We love a visit to York and most Summer school holidays we head over for a day, or two. If we stay over we usually get a family room at the Premier Inn on Blossom Street (near York train station), or if we go for the day we use the park and ride. This Summer we drove across up for the day but met some friends there from down south who were visiting the city and staying in the Premier Inn. We loved showing them around York and managed to cram in all of my highlights…
We started our day with a walk down Micklegate from the Premier Inn towards the river. There are lots of fantastic restaurants, bars and cafes on this street and if we stay over we usually eat at one of them (this coffee and pastry at Teajuanna’s was amazing!).
For our first activity we’d booked a self drive boat on the river with City Cruises. You drive your own boat along the river and see all of the main sites, from a completely different angle. The kids drove so we just sat back and looked at the view! You get an hour to go up and down river, and this is a great family activity to do together. We pre-booked and it is advised at busy times, but you can just walk up. It costs from £35 per boat for an hour, you can find full details and booking on their website here.
Then we walked through the city into the Shambles and the markets to have a browse and see the old buildings. There’s usually a good street artist performing at the top of the shambles near the Minster and today was no exception! We loved watching this artist, called ‘The man with the big balls’, he was hilarious and very talented.
Our next stop was York Minster. We’ve been outside many times but have never been inside, and I am so glad we did. After a quick picnic stop on the steps we arrived at our pre-booked time slot and walked straight in along the fast track queue. It is beautiful to see from the outside but the inside is incredible! It is absolutely huge and there is so much detail everywhere you look. How it was built to such a vast scale with so much intricate work is mind blowing.
There a a few different trail sheets for children to follow and do on the way around which ours all enjoyed. The ages of our kids were 8, 9, 10 and 12 and they all enjoyed it, it was definitely a good one for older children and teens. We spent around an hour walking around with the kids, but I could have easily spent much longer.
It’s £16 for an adult entry but all under 18s are free. Booking in advance is advised, on their website here.
Then we headed to Fossgate for a quick rest, there are lots more good cafes, bars and restaurants along this road. The grown up’s got a drink at a pub and the kids got ice creams at Dianna’s where they make it fresh for you using liquid nitrogen!
Our final stop was the Jorvik Viking Centre! You can read all about here.
After a jam-packed day out we took two very tired children back to Hull. Our friends stayed over and spent another day in York. We’d recommended walking on the castle walls which they enjoyed, and then just some more browsing around the Shambles, the shops and the city centre.
I hope our reviews have inspired you with some ideas for days out in York this Summer.
You can find lots more ideas for things to do in York here, reviewed by my good friend Emily over at York Mumbler!
NB This is an Advertorial Feature for Visit York. For the purpose of the reviews entry was given free of charge to the attractions, however all views and opinions are my own.
