Day Trip From London to York: Top Sights For a Short Visit

York is a great destination for escaping the concrete jungle of London, and it is easy to explore the majority of its city-center in a day.  Many visitors come specifically to marvel at the York Minster Cathedral, and there are gorgeous pedestrian-only streets lined with shops and cafes among timber-frame buildings.  Departing from King's Cross Station in London, the trip is approximately 2 hours by train.  If you buy your tickets far in advance and use a Rail Card to lower the price, selecting a first-class ticket can be nice treat--a meal is provided and the seats are quite comfortable, but our tickets were almost $250 total round-trip (summertime is generally more expensive).  After arriving at York Station there's a short walk into town across a scenic bridge, and the rest of central York can easily be explored on foot.

Because we wanted to visit the Minster as early as possible, we used Station Road to cross the River Ouse, and the same road will take you directly there.  Admission is £11.50 for adults, and you can easily spend over an hour enjoying the intricate stained glass windows and carved decorations, not to mention the cavernous undercroft dating back to the 7th century!   Depending on your interest in religious artifacts, the undercroft museum can offer quite a lot of fascinating discoveries, and Dean's Park around the back is a nice English garden.  A short walk southwest of the cathedral is another nice park, and while the Yorkshire Museum within it didn't really "wow" us (especially considering it has admission fee), there's also the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey which offers unique photos.

Stonegate is a lovely street to walk, starting at the western end with St. Helen's Church and York Mansion House and finishing back at the Minster--afterwards you'll want to head east toward the Shambles area, and enjoy narrow streets like Grape Lane, Low Petergate and Church Street on your way.  The Shambles Market is a good landmark if you need an ultimate destination, but be sure to explore as many side streets as you can! You can almost think of this area as the British version of Venice (minus the canals and frequent flooding!).  Just a bit south of the Shambles is the Coppergate Shopping Centre, another pedestrian-friendly collection of shops with a more modern feel than the Shambles, and two tourist attractions worth checking out if you're spending more than a day in York (and have interest in their themes), the Jorvik Viking Centre and the York Dungeon.  And a block or so further south you'll find Clifford's Tower high on a hill, Shakespeare's Rose Theatre (offering shows and a period-themed outdoor area), and the York Castle Museum (which also has an admission fee).  We opted to track down a few vintage clothing shops with our remaining time, including Dog & Bone and York Does Vintage--finding the latter lead us first to the Merchant Adventurer's Hall, which is a neat event and entrepreneur meeting-space housed in a 14th Century building, with great decor, a chapel and a cafe as well.  We did not have time in our visit the National Railway Museum, but it is located very near the York Train Station and has free admission.

Clifford's Tower

The Merchant Adventurer's Hall

As our day in York sadly came to a close, we took a different scenic route back to the train station, which revealed the original city walls and two gates--the Victoria Bar and Micklegate Bar.  There are two bridges (besides Station Road further north) that you can take to get back across the River Ouse, depending on how far south you are, and using either will allow you to see some of the walls and a gate or two.  The gates make for a good symbolic passageway from the historic vibe of York back to the more modern side of England.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day here, and recommend you visit even if it's only for a day--just make sure to get here early to experience as much as possible!