medieval lanes. The Shambles, with its overhanging timber-framed shops, leads naturally to Newgate Market for lunch from one of the food stalls, or to a sit-down meal at one of the small cafes tucked into the snickelways.

Reboard for Clifford's Tower, the lone keep of York Castle on its grassy motte. The new internal viewing platform opens up a panorama across the city, and the York Castle Museum opposite is worth a longer dwell for its recreated Victorian street, Kirkgate.

Take the bus across the Ouse and out along Bishopthorpe Road for a quieter, more local afternoon. Bishy Road's independent shops, delis and the Pig and Pastry cafe offer a different side of York, and the towpath beside the river makes a pleasant short walk before rejoining the loop at South Bank for views over the Racecourse.

Finish at the Leeman Road stop for the National Railway Museum, free to enter and home to Mallard, the Flying Scotsman when in residence, and a Japanese bullet train. Walk back across Leeman Road footbridge into the station and on through Museum Gardens, with the abbey ruins glowing in the late light, to complete the circle at Exhibition Square.