Getting Around York by Chauffeur

The A64 is the main artery, running from the A1 at Bramham north east towards York and continuing to Malton and Scarborough. It is a mixture of dual and single carriageway, and the sections near York carry a great deal of traffic. The Hopgrove junction where it meets the outer ring road is a long-standing bottleneck and is the point most likely to add time to your journey.

The A1237 outer ring road runs around the northern and western sides and has been the subject of long-running improvement work. The A19 runs north to south through the city, the A59 comes in from Harrogate, and the A166 from the Wolds in the east. None of these are fast roads once they approach the city.

From London the road journey is commonly around four to four and a half hours via the A1(M), and most guests prefer the train from King's Cross with a car meeting them at York. Leeds is generally around forty five minutes to an hour, and Harrogate around forty five minutes on the A59.

The historic core operates as footstreets, closed to vehicles during the middle of the day and controlled by rising bollards at the entry points. Stonegate, Shambles, Petergate and the streets around the Minster fall within that area. Outside the restricted hours access is possible in places, but waiting is another matter entirely and loading restrictions are enforced.

The city gateways, known locally as bars, are medieval arches with limited height and width. Micklegate Bar, Monk Bar and Bootham Bar all constrain what can pass through them and where. This is one of the few English cities where the physical dimensions of the vehicle are a live consideration rather than a theoretical one.

The practical effect is that we set down at the nearest permitted point outside the footstreet area and you walk in. In York this is a genuine pleasure rather than a compromise, because the distances are short and the walk is through some of the finest streets in the country.

York station sits just outside the walls to the west, with a frontage on Station Road and a short-stay area that handles taxis and set-down. It is busy, particularly when several long-distance services arrive together, and the approach can back up. We agree a collection point beforehand and send the vehicle details rather than leaving you scanning a rank.

The station is a short walk from the Minster and the centre through Museum Gardens or over Lendal Bridge, which is a pleasant introduction to the city with light luggage and less so with cases. For hotels inside the walls we choose the set-down point on the basis of the entrance rather than the postcode.

For guests arriving from London, rail into York with a chauffeur meeting the train and staying for the day is by far the most sensible arrangement. It avoids four hours on the A1 and puts the car where it is genuinely valuable, which is on the roads out into the county.

York Racecourse sits on the Knavesmire south of the centre, and race days fill the southern approaches, the Bishopthorpe Road corridor and much of the city centre parking. The Ebor Festival in August is the busiest of these, and the effect on the roads begins in the late morning and continues long after the last race.

The Christmas market through late November and December brings very large numbers into a walled centre with limited capacity, and the surrounding streets and car parks fill from mid-morning at weekends. On those dates we set down further out and allow considerably more time. Weekend afternoons through December are the hardest of all, and an earlier lunch reservation does more for the shape of the day than any clever choice of route.

Flooding is the other York constant. The Ouse and the Foss rise after sustained rain, and when they do the riverside roads close, sometimes for several days. We monitor the situation on any winter booking and reroute rather than attempt a road that is under water, which happens more often here than in most English cities.

York is superbly placed for the county. Castle Howard is around twenty five to thirty five minutes north east, the North York Moors begin within the hour, and Whitby is commonly an hour and a half. The Dales lie west, with Grassington and Bolton Abbey around an hour and a quarter, and Harrogate sits between at around forty five minutes.

These are the drives where the car is unambiguously the right choice. The moor roads are narrow, exposed and affected by weather, the Dales lanes are single track in places with stone walls on both sides, and the villages have almost no parking. A chauffeur who has driven them before makes a substantial difference to how the day feels.

For airports, Leeds Bradford is commonly around an hour, and Manchester around two hours to two and a quarter depending on the M62. Newcastle is a similar distance north. As always we will give an honest opinion on which suits your flight rather than simply naming the nearest.