York named Britain’s most summer-friendly city – thanks to all its free attractions

After being heralded as Britain’s best place to live by the Sunday Times earlier this year, York has another accolade.

It has now been named the most summer-friendly city to visit in Britain, thanks to its number of free activities.

These include York landmarks like the city walls, parks, free walking tours and the National Railway Museum.

Our relatively large collection of freebies saw York beat other big tourist destinations such as Bath and Edinburgh to the top spot.

The research, conducted for Wonga UK, ranked cities by comparing the number of free activities per 100,000 population, to ensure the locations were equally weighted by size. York scored 13, with Brighton second on 11.

Most affordable city

The research was commissioned after the average spend per trip on domestic British holidays reached £239, according to the Great Britain Tourism Survey last December.

The index says of York: “The small city with a population of just 182,000 has the choice of 14 landmarks, eight museums and three parks to enjoy in the centre.”

In contrast Britain’s largest cities, Birmingham and London, placed ninth and tenth respectively.

Head of UK marketing at Wonga James McMaster said:

• It’s great to see smaller cities such as York and Brighton and Hove coming out top as the most summer friendly and affordable cities.