Selby

On Market Place, free to enter with a suggested donation of a few pounds, usually open from mid-morning to around 4pm. Founded 1069, gutted by fire in 1906 and rebuilt. Find the fifteenth-century window carrying the Washington family arms — stars and stripes, and an ancestor of George Washington.

The canal leaves the Ouse at the basin near Ousegate lock and runs five flat miles south-west to West Haddlesey, where it joins the Aire. It is dead level, popular with dog walkers and anglers, and the best way to get out of town on foot. Turn back at Burn Bridge for a two-hour round trip.

Off Scott Road, five minutes' walk from Market Place: a Victorian park with a bandstand, mature limes, tennis courts and a play area. It is where the town actually goes on a Sunday. Free, open dawn to dusk, and a genuinely pleasant place to eat something bought on Gowthorpe.

Stand on the Ouse Bridge at the end of Ousegate around high water and watch the river run backwards — the tide reaches this far inland. The road bridge still swings for shipping heading upstream. Ten minutes of proper river-town theatre, and it costs nothing.

From Selby station, direct services reach York in about fourteen minutes and Leeds in around twenty-five, with London King's Cross a shade over two hours on the through Hull services. Buy an off-peak return, spend the day inside the walls and come back to a room costing half the York rate.

The town hall on York Street runs a surprisingly serious programme of touring folk, jazz, comedy and film — tickets typically £12–£18. It is the one place in town where you might see a name you recognise on a Wednesday. Check the listings before you book your dates; it is not open nightly.

Selby station sits five minutes from Market Place and does most of the work: York in fourteen minutes, Leeds in about twenty-five, Hull in roughly fifty, and direct London King's Cross trains via Hull services in a little over two hours. Drivers come in on the A63 from the M62 (junction 34) or the A19 from York, twenty-five minutes north. Parking in town is cheap by North Yorkshire standards, with the Market Place and Portholme Road car parks both a short walk from the abbey. Local buses to York, Goole and the surrounding villages leave from the bus stops beside the station, roughly hourly on weekdays and much thinner on Sundays. Everything central is walkable and flat; you will not need a taxi.

It is the best-value one on this side of the city. Trains take fourteen minutes and run frequently through the day, and a double room costs roughly half what the same standard fetches inside York's walls. The catch is the last train back — check it before you book a late dinner, especially on Sundays.

Entry is free with a suggested donation, typically around £3–£4 per adult, and it is generally open to visitors from mid-morning until about 4pm, subject to services. Occasional tower tours and events are ticketed separately. It is a working parish church, so a wedding or funeral can close it at short notice.

No, if you are staying in the town centre and travelling by train. Yes, if you want to reach the Wolds, the coast or the villages around Cawood and Sherburn, where bus links are sparse and stop early. Parking is easy and inexpensive, so bringing a car costs you little if you have one.

Enough, not lots. You will find pub food, a couple of good curry houses, an Italian or two and takeaways along Gowthorpe and Micklegate, with most kitchens closing around 9pm midweek. For anything more ambitious, take the train to York and eat there, or drive fifteen minutes to the country inns toward Hambleton.