Walks, Tours, Etc, York

I joined a free walking tour of York which is run by The Association of Voluntary Guides to the City of York.

The Tour begins outside the City Art Gallery in Exhibition Square and they last approximately 2 hours. The tour takes you through York's historical heritage from its Romans' finding in AD71. The tour travels through time by visiting sights that were known to the Roman legionnaires, the Danish Vikings and the Benedictine monks. The tour includes a short walk on some of the City Walls and a visit to the Minster. Finally, the tour takes you down The Shambles, a medieval street, then onto The Pavement where the tour concludes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and would recommend doing this free walking tour. The guides are members of the Association and it was nice for them to share their local knowledge of York with us.

We stopped by the York tourism office before heading into York and a bright yellow brochure for a free walking tour given by the Association of Voluntary Guides to the City of York caught my eye so we hurried over to Exhibition Square near the City Art Gallery to join the 10:15 tour. Over 100 volunteers lead tours through York, we were lucky enough to get a retired teacher who enjoys history who gave us a very thorough explanation of the origins of York from the Romans to the Normans to Medieval times. The walk covered parts of the walls, the ruins of St. Mary Abbey, a walk along a portion of the walls to the area by York Minster, through Monk's Gate, to the Treasurer's House, St. Williams College and finally through the Shambles. It lasted about 2 hours and we enjoyed every minute of it.

This is a definite must for history buffs, if you are looking for the cheesy, yet entertaining, tours of ghosts and scandals and the like, this isn't it, only 1 ghost story the entire tour and even that had an historical slant to it.

Additional tours between April 1-October 30 at 2:15 pm and also at 6:45 pm in June, July and August, no need to prebook.

We went on the Monks pilgrimage as something a bit different from the ghosts tour (I was bit scared!). It was very interactive as we were asked to dress up and pretend to be monks, which I hadn't realised we would be doing! It was good fun but not for the shy as we had to help act bits out. All very funny and friendly though.

York has dozens of walks and tours and it is difficult to get an overview. It ranges from classic city guide tours to pub crawls and ghost walks. I have been on three of the latter which are described in my things to do section. Further, including self-made ones are also available from the tourist information office. There was once one called “breadcrumbs trails” which was interactive. Their reflecting beads (“breadcrumbs”) are still seen in the city. Support for it is no longer available, but if you happen to get the book, you can still follow the coloured beads.
You’ll find signs with offers for most of the tours throughout the city. At Coppergate, close to the church, there’s usually a larger collection of them.

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I’ve been on two other, almost identical ghost walks in York before: The “Ghost Hunt“ and the “Ghost Trail”. The Original Ghost Walk was different to them. The forementioned walks focused heavily on comedy while the “Original Ghost Walk” had its focus on the ghosts themselves. Our guide was an expert on paranormal activities in York and I think that up to a certain point he believed in supernatural forces. The tour was very informative and not bad at all. But the guide failed to catch my personal attention. I do not think that it was because of his scottish accent, but I did not see the spark between guide and audience that I have experienced with every (!) British Guide up to this point. The tour went on for approximately 1 ½ hours with a lot of information about all the ghost stories in York. Finally, we ended our tour in front of York Minster, concluding with a real scare with the name of Guy Fawkes who lived in a house nearby.
I recommend this tour to anymone who is interested in paranormal activities, urban legends and their backgrounds. People who do not like theatrical effects or insinuating jokes and prefer hard facts are better done with this tour. For humourous evening entertainment, this tour is not the right one. In case you are just out for some ghost stories and a good laughs, go to one of the two mentioned above (see separate tips).

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The Ghost Hunt is one of many ghost story walks offered in York and is one of the best known. However, you need to know what you expect here to really enjoy it. The ghost walks focuses mostly on comedy rather than on ghost stories. The latter are also an essential part of the walk as is the scary atmosphere which is created by the excellent actor. However, if you expect only urban legends and don’t like the kind of humour, than it is not the right tour for you. The humour is suitable of adults and older kids, younger kids (or their parents) may have problems with some sexual jokes. They are not too harsh (e.g., the actor points to a column and asks, if they have seen an erection like this), but not the kind of humour for younger children. If parents allow, kids are however welcome and are invited to the front row to take part in a scary, more suitable joke. A really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good portion of humour with a very scary actor. Meeting point is at 7:30 p.m. at the Shambles. The actor will pick anyone up who is there for the walk. You will easily recognize him. It’s the only person looking like a victorian undertaker and ringing a bell when he walks down the Shambles.
However, here’s the biggest warning: The Ghost Trail and the Ghost Hunt are in some kind of clinch. They use pretty much the same script! I have written to both of them and each one states that theirs is the original one. I have no clear preference for any of it – as I said, they are almost identical. Chose only one of those two!

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The Ghost Trail was the first ghost story walk I participated in. It was led by a younger guy, dressed as a victorian undertaker. He seemed to be pretty new in the business, but still very good. When he was telling a ghost story about a bishop in front of a side entrance of the Minster, our actor was irritated by someone from the church listening to the story right at the entrance. The story focuses on humour, and although the atmosphere gets scary sometimes, the tour focuses on humour rather than the ghost stories. There are also some sexual jokes, clearly suitable for most adults and older kids, but parents of younger kids may feel unwell. However, kids are welcome and are invited to come to the front row and take part in the one or other more suitable, scary joke. If the focus on jokes and the kind of humour does not disturb you, this is a walk I would like to recommend. If you go here with wrong expectations, you may be disappointed. The meeting point is at 7:30 p.m. at the main entrance of the Minster.
However, here’s the biggest warning: The Ghost Trail and the Ghost Hunt are in some kind of clinch. They use pretty much the same script! I have written to both of them and each one states that theirs is the original one. I have no clear preference for any of it – as I said, they are almost identical. Chose only one of those two!

Did two different evening walking tours. Just depends on what you're looking for. Do you want more of the scary stories or are you looking for some fun stories and different details of the city. Talk to the tour guides, is this the "Family Friendly" tour or the not. I preferred the "family friendly" tour. Still had some ghost stories (everywhere in York does) but it also had a broader scope of stories than the other tour.