York

York is inland, and there is nothing to swim in within the city. The nearest beaches are on the North Yorkshire coast. Scarborough is about an hour away by train and has two sandy bays, and Filey and Whitby are a little further. These are traditional British seaside towns where you go for a day out. The North Sea rarely gets much above 15°C even in August, so swimming is brief and bracing. Plan a beach trip as a change of scene, not as the reason for the vacation.

York eats like a prosperous northern market town. Its strengths are traditional. There are historic tearooms serving afternoon tea and fat rascals (a Yorkshire scone-like bake), and old pubs with real ale from Yorkshire breweries. Sunday roasts come with Yorkshire pudding. The Shambles Market sells street food, local cheese and pies, and the walled centre is full of independent cafés and bakeries.

Some good modern British restaurants make use of Yorkshire meat and game, but the range is narrow, and international cooking is limited outside a few streets. Around the Minster and the Shambles, many places serve tourist fare. Book ahead for the better tables at weekends.

York's heritage spans two thousand years in a centre you can walk across in twenty minutes. York Minster is one of the great Gothic cathedrals of northern Europe, with vast medieval stained glass. Around it run nearly three miles of medieval walls, which you can walk on, and a tangle of timber-framed streets. The Shambles and Stonegate are the best known.

The Roman, Viking and medieval layers are easy to read. The Jorvik Viking Centre is built on an excavated Viking street, the Yorkshire Museum sits among the ruins of St Mary's Abbey in the Museum Gardens, and Clifford's Tower stands on its mound. The York Castle Museum and the guildhalls add depth, including the Merchant Adventurers' Hall. The National Railway Museum is one of the largest of its kind. Two or three full days covers it well.

Going out in York mostly means going to the pub. The city has a remarkable number of old inns, many of them centuries old, along Micklegate, Stonegate and the riverside, and a good ale-house crawl is a real pleasure. A handful of cocktail bars and a few small clubs serve the student population.

At weekends Micklegate fills with stag and hen parties, and race days at the Knavesmire bring crowds dressed for the occasion. On weeknights the city goes quiet fairly early, and anyone looking for serious clubbing usually heads to Leeds, about half an hour away by train.

York sits on the flat Vale of York. In the city itself, nature means riverside paths along the Ouse and the Foss, the Museum Gardens, the open grassland of the Strays, and cycle routes out into the farmland.

The real landscapes lie beyond. The North York Moors start about 40km away and turn purple with heather in late summer. They end in high sea cliffs around Robin Hood's Bay, with the Cleveland Way running along the top. The Yorkshire Dales, with their limestone scars, stone walls and waterfalls, are about an hour west, and the gentle Howardian Hills are closer still. All of it is good walking and cycling country, but most of it is far easier to reach by car. The weather is cool and changeable.

York is an excellent base for exploring Yorkshire and the North East. By train, Harrogate, the spa town, is about half an hour away, and so is the Victorian city of Leeds. Durham, with its Norman cathedral and castle on a river bend, is under an hour. Scarborough and the minster town of Beverley are about an hour. By road, Castle Howard, one of England's grandest country houses, is about half an hour, and the ruins and water gardens of Fountains Abbey are under an hour.

Further out are the abbeys at Rievaulx and Whitby, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway steaming out of Pickering. Knaresborough sits on its gorge, and Haworth, the Brontë village, is a little further. Many of the abbeys and country houses are easiest to reach by car or on a coach tour.

York works well for families on a short stay. The National Railway Museum is a highlight for children, with a huge hall of real locomotives you can walk around. The Jorvik Viking Centre and the reconstructed Victorian street in the Castle Museum bring history to life. Walking the city walls feels like an adventure. Ghost walks and the city's gory history tours appeal to older children.

The centre is compact, largely pedestrianised and safe, though the medieval lanes get crowded on summer weekends. Bigger attractions, including a theme park and zoo, and the seaside at Scarborough, are about an hour away. Two or three days in the city itself is usually enough.

York is one of the easiest English cities to explore on foot. Almost every major sight lies inside or just outside the walls. Most of the centre is flat and much of it is pedestrianised, so the walk from the station to the Minster takes about fifteen minutes. Cycling is popular and easy too.

You do not need a car in the city, and driving into the centre is more trouble than it is worth. The station is a major rail hub with fast trains to Leeds, Harrogate, Durham and the coast. Rural buses into the moors and to the country houses are sparse, though, so many visitors hire a car or join a tour for those trips.

Shopping in York is a pleasure mainly because of where it happens. The medieval streets of Stonegate, Petergate, Swinegate and the Shambles are lined with independent boutiques, bookshops, jewellers and antiques dealers. Coney Street and Parliament Street carry the familiar British chains, and the Shambles Market sells crafts and local produce.

The Shambles leans heavily towards souvenirs and wizard-themed shops, and luxury fashion barely features. The Christmas markets of late autumn and December are a draw in their own right. For serious fashion shopping, people from York go to Leeds.

York is a mid-to-high-cost destination by British standards. Hotels and guesthouses inside or near the walls are in heavy demand, and rates rise steeply at weekends, during the races and in the Christmas season. Staying midweek, or just outside the centre, helps a lot.

Eating out costs what it does elsewhere in England, and pub meals are the most affordable option. The Minster, Jorvik and the castle museums all charge admission, but the National Railway Museum is free, and so are walking the walls and the Museum Gardens. Getting around on foot costs nothing.

For a city of York's size, there is a steady programme of performances. York Theatre Royal is one of the oldest theatres in England and stages its own drama and a famous annual pantomime. The Grand Opera House hosts touring musicals, comedy and concerts. The National Centre for Early Music, in a medieval church, runs a respected early-music festival and a concert series. Choral evensong at the Minster is free and well worth attending.

The medieval Mystery Plays are revived periodically and performed on wagons in the streets, which is a distinctively local tradition. Pubs and small venues host folk and live bands, but there is no opera company or orchestra of note, and bigger touring shows go to Leeds.

York has no bathing culture of its own. Spa options are limited to hotel spas and a few day spas. The city can still be restful outside the busiest hours. Early mornings on the walls, the Museum Gardens, the riverside paths and long afternoon teas set a gentle pace, although the centre is packed on summer and December weekends.

For proper bathing, go to Harrogate, about half an hour away by train. It was a spa town for centuries, and its Royal Baths still house a Victorian Turkish bath with steam rooms, plunge pools and tiled hot rooms in Moorish style.