A day trip to York
Summary
York is definitely worth a stop when in the North of England based on its rich and well preserved medieval history, the pretty lanes to wander through and the immense York Minister Cathedral. 5 basic tips:
- Can do as a day trip – you only need a day, so this is a simple trip from anywhere in the North of England. You could even push it as a day trip from London as its only 2 hours up the east coast train line
- Walk the City Walls – a great way to see York is by walking along the City Walls. They’re 3.4km / 2miles in length, so a decent walk, and are in place for around 3/4 of their total length, meaning you only have to walk off them 3 times to cover a section that isn’t walkable. Friends of York Walls do a great simple guide for the walk here – York Walls Route
- Be sure to visit York Minister Cathedral – the largest Medieval Cathedral in Northern Europe and a must
- Have afternoon tea and scones – its the quintessentially York / English thing to do. There are heaps of tea rooms to try, but Betty’s is the favourite
- Try to learn some of the history but don’t get museum’d out – York has some fascinating history dating all the way back to the Romans, but it can be a bit overwhelming for a day trip considering you also want to do the above things. My suggestion is only to visit one of the museums / visitor attractions and for that to be Jorvik Viking Centre for an hour as it gives a good flavour of the time of the Vikings
highlights
#1 walking around York's City Walls for the best views and to get a great general feel for the place
#2 Heading to Betty's Tea Room or afternoon tea and scones. So very English
#3 Seeing from the outside and walking around the inside of the immense York Minster Cathedral
#4 Wandering through the pretty streets of York's Medieval Centre
#5 Learning about the time when the Vikings ruled from York at the Jorvik Visitor Centre (max 1 hour)
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Old Towns around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone