When planning a visit to York, you may want to consider the York Pass available from the Tourist Offices in York or from their website where multi-day passes are sold at a discounted rate. Passes are available for one, two or three days sightseeing in and around York. The Pass comes with a small guide that offers basic information about the sights you can enter for free within and outside of York as well as discounts at restaurants, cafés, and other activities.
I had a friend, Faith, visiting from the U.S. We purchased our York Pass at the Tourist Office near the Minster, just outside the city walls. Since we were leaving for Germany the next day we chose the one-day pass. It was £17 (right around $30 at the current exchange rate) for each of our passes.
The York Pass provides for some of York’s most popular attractions such as the City Sightseeing bus tour, York Brewery, York Dungeon, York Model Railway (free already, but offers sound guide free), and York Minster. If you purchase the multi-day pass, you can also see some sites outside of York, such as Castle Howard, Eden Camp, World of James Herriot, Yorkshire Air Museum and various abbeys and castles in the area.
We used our passes first for the York Minster. Due to a fire alarm going off we didn’t get to go down to the Undercroft and Crypt since they evacuated the building. We never did go back. We also used it for the bus tour, Clifford’s Tower, and Fairfax House. It is actually tough to get your money’s worth unless you have a whole day to sightsee.
The card does offer budget sightseeing if you really keep moving all day. Feel like biking? Europcar offers bikes for £5 per day from their office in the train station. Want to catch up on your email? The Gateway Internet Café-Bar offers up to an hour free internet time with your pass and Starbucks offers a two-for-one drink (and it will still be overpriced!).
The Tourist Office offers many other things besides the York Pass. Here you can find brochures for many area activities as well as a couple of shelves with many maps, books and guides for area sights. The friendly staff at the office will also make hotel bookings and give superb advice about all of York. You can post your postcards and even purchase tickets for some events and sights here, too.
Overall, I would highly recommend the York Pass if you are planning on seeing many of the sights anyways. To get your money’s worth out of it, though, you really have to keep moving all day. If you plan on being in the area for more than one day, it seems to me that the best option is to purchase the two or three-day pass. It is only 5.50 more online or 8 more in person for a two-day pass. This will allow you to see something away from the city like Castle Howard (admission here is £9.50 for adults and £6.50 for children) or Eden Camp (admission is £4.50 for adults and £3.50 for children).