A Historic City Break (York in General)

Member Name: nixtee

Product:	York in General
Date:	23/08/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: York Pass, history, beautiful city, plenty to do & see

Disadvantages: The British Weather

York is a walled city situated in North Yorkshire, England and lies on the rivers Ouse and Foss. Being in existence since before 100AD, the city has a wealth of history and this is easily visible when visiting the city.

Mum & I had decided to have a "Mother & Daughter" 3 day trip somewhere this summer and in the end we decided on a trip to York. I'd been there once before on a day trip and Mum had been a couple of times, so we thought it would be nice to spend a few days there doing touristy things and having a general wander round.

It was Mum's job to book the train tickets (which turned out to be roughly £45 each for a return from Shrewsbury to York) and my job to book the hotel. We needed something situated in the centre but wasn't too expensive. I chose the Ramada Encore York situated on Micklegate in the centre of the city. The hotel is just over the bridge from the main shopping area of the city, which was one reason for choosing it, the other was that for £196 we got 2 nights accommodation, continental breakfast and a 2 day York Pass each. Despite being a city centre hotel, we weren't bothered by city noise or traffic.

Having now used a York Pass, I would say that it is invaluable and a must when planning a tourist trip to York. The York Pass enables you to enter many attractions & museums in and beyond York for free. Discounts for other places, including tourist buses, shops & eateries are also included in the York Pass. The York Pass is a credit card type pass and comes with a guide (a small book). If we'd have paid separately for our 2 York Passes it would have cost us £38 each. This may seem expensive, but I can tell you that we'd have paid more than that for the attractions we visited in 1 afternoon! In all, over the 2 days if we'd have paid to go into the attractions, instead of using the York Pass, we'd have paid nearly £80! Our York Pass was included in our hotel stay, but they can also be bought online at www.yorkpass.com or at the Visitor Information Centres in York. Current prices are:

1 Day £28 (adult) or £18 (child)
2 Day £38 (adult) or £22 (child)
3 Day £44 (adult) or £26 (child)
6 Day £68 (adult) or £44 (child)

Getting around York city centre is easy as many of the attractions and shops are right in the centre. We mainly walked round the city, but we did go on the York City Sightseeing Tour Bus on the 2nd day of our trip. This should have cost us £10 each, but it was just £5 each using our York Passes. This open-top bus tour took us on a 45 minute tour of the city, complete with a running commentary. The bus ticket is valid for 24 hours, so you can get on the bus as many times as you like and board or alight from any of the 20 stops around the city. There is another bus company doing tours of the city and this is the York Pullman City Tours, but we didn't go on this one having already chosen the York City Sightseeing Tour. There are also many normal buses travelling around the city during the day and evening.

Another mode of transport is the riverboats. Using our York Passes we went on the Yorkboat Daytime City Cruise down the River Ouse. The Captain provided a running commentary as we went up & down the river. We sat on the open-top deck, but refreshments were available inside.

During the daytime we visited attractions such as Barley Hall (a medieval townhouse), Fairfax House (a historic house museum), JORVIK Viking Centre (see my separate review for this), Merchants Adventurers' Hall (a preserved medieval guild hall - also see my separate review for this), the National Railway Museum, The Roman Bath (a small museum beneath a pub!), the Quilt Museum & Gallery (says it all, really), York Castle Museum, (surprisingly, not a museum about York Castle, but instead a wonderful trip down Memory Lane and beyond), Yorkshire Museum and York Minster (not to be missed). While in the evening we took a walk around the city and through the Museum Gardens (which houses a ruined abbey and many squirrels!). The city walls are there to be walked, but aren't for people who don't like heights as at times there isn't a guard rail on one side! There are also one or two ghost walks on in the evenings and these seem quite popular (we ran into one and there was well over 100 people following a guide around!).

The city is beautiful and history and you'll see this while walking around the city. Exploring the streets is a must as you just don't know what wonders you can find while going down some of the smaller streets. A visit to York is not complete without a walk through "The Shambles", a narrow historic street (it's said to be the oldest street!) in the city. The 15th century buildings lean into the street, making it seem even narrower. There are all sorts of little shops in this street, particularly local ones... you won't find WH Smith's or Boots here. One thing I will say is that I'd advise you come here early on in the day as the street just gets busier and busier as the day goes on.

York Minster in another place you should visit early on in the day. We went at 9am and there were only a handful of others visiting at that time, so we didn't have people getting in our way (as the Minster is a very popular place in York).

One thing I noticed about York is that there are many places to eat & drink throughout the day and evening. We ate breakfast at the hotel, but chose to eat out the rest of the time. One lunchtime we visited Jacks Cafe and had a lovely (and quite large!) salad and another lunchtime we went to York Hogroast and I got a roast dinner in a Yorkshire pudding, while Mum had a roast pork bap. One evening we went to a Whetherspoons and another we went to Mr Chippy's restaurant (see my review for that). There are plenty of eateries and pubs to suit everyone's tastes!

So to round this up, if you're looking for a city break in the UK I would definitely recommend York as a great city break. There's plenty to do and see, and it's an interesting place.

Summary: Enjoy an interesting break in this lovely city.