Welcome to Ten Top York

The Royal York Hotel, York

Located within the heart of York city centre, The Royal York Hotel is a beautiful hotel that offers a luxury location for a visit to the historic city of York.

If you're looking for a luxury place to stay within the heart of York city centre then The Royal York Hotel is the perfect choice. This large York hotel offers a large selection of luxury bedrooms and is also the ideal venue for your wedding or conference. As part of the Principal Hayley Group of city centre hotels the Royal York Hotel benefits from thew advantages of a larger chain.

Booking a room at the Royal York Hotel in York city centre makes it the perfect venue for exploring the city and enjoying the many attractions York has to offer. The hotel has 167 bedrooms, all with high speed internet connections, so it's also the perfect venue if you are visiting York for business purposes.

The Royal York Hotel, York has its own bar, Tempus Bar, and restaurant serving a wide selection of meals to suit all tastes. The bar and restaurant are also available for light snacks and lunches it you're in a hurry.

Visit the Royal York Hotel at Christmas

The hotel is the ideal venue for your Christmas party with prices from £30 per person. It's also the perfect hotel to stay at over the Christmas holidays with 3 and 4 night packages available. The hotel also hosts a New Year's Eve Ball with a different theme each year if you're looking for somewhere to celebrate and see in the New Year.

As you would expect with a hotel of this size and quality the Royal York Hotel has its own swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, and gym so you'll never be short of an activity to do within the hotel or to just relax and chill out for a while.

Getting to The Royal York Hotel, York

Getting to the hotel isn't a problem as it's located close to the city centre and within walking distance of York Railway Station. The city centre itself is just a short walk away so the hotel is a great location to enjoy some shopping within the city centre or perhaps some of Yorks nightlife.

Jorvik Viking Centre

The Jorvik Viking Centre was first opened in 1984 as a result of an archaelogical excavation close to York city centre. Historians had always known that York and the area around it had a strong Viking influence but when a routine excavation in the 1970's discovered something more work on the Jorvik Viking Centre began.

Taking a visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre is a great experience for the whole family. The attraction is very close to the city centre and within easy walking distance of the main shoppping areas. The centre is built on the site of the city of Jorvik which existed at York over 1,000 years ago from a period of around 866 AD to around 1066 AD and the invasion of the Normans.

Once inside the attraction you descend to the old Viking city in a time capsule to learn about the life of the Vikings as they existed at the time. Exhibits recreate the street life from the city of Jorvik, you can learn about what some of the individuals of the time would have done to earn a living and what their interests and skills would have been. You can see actual artifacts taken from the original excavations such as ancient wooden beams used for house building and tools and utensils the Vikings would have used.

Entrance tickets to the Jorvik Viking Centre offer a number of options and concessions as well as family tickets. For a single adult visiting just the Jorvik Centre you can expect to pay around £10 for the centre or £14 for the the centre and access to one other of the linked historic attractions. There are infact three other historic attractions the Jorvik centre is linked to, the Jorvik Dig, the Barley Hall, and Micklegate Bar. An adult ticket to see all four is around £16. (Prices correct as of 2011). A family of four ticket for the Jorvik centre will cost £26 or £47 for entrance to all four attractions.

Jorvik Viking Centre Opening Times

The attraction is open every day throughout the year other than 24th-26th December. From Easter to the end of October the centre is open from 10am to 5pm (last admission) and from November to Easter from 10am to 4pm (last admission). When we toured the centre a few years ago the visit easily lasted a couple of hours so plan accordingly.

Jorvik Viking Centre Events

The attraction regularly hosts events that offer even more for the visitor so it's worth checking with their website to see if any events coincide with your visit to York.

Things to Do in York

York is one of the best cities in the north of England. Not only is it the capital of Yorkshire, home to the Yorkshire Dales, it is a city steeped in history dating back to before the Roman times over 2000 years ago!

When you visit York you'll be amazed at the sheer number of excellent attractions and events going on throughout the whole year. York has so much to do that it's almost impossible to achieve with just one visit and the attractions and events are so varied that you'll want to come back again and again to experience all the different things the city has to offer.

York seems to have an abundance of museums linking it to its past. Visitors can learn about all kinds of details from the early history of the city to more modern times such as the coming of the railway to York and York during the 20th century. Below is just a small highlight of some of York's best museums.

York has strong links to both the Romans and also the Vikings and both are found in abundance within the city. The Jorvik Viking Centre, is located close to the city centre and is the site of an ancient Viking village which was uncovered during the excavation of a building site within the city. Once it was realised just what they had found the city turned the site into a museum where visitors can learn about the Vikings that once inhabited York and the area around it and even visit the ancient village deep below the current street level.

There are plenty of other museums as well, you can easily spend an entire afternoon in the Castle Museum which is located just five minutes walk from the city centre. The Castle Museum has extensive displays detailing plenty of information about the history of York through the ages from early beginnings right through to much more recent times.

York is also home to the National Railway Museum a large museum detailing the history of the railways throughout not just York but the whole of Britain. As well as learning about how the railways influenced the industrial revolution and the culture of York and Britain you can also tour around the engine shed where you can get up close and personal with all types of rail vehicles from steam engines to diesel and electric trains.

Of course with all the museums we must tell you about some of York's historic attractions. York city centre is one of the few walled cities that still exists in Europe. It's possible to walk around the city walls which offer an unparalled view across the city from many vantage points. As you move around Yorks city walls you get an idea that the city was once a fortified stronghold for the Romans. Another historic attraction within the city is Clifford's Tower. This historic tower sits opposite the castle museum and once served as the centre of York Castle. The tower is all that really remains today but visitors can climb the steep stairs and take a tour around the ancient building.

Perhaps York's best and most famous historic attraction is York Minster. This cathedral is the largest in the north of England and has existed within the city for close to 1000 years. York Cathedral can be seen from literally miles away as you approach the city and although in recent years a charge has been imposed for entry if you've never been inside before it's definitely worth a visit.

Shopping in York

As one of the largest cities in the north of England York has, as you would expect, an abundance of shops. In fact there's enough within the city centre to keep even the most determined shopper busy for hours. One of the nice things about York shopping is that whilst there are of course all the usual out of town shopping parks the city centre itself is lined with shops. In fact large sections of the city centre are pedestrianized so you can move about from shop to shop without having to watch every step for cars. This also has the nice effect that the city centre feels remarkably polution free. There's also a large amount of cafes and restaurants to eat in whether you're looking for a snack or quick pub lunch or something much more formal.

York also has a number of small outdoor markets where day traders sell their wares. You can pick up some real gems just by browsing around and if it's the kind of thing you enjoy then York is perfect for you to indulge your interests.

York is also home to one of the most famous shopping streets in the whole of the United Kingdom. Whilst perhaps not in the same league as London's Oxford Street, The Shambles is home to a multitude of small shops. The Shambles is one of the oldest original streets within the city centre and the narrow lane with buildings towering overhead and closing in give you a perfect idea of what shopping in the middle ages must have been like!