York is a beautiful historic city in the north of England. You may want to spend some extra time in York before or after the arts festival to look around the sights, from the old city walls to the varied shops. York is about two hours by train from London, Edinburgh or Manchester. Book early for cheap fares. York is also served by good motorway links.
Overseas visitors can fly to Leeds/Bradford or Manchester airports.
Find out more at the York Tourism website: http://www.visityork.org/
The tourist office site has travel info including maps of York. The City Area map shows the racecourse at the bottom: http://www.visityork.org/information/mapcitycentre.htm