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One place to see in York

27 replies

BackforGood · 27/05/2019 23:58

For various reasons we have one afternoon in York this week.
What do you recommend we see please ?

(I haven't been to York for about 40 years, so haven't 'done' the Viking museum or the Railway Museum or anything else that has changed a lot or is new in the last 4 decades).
Am happy to see anything but don''t have a particular interest in any one thing.
No dc with us.

thanks

OP posts:
Julie1988 · 28/05/2019 01:10

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

KickAssAngel · 28/05/2019 02:54

Viking Museum could have a long queue. I haven't been in decades so not sure if it's still good.

You could just walk around the walls, wander through the Minster and get tea somewhere.

LittleKitty1985 · 28/05/2019 04:09

There's a free walking tour, I'd do that

Dowser · 28/05/2019 04:15

Do you particularly like trains?
The railway museum is good but if you’re not thrilled by trains I wouldn’t rush
I enjoy looking at the old ones...and that’s about it
I would think a morning there an. youre done and it will be crowded.
In the afternoon I’d just wander through the streets, admiring the architecture. There’s a surprise around every corner and it’s quite a compact city so you don’t have to wander too far.
We were there yesterday. I was quite surprised that there were so few street entertainers on the street..but I’ve noticed bank holiday Mondays tend to be a lot quieter than other days which is great.
We usually have a mooch around, we like the bar attached to the picturehouse cinema and if nice enough you can get a table overlooking the river and have some food. Another mooch around and then often finish off with a film, if we are lucky to have missed one. It’s not cheap there however.
( we tend to go to the vue cinema on the ring road at Clifton moor, it’s a fiver there)
But yes, on a nice day/ evening we like to wander through the streets.
You can do a ghost walk and I bet they’ll take you to places we don’t know about.
There’s lots of old building, churches, shrines up the little snickelways so a guided tour would be good.
Sometimes there’s a craft market Or food market in The Main Street outside marks and Spencer..and of course there’s a market every day behind the store. The shambles market. Museum gardens is also lovely
Just go and enjoy and don’t rush around trying to see it all.

ElizabethMainwaring · 28/05/2019 04:21

The Minster. Without a shadow of a doubt. It's utterly stunning. I can't believe that people are recommending the Yorvik centre and the railway museum over it. Nice as they are, they are not a world class architectural marvel. Go to the Minster. It's an experience you will remember forever. Have a lovely afternoon.

DoraleeRhodes · 28/05/2019 07:39

Walk the City Walls.
The Castle Museum is also worth a visit.

isabellerossignol · 28/05/2019 07:41

York Minster, particularly the undercroft bit.

TheSheepofWallSt · 28/05/2019 07:41

Just go for a walk. Lived there for years (and worked as a tour guide for a bit) and without a doubt the thing visitors staying with me enjoyed most was a walk around the walls.
If the weathers shit, go to the Minster and then one of the nearby pubs. Guy Fawkes In is nicer than you’d think. Hole
In the Wall is very down to earth...

TheBitchOfTheVicar · 28/05/2019 07:42

The minster. Or a walk through the city.

SinjunRivers · 28/05/2019 07:44

Castle museum

Lauren83 · 28/05/2019 07:47

Depending what you like there's a nice brewery called brew York that's worth checking out, went for DPs 40th and had a tour with lots of samples to try and a pie

Morningchorus · 28/05/2019 07:53

The minster, definitely the minster. It’s so beautiful and it’s right in the centre of town. 😊

SpinachnRicotta · 28/05/2019 08:11

We did the Chocolate Experience and it was excellent, worth every penny.

Another vote for the Minster - we went to an Ash Wednesday service which was absolutely beautiful and such a great way to experience the church, but appreciate that might not be your bag if you aren't a Christian!

We had lunch twice at the Lucky Days cafe on Petergate - not particularly cheap but not outrageous and the food and coffee were brilliant, particularly the scones. I was in the grip of horrible morning sickness at the time and it was honestly the first thing I'd enjoyed eating in weeks!

sadeyedladyofthelowlands63 · 28/05/2019 08:21

The Minster is beautiful.

Am happy to see anything but don''t have a particular interest in any one thing. - The Castle Museum is also brilliant, especially in the light of this.

Loopytiles · 28/05/2019 08:23

Minster, wander round the pretty bits, afternoon tea.

Disfordarkchocolate · 28/05/2019 08:25

Cold War Bunker
Railway Museum
City Walls

Isthebigwomanhere · 28/05/2019 09:05

The Minster

BroomstickOfLove · 28/05/2019 09:14

The Minster. And then you can go for coffee and cake in one of the cafés on Goodramgate and walk along the stretch of wall starting at Monk Bar and going behind the Minster.

BlueberrySkies · 28/05/2019 09:22

I thought the deleted reply was just about the railway museum. Don’t know what I missed - why was is deleted?

Dowser · 28/05/2019 11:51

What I like about york is it has such a lovely ambience which if you’re locked away in the railway museum or Jorvik...been once, never again or castle musyoull miss out on if you have only one day
There’s some brilliant street artists just as you wander around.
We saw the excellent but now defunct Y street band and the Hyde Family Jam also excellent and thanks to following them found out about the Easingwold music fest and this weekends Sledmere Hall horizon music fest which weather permitting we hope to attend as they are headlining
If you see two bob performing in any of york’s Pubs do go to see them. They are excellent and I got them to play at my 60 th
Such a vibrant city , that feels like a big town.

Enjoy.

Dowser · 28/05/2019 11:53

Correct me if I’m wrong but if you visit the minster during a service then it’s free but you pay other times.
As I drive home, we come over lendal bridge towards the minster and if it’s a sunny night the view of the minster against the blue sky is just stunning.

Pootles34 · 28/05/2019 11:58

Minster then afternoon tea in Grays Court - if you do go to grays, I would book in advance, they do have a lot of weddings etc there.

Jins · 28/05/2019 11:59

The minster is amazing and I also like the Treasurers House nearby. Depends if you like NT properties but if you do it’s worth an attic or cellar tour as well.

Castle museum is great. We enjoyed a boat trip and the ghost tour was spectacular.

If I had just an afternoon I’d be walking the walls and seeing what took my fancy. There’s so much to do in York.

I have no interest in trains and hated the railway museum. I’d go to Jorvik again if I got a deal on entry but I’ll never set foot in the railway museum this lifetime

ThatLibraryMiss · 28/05/2019 13:33

Park in the car park on the southeast side of Skeldergate Bridge. Walk back to the road and turn left across the bridge. Just after the bridge is a road junction on the right and there, at Baile Hill, are steps up to the walls.. Go up the walls there and walk round clockwise, admiring the view. There's a little museum in one of the bars (gates, not pubs) you pass through. Shortly after you pass the railway station on the left the walls turn right and you get the grandest view in York, the Minster over the rooftops, ahead and to your right.

Stay on the walls until you have to leave them at Lendal Bridge. Keep going in the same direction, across the river, then take the first right down Lendal. When you get to St Helen's Square, with Betty's Cafe on the opposite left corner, turn left down Stonegate. Admire the old buildings - you're walking through centuries-old streets. Right at the end of Stonegate is the Minster. Go in or walk round, as you prefer, then backtrack to High Petergate and walk southeast as it becomes Low Petergate. When the narrow street opens up into a small paved area, pass the chocolate story on your right then do a little right-then-left jink down The Shambles. At the end of The Shambles turn left past the little church, then left again to see Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate, the smallest street in York.

Turn back, passing the end of The Shambles on your right, and walk along Pavement then Coppergate. Turn left down Coppergate Walk, and you'll pass Jorvik on the right. Continue towards Fenwick's and you'll see a little ginnel to the right of the store: take that, and it'll bring you into the car park by Clifford's Tower and then to the Castle Museum. Go through the car park and between Clifford's Tower and the museum, turn left on Tower Street and the car park entrance is ahead of you.

There's a lot more to ancient York - a market, lots of old buildings, tiny alleys - but this will let you see a good deal of it with opportunities to stop at the bits you find interesting on the way.

ConfusedandContrary · 28/05/2019 13:34

The Castle museum