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The downtown area of York is very compact and walkable. It’s also a very safe city. Therefore, really any area around Old Town York is great for nesting. We’d really suggest a flat that is within comfortable walking

distance to the Old Town for you, so you will have to decide how much you want to walk. The flats in the pedestrian zones of Old Town of course would be more expensive to stay.  We avoided the areas around the train station because we were afraid they would be noisy, but once we arrived, we realized that the trains were very quiet and it really wasn’t an issue. The noisiest areas actually were in the pedestrian zones, but only on the weekends. York is a destination for lots of British students to party on the weekends, so you may want to avoid a flat right near a disco or bar that is frequented by students.

Probably the biggest downside of York is the cost of lodging, so if you’re on a budget, here’s where you will need to spend some time and energy to negotiate with your landlord. If you really need to save, you may want to consider a flat on one of the bus routes and take buses into town. York’s buses are safe, clean and reliable, and monthly passes are available for £44 per person. Personally, we loved living within walking distance to the Old Town, but if you can save enough on the flat to pay for monthly bus passes plus cover the inconvenience of being out of town a bit, it might be worth it for you.

We got our flat through a company called The Fixer.  They were wonderful to work with and we were able to negotiate an affordable rate for the time we were there because of the length and timing of our stay. We stayed in two of their flats – one was a larger, two bedroom unit that we stayed in for two weeks while my father visited us. When he left, we moved to a smaller, one bedroom unit to save a little money. The units were high end, clean and well-equipped.

The first place we stayed was about four blocks west of the walled city, on Clifton Bootham street, near the hospital. It’s an area of stately old homes and lots of bed and breakfasts. We could see the Minster out our living room window, and it was only a very short walk through the very picturesque Bootham Bar (city wall gate) to the old town. My 80 yr. old father who walks with a cane could handle the distance to Old Town very easily. Our second flat was in a modern apartment building on Skeltergate Street, Centurian Square, just south of the river. This was a great location – even closer to Old Town and very accessible to everything, yet in a more residential area. It had a lovely garden area, an elevator and a place to park bikes. Our only warning would be that in our east-facing apartment we never needed to turn on the heat in October and November – we imagine it could be quite warm in hotter months.