Join Me On The York Nutcracker Trail 2025

To celebrate this Christmas season, I explored the York Nutcracker trail with all the family!

Held annually in York Center, these spectacular statues scattered around our beloved city centre offer a free, fun activity for all the family.

Hopefully, I can find them all before Santa pays me a visit.

📷 Want to see photos of every single statue from the York Nutcracker Trail? Luckily for you, I took the photos!  Jump to my gallery now!

What Is The York Nutcracker Trail?

The York Bid has collaborated with artist Marc Godfrey-Murphy from MarcoLooks to create the Nutcracker Trail for this year.

It consists of 10 different Nutcrackers statues which you can find all around York Town Center which are each designed to represent a different country around the world.

They have worked alongside the city hub to help and support newly arriving migrants to feel safe and healthy in York, as well as adding brail to the collars of the nutcrackers so that people with certain disabilities can still take part

My Experience On York Nutcracker Trail

The trail took us about an hour and half to complete as they were very spread out amongst the all the shops and you always get distracted looking at all the amazing attractions, but overall, locating them wasn’t an issue.

I also recently completed the York Cat Trail which is very similar to The York Nutcracker Trail despite their been many more and harder to find!

We used the map York Bid provides but if your anything like and are useless at navigating your way round i recommend using our helpful clues below.

Overall, the kids loved adventuring round the city in hunt of these amazing Nutcracker but also allowing myself to see the amazing festive attractions at zero cost.

My Nutcracker Trail Clues

1. the first one can be found at the entrance of the York Museum Gardens through the large black gate at the end of Lendal Street, there you can also find lots of fun activities and scenery.
2. The second can be found along Coney Street, on the way to Lendal Street, here you can find some of my favorite shops like T4 and Waterstones.
3. The third one can be found on Swinegate, heading towards Stonegate, where you can stop into lots of small cafes or clothing shops.
4. The fourth one can be found around the center of Goodramgate where there are shops like The Travelling Man and The Old York Tearoom.
5. The fifth one can be found outside of the castle walls, facing Monkgate, where the main ‘entrance’ for the town center is.
6. The sixth one lies on the intercept of Aldwalk Street and Stonebow Street, why not browse along both of them while you’re there?
7. The seventh one can be found next to the river along Picadilly, placed about halfway along the street for all to see.
8. The eighth one can be found on a small street near Skeldergate, close to the River Ouse and lots of places to grab a bite to eat.
9. The ninth one can be located along Micklegate, near the start of Priory Street and the Jorvik Viking Centre.
10. last but not least, the tenth one can be found along the castle walls next to Rougier Street, to finish the experience.

Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting The Trail

• Avoid Parliament Street especially on Weekends
• Wrap up warm, this takes place November – December, it will be chilly.
• Visit Thor’s Tent for a warm drink and one of the only places with free toilet facilities
• Take pictures, you only get this experience once a year so make the most of it with your loved ones.
• Cheapest and most convenient parking is Q-Parking Shambles
• It can be a lot of walking so be prepared and give yourself enough time to complete

Info & Map

• 📅 14 November 2025 – 1 January 2026

• 🔗 Official Website Here…

York Nutcracker Trail Gallery

👉 Tap to view them larger and open in a new tab 📷

Enjoy 😊