Question for people who know about York & surrounding area

[AlexaShutUp]

Teenage dd and I will be spending a few days in York next week, staying near the city centre. I have a few questions and am hoping that someone who knows the area can help!

1. Apart from the Minster, what are the absolute must-visit places in the city? We quite like just mooching around and don't have loads of time, so don't want to go into full-on sightseeing mode, but don't want to miss anything really good either!

1. We'd really like to spend a day outside the city walking in the dales. There are package day trips that offer this, but I am wondering if we can just hop on a bus/train to somewhere instead. Are there any nice spots for walking that would be easily reachable via public transport?

1. Is there anywhere that you would recommend in the city centre for a nice afternoon tea one day?

Any other suggestions more than welcome! TIA!

For afternoon tea I would go to Gray's Court

www.grayscourtyork.com/

It's just behind the Minster and is lovely inside. You might have to phone to check they are doing it as they close sometimes for weddings. Also the York Cocoa House opposite the Assembly Rooms does a great chocolate based afternoon tea.

For walks I would catch the Coastliner bus to Whitby which goes over the Moors and you can get off in Pickering, the Hole of Horcum etc. Or get the train to Harrogate and get a bus from there to the Dales

The Bar Convent museum is really interesting. Fairfax house is also lovely.

I would probably take a bus to Castle Howard for the day and walk there/see the house rather than trying for anything else on a short trip on public transport.

I don’t rate Bettys either.

The railway museum is a good option particularly as it's free, unlike pretty much everything else.

Pickering and Goathland is the Yorkshire Moors not the Wolds. It's a nice day out in the summer, but you'd need good weather in the winter. If you wanted to combine a walk with sightseeing a different option would be to take a bus to Helmsley and then walk to Rievaulx Abbey, which are the most spectacular abbey ruins I've visited.

If the Christmas shop has gone, I am pleased. They sold golliewogs there. I was horrified, put my full basket down, and never went back. The manager just shrugged at me and said they were popular 😔

Have a walk on the city walls, OP. It's a great way to see the city.

I hope the Christmas shop hasn't gone - I spent several wonderful hours anda truckloadofmoney there last summer, and was already planning to return this year just to visit. It's a four hour journey to get there, so too long to travel if it's closed. That said, I love York and have visited many times. There are lots of lovely little shops, the Castle museum, Yorvik etc are well worth a visit. Thomas the Bakers for curd tarts and cheese straws. Don't know about public transport I'm afraid as we drive. Eden Camp museum is great if it's something that interests you. The train at Pickering is a lovely ride. Goathland is pretty enough, but personally, I found it a bit 'sad' last time we visited, the Heartbeat merchandise is quite tired looking now and I felt the village needed to be promoting itself more on how it is still worth a visit despite the Heartbeat connection, rather than because of it iyswim.

If you want to go to Jorvik you can book timed slots. They have two queues and you simply arrive 5 mins before your allotted time and walk straight in.

If it’s a nice day, buy cakes at the smaller Betty’s shop and have them outside in the museum grounds.

Pickering and Goathland are lovely but it’s about a 1.5 hour bus ride to get to Pickering. I’d grab a train to Thirsk, visit the James Herriot museum and do some lovely walks around there.

TBH I haven't been to Betty's in several years. It was great, but may well have changed.

The walls are fun to walk on, did the Viking centre years ago. There's a train that goes through the moors making walking quite accessible, though my parents loved the "all creatures great and small" tour, not too much walking more looking out of the coach plus a pub lunch.

If weather permits you can do a river boat trip which is quite interesting.

I think Bettys was probably fab in its day. However the produce is now made in a factory in knaresborough. The sandwiches are refrigerated and ime often soggy. I only ever go to the one at Harlow Carr when I haven’t got a choice.

Burr on Lendall does amazing sandwiches, cakes and scones. Homemade, owners on site, fab place but you sometimes have to wait for a seat.

Burr.

Go on 1 of the free walking tours. They last 3 hours but the guide on ours told us lots of fascinating history about York and brought it alive. He was very funn6 too.
I thought Betty’s was very expensive and pretentious. Wouldn’t go back. Cakes were like patisserie Valerie stuff - pleasant but a bit synthetic

Bettys is wayyyy overrated - York Cocoa House is my favourite spot, its very near the minster.

1. Jorvik Viking Museum is open agsinafter flooding. It has been for about a year I think! I havn’t been, but I am told it’s not that great, and quite expensive!

1. There are lots of little “naice” shops and independent shops around High/Low Petergate (by the minster) and Gillygate; this area makes for good pottering.

1. Definitely walk around the walls. A boat cruise is fun too on a dry day (from Lendal Bridge).

1. Of it’s York half term, the Viking festival will be on in Piccadilly.

1. If either of you are vaguely interested in Harry Potter, then The Shambles and The Shop Which Must Not be Named is a must.

1. YY train to Pickering.

1. IME Betty’s is a “fur coat and no knickers” and always has a huge queue. There are many (many!) other tearooms in York.

1. If either of you are into sewing/crafts/really old buildings, Duttons for Buttons is worth a visit.

1. If either of you are into Regency history, Fairfax house is good.,

2. YY train to Pickering

You can’t get a train to Pickering from York!

I meant bus to Pickering, but like the idea of train to Thirsk.

The railway museum do a fab afternoon tea in a carriage dressed up as a dining car. It was an absolute highlight of our york trip.

We loved the castle museum and the yorvick centre. Also the chocolate museum which was a surprise as i wasnt expected much. Do one of the (free) tours of york minster, the tour guides are incredible

We didnt spend time in pickering but if you do, dont bother with the train. Those beautiful shots you see of it going through the dales? Yeah you cant see them from the train.... youre in a cutting most of the time. One of the dullest most overpriced rail trips ive ever been on.

Whitby Abbey is beautiful.

We did this walking tour of York.
She was properly fantastic. www.thebloodytourofyork.co.uk

We'd have loved to walk the walls but didnt work with DS in a wheelchair.

Ah! I thought you meant the one on Petergate that was there for years!

I forgot that one had opened where Mulberry Hall used to be.

Sorry!

Wow Bettys is getting a pasting. It doesn’t suit everyone but to call it synthetic is way off. They have a craft bakery in Harrogate where a lot of products are hand made, the sandwiches are made freshly in branch every morning and the queue is there for a reason. There are very many other places to eat but many people still love it. Horses for courses.

That’s sad about Betty’s. I haven’t eaten there for years.

Gray’s Court is a lovely building. When I was an undergraduate student it was the English dept of my uni, so I had all my lectures there. It was v odd to go back and be having dinner in my old Linguistics seminar room!

I'm going to go against the grain and say Jorvik is rubbish and don't bother with it. Depending on when you go, the queue will be massive and it's expensive for what it is.

Castle Musuem is ace though. Shambles is a must see, but as everyone else has said, it's full of Harry Potter shops now. The Minster is beautiful.

Pickering is ok, but not much to do there really. It has a wonderfully weird folk Musuem though. Full of crappy waxworks and ugly dolls.

If you need cityscape photos definitely go to Clifford's Tower.

If you like the Minster, there are some other really pretty churches in York - All Saints North Street, All Saints Pavement and Michael le Belfrey spring to mind, and MlB is just by the Minster. You can usually just wander in.

I like Fitzbillies (on Petergate). It's quite hippyish (lots of vegan this and detox-y that), but the food is actually really tasty and it has a very pretty, tiny upstairs dining room.

I concur about getting the 840 (though that is quite a long bus ride out to the pretty bits to walk). Thornton-le-Dale is gorgeous and Goathland has amazing views.

You could also get the train out to Malton, which is a really pretty little market town to wander around. Not sure it would be much fun for a teenager, but it's a lot nearer than the Moors! Also the train goes past Kirkham Abbey and through a lot of very pretty countryside.

Thornton le dale (it's not actually on the Dale's despite the name, it's on the edge of the moors) is a lot more pretty than Pickering (I grew up in Pickering!) And is not much further on the bus.

I agree with puddings and think the jorvilk centre is a massive disappointment - railway museum all the way!

Betty's was a disappointment when I went. The location and room were lovely but the afternoon tea itself was mediocre. However, I don't know any alternatives.

I loved walking the city walls and the National Railway Museum.