The historic city centre is compact and almost everything worth seeing is within comfortable walking distance. The city walls make a natural orientation circuit — walking the full perimeter takes about an hour and gives you a clear sense of the city's layout and scale. From the walls you can see the Minster, the river, the railway station, and the relationship between the different areas of the old city. Most visitors do all their sightseeing on foot.
Cycling is popular, and several hire shops near the railway station offer bikes by the day. The riverside paths along both banks of the Ouse are straightforward cycling routes that connect the city centre to Rowntree Park and beyond. The city centre itself has busy pedestrian streets where cycling is restricted or prohibited. Buses are less useful to tourists than in many cities — the centre is small enough that you rarely need one — but services run frequently to the Park and Ride sites and to outlying areas. Taxis are readily available near the station.