Exploring York in Your First Week

Moving to a big, new city is a huge thing for a lot of people and can be quite overwhelming. However, York is a beautiful city that allows you to feel at home very quickly and for you to have fun exploring whenever you have free time from studying.  

The Landmarks: 

I know for me, when I first started, exploring a new city on my own felt very daunting; however, York’s landmarks really allow for a nice homely first impression. A good example of this is the city walls just outside the Uni, where you can see the minster just off in the distance. This gives you a good starting point to be able to explore the city as they aren’t far from the University, especially since the city walls take you to many different parts of the city. Another landmark that helped me to feel more excited about the city is The Shambles and its market. The cosy streets created this very welcoming atmosphere for me, and with many different shops to explore, the streets really allow you to become comfortable with the environment. 

Food and Drink: 

On my first day moving into my flat, I remember unpacking took a lot of work and I wanted to take a break, lucky for us students, there are plenty of places to get a coffee or have food across the city. The places I usually go to for coffee usually consist of 200 Degrees Coffee which is a cosy shop just by York Minster, or there are a few other places down Fossgate which are also very nice such as Rise. 

For food, there are some very nice places to get treats from and some lovely restaurants. One place you can go to for cheap treats is Thomas the Baker and there is two in town. There are lots of deals which allow for student friendly treats to use for motivation when studying. A restaurant I take family to when they visit York is Caeser’s which is a great Italian restaurant not far from university. It is also relatively close to the city centre which allows for a nice break when exploring the city. 

Making Exploring and Navigating Easier: 

What is great about learning the streets of York is that everything is relatively close together, this way you can easily walk around the city to get place to place. Which is also more student friendly as it means less money spent on transport. Although there are sightseeing buses across the city which might be a more effective way to show you around the city depending on what works for you. 

As much as exploring a new place can be intimidating or exciting or however you feel about it, remember you have plenty of time to figure the city out and once you start university and meet people, there will be all kinds of opportunities to explore the city. Don’t feel you have to find and know where everything is straight away!