York’s red city sightseeing buses gear up for a busy Easter

City’s leading open-top tour plans more trips, more often all summer long

York’s leading open top bus tour, CitySightseeing York, is to boost its service to four trips per hour, seven days a week as the historic city prepares to welcome thousands of visitors this Easter.

The famous bright red buses give a bird’s eye view of many of York’s best-loved landmarks and sights, including the Minster, Clifford’s Tower and the final resting place of legendary highwayman Dick Turpin.

Now the tour bus firm, which showcased the city to a record-breaking 50,000 customers in summer 2023, is gearing up to run its circular trips every 15 minutes through the day, seven days a week from this Saturday, 23 March.

The move will deliver a welcome boost to York’s visitor attractions ahead of the Easter weekend, which traditionally marks the start of the Spring and Summer tourism season.

City Sightseeing York General Manager Kel Pizzuti said: “Everyone here is looking forward to introducing visitors old and new to the sights that make York unique, such as York Minster, Clifford’s Tower, the Castle Museum and many more.

“Even though last summer brought us mixed weather to say the least, our hard-working team placed us in top five fastest growing tours in the entire CitySightseeing network in the UK and Ireland – and in October, tourism agency VisitEngland named us Yorkshire’s Best Told Story.

“With the daffodils coming out and – we hope – the weather improving, we’re all set to introduce our Spring and Summer timetable, with four tours an hour from 21 stops across the city, including York Railway Station which makes us ideal for visitors arriving by train, and Exhibition Square, close to York Minster.

“We can’t wait to welcome newcomers and returning sightseers to discover York’s amazing story with us this Spring and Summer.”

Each year, VisitEngland highlights attractions across the country that deliver the best visitor experience with its Attractions Accolades. The Best Told Story title is awarded to attractions that tell their stories in a memorable and creative way to give visitors an entertaining day out.

Just 14 winners across the country from South West England to Northumberland were  selected from hundreds of visitor attractions to receive a Best Told Story award, based on the scores achieved in annual VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme assessments.

CitySightseeing York’s tickets are valid for 24 hours, so first-time visitors can complete a full circuit of the tour route before hopping on and off to enjoy the attractions of their choice. Tours feature a mix of live guides and audio commentary available in 10 languages including a Yorkshire-voiced version.

The tour also offers a Rainy Day Guarantee for visitors who buy tickets online ahead of their arrival, who can use their tour ticket on any other day during the week following their booking if it rains on their planned tour date.

Full details of CitySightseeing York tours, timetables and tickets are available at: yorkcitysightseeing.com.