If you have kids obsessed with things that go…from trains to tractors and cars to buses, we’ve rounded up all the brilliant places in York and beyond that you can see vehicles of all shapes and sizes!If you are looking for a transport-themed day out or just a quick trip to check out some trains, tractors or even planes for your vehicle loving child, this is the list for you! Have a browse through the blog, or use these links to jump to the following sections below depending on your child’s favourite method of transport:
With its displays of tractors and agricultural machinery, ride on tractors to use, and annual events such as steam rallies and vintage car meets, Murton Park is a must-visit for the young tractor fan! There’s also a tractor double-whammy with the train rides available on every Sunday from Easter until the end of September at the on-site Derwent Valley Light Railway (included in admission).
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ Plenty of ride-on tractors, including smaller pushalong ones for younger children.
✅ Admission prices give unlimited return visits for 12 months!
✅ An on-site cafe, plus plenty of picnic tables if you choose to bring your own food.
✅ Makaton friendly – Murton Park has been awarded Bronze Makaton Friendly Accreditation.
✅ The outdoor play area (with sandpit, mud kitchen, swings, playhouse and more) is always a huge hit with kids, and the inside play barn with role play area and separate small soft play area for Under 5s is a bonus!
✅ There really is somethings for everyone here – from farm animals to the living history areas (Viking village, Roman fort and prehistoric sites).
🎟 £14 adult / £12 children / under 2s free. Passes last for 12 months for return visits.
📍 Murton Lane, Murton YO19 5UF
ℹ️ Find more information on Murton Park on our featured listing here!
Seek out a tractor run!If it’s summer in Yorkshire. there’s usually a tractor rally to be found somewhere in the countryside! These organised events, often for charity, see several tractors parading through the countryside on a pre-designated route. Find a suitable place to station yourself along the route, and wait for the tractors to roll by! Some of the larger events can see around 300 tractors involved. There are also sometimes night rallies near Christmas where the tractors are decorated with fairy lights. Search “tractor run” on social media and you’re bound to find something!
TractorFestAn unmissable annual event for any tractor fan! The UK’s largest vintage tractor & engine show, with hundreds of tractors in one place, is held every summer at Newby Hall near Ripon. PLUS the tickets give you access to Newby Hall and Gardens (with its miniature railway for extra transport points!). More info can be found here.
You can also sit on toy tractors or ride toy tractors at the following places (admission charges may apply):
🚜 Murton Park – pedal tractors and toddler ride-ons
🚜 The Balloon Tree Cafe – large and small tractor-shaped climbing units (also electric go karts);
🚜 Piglets – ride on tractors and also pedal go-karts, as well as the tractor-trailer ride to the indoor playbarn;
🚜 Woldies – a life-sized tractor that you can sit on in the play area;
🚜 Jubilee Park, Fangfoss has a wooden tractor and trailer to play on.
🚜 Stockeld Park has tractor shaped equipment in one of the outdoor play areas.
🚜 Knapton play area has a tractor-shaped climbing unit/slide to play on – see it on our Playgrounds A-Z listings here.
National Railway MuseumWe’re lucky enough in York to have probably the best train museums in the country! Home to iconic locomotives and beautiful collections, you can wander through halls and explore the stories, places and engineering marvels behind the railways. See world-changing inventions like the Japanese Bullet Train and stand face-to-face with the world’s fastest steam locomotive, Mallard.
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ The main part of the museum with all the trains is completely FREE!
✅ There’s a train-themed play area.
✅ The NRM also houses the fantastic hands-on “Wonderlab” STEM exhibit, which is amazing for small and big kids alike! Read our Mumbler review here. (Please note that Wonderlab is paid admission).
✅ There’s also a lovely cafe.
✅ It’s a great rainy day activity in the centre of the city.
✅ Kids love to watch the model railway set up in one of the galleries.
🎟 FREE (although donations appreciated).
📍 Leeman Road, York, Y026 4XJ
ℹ️ More information here.
Other places to get your train fix in York…🚂 Trainmaster sessions: Trainmaster North and East Yorkshire runs train-themed events and private parties for children. More details on their facebook page here.
🚝 DVLR at Murton Park: train rides available every Sunday from Easter until the end of September at the on-site Derwent Valley Light Railway (included in admission). More details here.
🚅 York Station: for a free activity for your little trainspotter, just head to York Station and sit on the platform! Grab a coffee and watch the trains arrive and depart from the station.
🚂 North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR) – Just 26 miles from York. Take the steam train from Pickering Station to Goathland, Grosmont and through to Whitby over 24 miles of beautiful Yorkshire Scenery. Family friendly bonus: did you know that Goathland Station was used as the setting for Hogsmeade Station in the Harry Potter films? Find more Harry Potter interest in and around York on our special blog on “Magical York” here!
🚂 Woldies and Newby Hall both have a miniature railway on site that goes around their grounds.
🚂 York Model Engineers in Dringhouses has three different miniature railways in landscaped woodland grounds on the outskirts of York alongside the East Coast Main Line. Whilst it is usually for members only, there are public running days periodically through the year where anyone can visit and have a free ride on the trains. More details of forthcoming dates on their facebook page here.
🚂 For a free bit of trainspotting for young kids, why not take a walk to the far end of Millennium Green in Poppleton? It’s a lovely short walk suitable for little legs (also possible with a buggy for the most part) – go towards the far end near the pond area (beware of the open water), and you can see trains pass by several times an hour on the main line from York station. See number 13 on our Family Friendly walks blog here for more details! You can tied this in with feeding the ducks on the duckpond at the start of the walk.
Train spotting at Poppleton Millennium Green
From vintage vehicles to special supercars, you can see them all near York!
The Motorist, Sherburn in ElmetStrictly speaking, not a children’s attraction; however, carefully supervised children are welcome at this excellent meet up venue for car enthusiasts across the Yorkshire region. Every Saturday, they hold a themed meet (Rally Car Week; Supercars Week; Japanese Cars week; Modified Cars Week etc) where people bring their vehicles to show off (parked up – no racing).
It’s a drop in event so you have to take your chances and turn up to see what’s parked up there, but there’s usually something interesting for the young petrolhead! And the cafe and restaurant are both great – come for the cars, stay for lunch!
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ You can see people showing off some pretty special cars here – for free!
✅ The cafe does a great range of breakfast butties and cakes; and the on-site Arnage restaurant does excellent meals. Lovely spot for brunch!
🎟 Free to attend, open 7 days a week.
📍 Lennerton Lane, Sherburn in Elmet, LS25 6JE
ℹ️ Keep track of their weekly events on their facebook page here.
🚓 In the summer months, there are often vintage and classic car shows and rallies at venues across Yorkshire on weekend dates (especially around Father’s Day in June). Keep an eye out for shows at Murton Park, Castle Howard, Scampston Hall, Yorkshire Air Museum etc.
🚗 Elvington Runway often hosts family-friendly supercar and sports car shows. It will be hosting Ultimate Supercars show in August (details in the dates section below).
🏎 Straightliners Events also organises various themed shows at Elvington Runway and Melbourne Raceway. Under 16s are often free.
Formerly known as York Motorsports Village, the go karting centre at Monks Cross became part of the national Teamworks brand earlier in 2024. It continues to offer great opportunities for y0ungsters to drive go karts (including junior and mini karts) around the track, as well as offering party packages for the young driving enthusiast!
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ It’s the only proper karting circuit in North Yorkshire!
✅ Unlike certain other venues, specific cadet and bambino karts are available for younger drivers, making driving dreams come true for your junior karting hero. Bambino karts are for age 4-8 years and are proper petrol karts (pictured above).
✅ Children’s parties available (now including Saturdays)! There’s also a party room.
✅ There are also turn up and drive sessions for age 8 upwards on certain days of the week.
🎟 Price: Ad hoc sessions for age 8 up – £33 for 30 mins (Tuesday); £36.95 for 30 mins (Mon/Wed/Thurs). Birthday party packages priced on demand.
📍Kathryn Avenue, Monks Cross, York
ℹ️ More information can be found on the Teamworks website here. Follow them on facebook here.
At certain times of year (pick your own season, usually including pumpkin season), the Balloon Tree opens its “Track Out Back”. This is a large custom car track with token operated jeeps. Children can enjoy driving alongside their friends, siblings and parents round the sweeps and bends of the track. It is suitable from ages 3 and up, although those under 7 will need an adult to drive them. This is a “turn up and drive”, and you need to purchase tokens in the shop or the PYO cabin (check on arrival).
📍 The Balloon Tree Farm Shop and PYO, on the A166, Gate Helmsley, YO41 1NB
Yorkshire Air MuseumThe UK’s largest independent aviation museum is in Elvington! Find several aircraft on site, both outside and in the hangars, as well as a cafe, gift shop and play area. The museum also offers a variety of special events throughout the year, including the ever-popular Cockpit Day where you can actually get into the cockpit of certain iconic aircraft!
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ Your ticket lasts for a whole year, so you can return at your leisure!
✅There’s a great new aeroplane-themed playground on site, opened in mid 2023.
✅There’s a special “H the Harrier” trail for kids around the site – pick up a sheet at Admissions.
✅There’s an on-site cafe.
🎟 Price: £15 per adult, £6 per child, under 4s free. Tickets last for one year from purchase so your can make return visits – bargain! (Some special events such as Cockpit Days are not included in this return ticket offer)
📍 Elvington, York YO41 4AU
ℹ️ More information on Yorkshire Air Museum can be found in our featured listing here.
✈ Sherburn Aero Club, Sherburn in Elmet (LS25 6JE) – Sherburn Aero Club welcomes visitors from near and far, aviators, enthusiasts or those just looking for a fun day out with the family. You can view small planes take off and land whilst enjoying the newly refurbished Digby’s Cafe and aeroplane themed children’s play area. There’s also a shop stocked with a range of aviation themed items including children’s toys. It’s right next to The Motorist car cafe listed in the Cars section above, so why not get your car fix as well whilst you’re out!
On our last visit (May 2024), as well as aeroplane and look out tower themed climbing frames, there was also a sandpit with some toy vehicles, giant Connect 4, giant Lego blocks and giant Jenga.
✈ Further afield? Aeroplane Watching at Leeds Bradford Airport
You can view planes taking off from and landing at Leeds Bradford Airport from a few different places nearby without going into the airport itself – the Multiflight Cafe, Yeadon Tarn, and Hawthorne Farm pub. More details on our listing here.
City CruisesCity Cruises York offers both sightseeing cruises on large boats down the River Ouse, and also self-drive boats if you fancy playing captain! You can even visit Santa on the boat for a special Christmas experience…
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ Get to see York from a different perspective!
✅ City Cruises has offers for Mumblers on both its sightseeing cruises and self-drive boats – discount codes can be found here (T&Cs apply).
📍 Departures from King’s Staith and Lendal Bridge landings.
ℹ️ Find more details here.
Why not head down to any of these spots by the river to watch the boats go by?
🚤 Bishopthorpe Marina
🚤 Naburn Lock
🚤 Millenium Bridge, York
🚤 Pocklington Canal boat trips – Pocklington Canal Amenity Society runs short 30 minute boat trips along Pocklington Canal from Melbourne Arm (YO42 4QJ) every Sunday and Bank Holiday from Easter until the end of October. No booking required. Trips start around 12 noon and the last trip is around 4.15pm (no fixed timetable). Please park considerately in Melbourne village and walk down the lane beside the pub. More information here.
🚝 MonkBar Model ShopA special mention for this absolute gem – a specialist emporium of all things model vehicle! Established in 1963, Monk Bar Model Shop is a family owned independent model shop situated in the ancient city of York underneath Monk Bar, and is the place to go for model vehicles for kids and adults alike!
Open Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm.
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ The window display scene with its moving train(s) is always a favourite with little ones! (Note that the train may only move during opening hours).
✅ It’s got a great range of realistic model vehicles – from small die cast Siku vehicles for under a tenner, to more expensive collectibles and model kits for older children and adults.
✅ Why not tie it in with a walk around a child-friendly section of York Walls from Monkbar to Bootham Bar?
🎟 Looking at the always-brilliant window display is a quick free activity with the kids if you are passing!
📍 2 Goodramgate, York, YO1 7LQ (under MonkBar and a couple of minutes away from the Minster)
ℹ️ More information here.
The following are slightly further afield but still within easy reach of York.
Hull Street Life MuseumAll aboard! Find 200 years of transport history all under one roof! The museum is jam-packed with historic cars, bicycles and carriages for your little ones to explore. You can even hop aboard a vintage tram (stationary).
⭐️ Why it’s great ⭐️
✅ It’s free!
✅ Also within an easy walk with a buggy from The Deep, to add something else to a day trip to Hull.
🎟 FREE! (Although donations always welcome).
📍 High Street, Hull, HU1 1PS.
ℹ️ More details here.
Diggerland YorkshireA digger theme park experience, where children and adults alike can ride, drive and operate REAL diggers, dumpers and other full- size construction machinery! Height restrictions apply – please check before booking.
🎟 Admission fee applies.
📍 Diggerland Yorkshire, Willowbridge Lane, Castleford, West Yorkshire WF10 5NW
ℹ️ More details here.
Whether your child is into planes, trains or automobiles, Yorkshire’s calendar is always full of special events for the vehicle lover. Here are some key dates for the diary in 2025 in and around York:
More 2025 dates will be added as soon as we find them! If you have any local transport dates, car shows etc to tell us about that may interest our family audience, please email details to [email protected].
We hope you enjoy a brilliant transport-themed day out in York, whatever type of vehicle you love! Tractors, trains, buses, cars or planes!
Blog last updated 28 December 2024.
