It’s Wednesday evening as I start this post about my fun Tuesday day trip. I had a fun evening of meeting up with a couple of friends (you already know where) and then seeing a final show at the theatre and now I’m back at my hotel with my stuff mostly packed up in preparation for my flight home tomorrow. Hard to believe I’ve already been here for a week! But, for now at least, let’s ignore the flight home and instead focus on yesterday’s trip to York. 🙂

In all my trips to London over the years, I’ve taken a number of side trips to explore more of England. I’ve visited places like Brighton (multiple times), Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, and more, not to mention some time spent in Wales (mostly in Swansea, but also a bit of Cardiff). As I was planning this trip, I thought about which places were left that were a) close enough for me to go there and back in the same day and b) worth the time to take an entire day out of my larger trip. Looking at options and talking to a couple of friends, both Bath (which I have been to on my first-ever UK trip, but I didn’t see a whole lot there and don’t have strong memories of it) and Bristol seemed like possibilities, but somewhere along the line, York popped up (I may have been in the back of my mind because my brother passed through there on his UK trip last October), so I looked into it and it seemed like a solid option. Although more than one friend said that may be a bit too far to go in one day, it’s only a two-hour trip from King’s Cross, which seemed totally doable. So York became the winner!

So, a little bit about York. It’s a cathedral city (which just means it has been granted city status in the UK and that it also has a cathedral) in the north of England and has Roman origins dating back to 71 AD (that kind of history is one of the big things that draws me to travel in general). Its cathedral is called York Minster and, like many cathedrals, there’s been a church on about the same site for hundreds of years (the earliest record of one goes back to 627 AD), though this current one dates back to 1230. Well, I say 1230, but it took nearly 250 years to build the current cathedral, so it wasn’t actually DONE until 1472, but stands today as a great example of Gothic architecture. Of course, it has been restored since that time, notably after a fire in 1984, which was thought to be caused by a lightning strike. York is also somewhat famous for its city walls. Many cities, particularly those of Roman origin, had city walls as a way to both defend the city and to demarcate its borders (easier to tax people if you can definitively say they’re within your borders!). Although York has more miles of wall and the longest remaining walls of any city in England, they have been altered significantly over the years and there isn’t much actual Roman stone left in them. But even if they aren’t totally original (or even mostly original), what’s cool about the city walls here is that you can walk pretty much all the way around them. I can’t think of another city I’ve visited where I was able to walk along city walls like I did in York, so that gives it extra points for sure! And the fact that it has a cute (though busy) city center, with plenty of winding streets full of shops, sights, and people also made me enjoy it.

So what were my plans for this day trip? I’m so glad you asked! As I mentioned above, if you catch the right train, it takes less than two hours to reach York from London King’s Cross, so I knew I could easily go there and back in the same day (I know that may make for too long of a day for some folks though, so no judgment there), but I wanted to maximize my time there without feeling like I’d end up with either too much or not enough to fill my time (remember how Scott and I ended up wishing we’d booked an earlier train back to Venice from Milan in 2022?). In looking at the available options, I landed on an 8 AM train out of King’s Cross and a 6 PM train out of York, so I didn’t have to wake up TOO early and I also wouldn’t be getting back TOO late. Both journeys were also direct (thankfully!), though the ride back to London was longer than the one to York as it had more stops along the way. Knowing I’d have about eight hours to make the most of York, here’s what I ended up pre-booking:

• York Minster tour – of course, I wanted to see THE primary attraction of York and I was thankfully able to book a Crypts of the Early Minster guided tour, along with a standard, self-paced tour. After having such a delightful time at the High Parts tour when I was in Wells in 2022, I figured this one might be similarly enjoyable. And at a price of £24/$30 USD, it felt like a pretty good deal (note that your self-guided time inside the minster is included in this price).
• York walking tour – as I was researching what to do, I found that the Association of Voluntary Guides to the City of York (what a group name, eh??) offers FREE walking tours, so I figured, why not! I love to walk, so two hours in (hopefully) good weather with a knowledgeable guide in a new-to-me city sounded perfect.
• Jorvik Viking Centre – my friend Felicity recommended this museum/experience, which gives visitors a taste of what York was like in Viking times. This was was £16.50/$20 USD, which felt pretty standard for a museum entry.

I woke up a bit before my 6:30 AM alarm (ugh, but could have been worse!) and got ready in plenty of time to get out the door to catch the train from Shoreditch High Street (I was again happy to have such a variety of stations to choose from, since the weather was a bit rainy). Within 20 minutes, I was at King’s Cross with a bit of time to kill before my platform was announced, so I wandered the station for a bit and picked up a little snacky to have on the train and throughout the day. I settled in to a moderately comfortable seat and had a nice ride while I listened to some music and podcasts and watched the world go by out the window.

See below for a few photos of the “getting there” part of the trip.

Approaching the train, boarding the train, and sitting in my seat on the train. A short story in three photos.

A couple of the views from my window seat. As you can, it was quite sunny in parts and much more cloudy in others.

Another tradition of mine is to take a photo of the name of my destination when I get there as well as a photo of the station itself. Welcome to York!

Remember those sunny views I saw from my train window? Well, when we were about 15 minutes from York, they went bye-bye. But hey, on this plus side, as they disappeared, fog rolled in. So, give and take, right?? It certainly made for a dreary, misty, and breezy walk out of the station, but when in the UK, you come prepared with an umbrella, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. My York Minster tour was booked for 11 AM, which gave me about an hour to kill before heading in, so I wasn’t rushed as I walked from the station towards the church (it’s a pretty short distance and the church makes for an excellent directional marker). As always with me (especially in a new-to-me place), I kept my eyes open for interesting-looking buildings and views and was rewarded with a few. And I even found an additional place to visit before the cathedral! And would you believe it was another church?? The York Oratory is a Catholic church, was completed in 1864, and is dedicated to St. Wilfrid (a church dedicated to him has existed in York since medieval times). It was very quiet inside, with just one other person present, so it was easy to take a few photos. Although I’m not religious, I like the stillness of a church, especially an old, big, empty one, so this was a nice way to start my day in York. Check out some photos of it below!

The Shrine of Our Lady of York (left) and a view of the church’s organ (right). The statue of Mary in the shrine was carved in Oberammergau, Germany, which Scott and I visited a decade ago.

I did still have a bit of time before my crypts tour started, but I figured I would go inside early to see if I could do my self-guided wandering before meeting my guide. I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work because when I booked, I had to buy a standard tour ticket along with the crypts tour ticket (I see they’re now combined into one ticket though), so I didn’t know if I would be allowed in early, since my crypts tour was timed for 11 AM. I had no issue though – my ticket was scanned by a helpful volunteer, who also told me where to meet my guide. Even though I only had 15-20 minutes left before the tour, I do feel like I got to see most everything I wanted to, so it worked out well. It would have been nice to go up the tower (I do love a good tower, don’t I?), but it was closed. 😦 Do note that you can only book the tower the day you’re there (presumably because it’s very weather-dependent?), so if you’re planning to do it, it may not be an option. I bet the views are great though!

Speaking of views, here are some views of the church as seen on my self-guided walk around it.

A couple of shots inside – one facing the entrance (left) and another of the altar (right).

A few shots from the quire, where most sung services take place.

It was about this time that my tour guide (who I’d met earlier when I was waiting at the designated tour spot) came over and said the other two people who had tickets had shown up, so we were ready to go. I’d actually already walked through the crypts and was hoping that the official tour would give some additional info/access than what I’d seen on my own (I noticed a couple of roped-off places) and thankfully that proved to be the case. We did spend some time in the church proper before heading down to the crypts, but maybe 10% of the tour was there, with the rest focusing on the crypts. Before we went down (by the way, the crypts are just down a staircase behind and to the side of the altar, so it’s not a long trip or even scary or dark, as people often think crypts are), we got some good history on the churches that used to stand on the spot where the current building is, which was cool. Be sure to pay attention to those details as there are callbacks to them when you see some original parts of those old churches in the crypts! As I mentioned above, we did get to go through some behind-the-scenes spots on our guided tour, which you’ll see photos of below. Our guide was friendly and well-informed and the tour was worth the time and money, though it wasn’t quite as informative as the one at Wells Cathedral. Still worth your time!

Check out the additional photos below!

We had to put hardhats on for part of the tour, so of course I had to cheese it up for a selfie. On the right, you can see our small tour group looking at some of the treasures that have been unearthed over the years.

More original architecture hidden behind small doors, in dark corners.

I was delighted to find the sun making an appearance after I finished my crypts tour! So of course I had to take a few photos of the church, from different angles and with better lighting.

Post-Minster, I was feeling hungry, so I played the game I always play, which is to try and find a place that looks good, after knowing I’d previously walked by places that could have been good options, but then finding nothing when I actually want to eat! Thankfully, I didn’t have to play too long this time as I pretty quickly came across a cute hole in the wall called…The Hole in the Wall. With a name like that, I had to visit! Apparently a dungeon previously existed on this site and some say the current building is known to have ghostly activity. I myself didn’t see anything, but it’s a fun, spooky idea. 🙂

With a satisfied tummy, I went back outside, where I once again had a bit of time to kill before my scheduled walking tour and my lunch spot was VERY close to the meeting spot anyway, so I just walked around the immediate area and took a few photos. As it turned out, I ended up learning more about the area on the tour and took some additional photos, so you may see similar photos further down, but I trust you won’t mind TOO much, dear reader. 🙂

One of the access points to the city walls. I was sad to see no doggos are allowed up there! This was also the site of one of the gates into the Roman fortress that once stood here.

Another gate! Not quite as old, but still pretty old.

I’d killed enough time by this point and was seeing some people starting to gather in Exhibition Square, along with a couple of people with lanyards who seemed likely to be tour guides, so I joined the group and we all waited for everyone to show up. There were two guides and each of them were going to take a group out and actually had to turn some people away. It’s important to note that, while these tours are free, you do need to book them in advance as they can easily fill up (as both of them did today). Really glad I had already booked! I was in the group with a lovely guide named Judy and she proved to be an excellent guide. She had a lot of energy and passion for York and made it clear that all of the guides have that same passion and that they lead these tours because of that passion, which is why they’re free. And they’re SO free that the guides won’t even accept tips, at least not according to Judy. So I didn’t tip her! But I did enjoy the tour as Judy shared lots of great details and info along the way. There were a couple of kids on the tour (not too young – maybe 9-12 years old) and she was really good at connecting with them by asking about what they were studying in school, if they’d learned about any of the tidbits we heard, etc. It was advertised as a two-hour tour and it actually took us a little longer than that to get through the whole thing, so the value for money was high, considering it cost…nothing. 🙂

Anyway, plenty of photos to highlight some neat stuff in York!

More of the ruins, including a lil’ selfie.

Zooming in on the coat of arms over the entrance to the King’s Manor as well as a courtyard just inside of it.

Some really cool views of York Minster from the walls.

More cool city wall views. The photo on the right is the back of a fancy hotel (plus another nice view of the church).

Another view of York Minster (left) and the people-crammed street known as The Shambles (right), which is a popular shopping destination and is home to a number of medieval buildings.

Our last stop on the tour was Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate. It’s a very short alley with a fun name. 🙂

And that brought us to the end of an enjoyable and informative tour! I mean, a FREE two-hour walking tour with a friendly guide full of useful facts and a ton of passion for her city? Can’t be beat! And quite conveniently, our ending point was pretty close to my last stop, the Jorvik Viking Centre. This likely would have been on my radar either way, since the idea of a Viking museum is pretty cool, but the fact that my friend Felicity recommended it definitely gave it a leg up. Again, I had pre-booked this experience (because it was the Tuesday after Easter, plenty of people were out and about, kids were off school, etc., so I figured it may be busy) and I found their process upon arrival to be pretty easy. They operate a couple of lines, one for folks who pre-booked and another for people who are trying to get in the day of, and then they split pre-booked people into groups based on their purchased entry time. Because it was pretty busy that day, I found the process to get in to be kind of slow – I lined up and the line moved forward at a decent pace, but then had to wait to be let in and then had to wait some more once I got into the museum proper. This is a unique experience because you actually get on a slow-moving car (like a large, slow-moving roller-coaster car) that takes you through what York was like as a Viking settlement, complete with life-size animatronic figures, building facades, and even era-appropriate smells, all presented while you listen to a recorded narration explaining what you’re seeing. Afterwards, you go through a relatively small “traditional” museum that has some interesting artifacts. Overall, it was a unique experience, but it seemed a little smaller/quicker than I thought it would be. It’s definitely a VERY kid-friendly place, so expect to see plenty of them running around if you do visit.

Anyway, photos ahoy!

The displays/vignettes throughout the experience are fun and well-done.

A marketplace (left) and a small animal eating the leftovers of some other animal (right). It wasn’t all bunnies and rose petals in the Viking era!

There are a couple of skeletons in the collection, too.

These samples give insight into the diet and health of Vikings in this era. And yes, that’s a piece of poop. :p

This is an example of a lock mechanism that’s still in really good condition.

A box lid decorated with cattle ribs (left) and most of a shoe (right).

And with that, I wrapped up my time in York! I had an hour or so before my train left, so I strolled around the city a bit and then grabbed a quick drink and a sandwich for the train before making my way back to the station. The weather got a little breezier and cloudier, but never rained on me, which was considerate. I had an easy train journey back to London that was only about 30 minutes longer than the journey to York.

My train back to London.

I have been VERY tardy in completing this post as it’s now June 2nd, so I’ve been back from this trip for…awhile. But hey, there were lots of pictures for this post and I just never got around to finishing the post before now. And would you believe I’ve got one more post from this trip in me? Hopefully it won’t take me another couple months to get that one done, too. 🙂