wilsonlisa

And can it be done w/o a car?

PalQ

two trains an hour take about two hours each way - station in heart of town near Minster - compact town a great possible day trip
but to get cheap train fares don't just walk up or you'll pay a bundle - rather go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and scan fares and reserve some deep discounted day return to save big pounds! Or could try www.thetrainline.com
Go for it - York is one of Europe's finest cities.

Robespierre

There is an entire fare category known as Cheap Day Returns (return = round-trip). Make sure that's the most you pay - occasional sales will cut even that.

alanRow

The cheapest tickets for London to York are single tickets - £9.50 each way.

You can't get cheap day returns anymore - the cheapest return ticket being £72

Book through www.gner.co.uk as they don't charge you for booking - unlike thetrainline

Robespierre

When did that happen? And is it all over, or just some destinations?

annhig

Goodness knows, R'spierre - and we live here. THe british train system is a complete mess; the best info about times of trains is through the german website [thanks, PalQ] and they seem to make the fares up as they go along.
THe theory seems to be - make it hard enough and we'll stop travelling!

GeoffHamer

Day returns and cheap day returns have not been abolished, but they are generally only available for shorter journeys. There is, for example, a cheap day return fare from London to Newark at £32.30, and a cheap day return fare from Newark to York at £20.90, but the cheapest return ticket from London to York, which can be bought at the station before boarding a train, is £72. The same anomaly applies to fares from London to Lincoln, and in that case, you usually have to change trains at Newark anyway.
Apart from the complicated fares, the train is definitely the best way to get from London to York - it would take much longer by car.

USNR

Several years ago I bought a special day return ticket at the British Rail shop on Oxford Street and had a marvelous time. Saw the British Railway Museum (not far from the train station in York), walked the walls, saw the Minster with its huge stained glass window (largest, I was told, in the world), had a pub lunch. Could have gone out to Castle Howard or the Viking village. York is a wonderful day trip.

azresptech

I have a Brit Rail pass to cover my trip from London to York. Should I get a reservation, or are there usually seats available? I'd like to stay flexible on which day to take the trip. We will be in London in late September.

ron

azresptech, there are usually seats available, but I have been on a train between the two cities where people were standing in the aisle for a portion of the journey -- in October.

You don't have to make your seat reservation long in advance -- you can do it in London a day or two before the day you want to travel. And you don't necessarily have to use the reservation -- if you want to stay later than planned in York, you can do that, and just hope you will find seats.

flanneruk

"the best info about times of trains is through the german website [thanks, PalQ] and they seem to make the fares up as they go along.
THe theory seems to be - make it hard enough and we'll stop travelling!"

Die Bahn does NOT adjust its UK schedules for planned engineering work, and is therefore simply useless at weekends. And Britain's train problem is that its passenger number are growing faster than anywhere else in Europe.

Our trains have their problems. It helps no-one to mis-state them, or refer visitors to an information site that doesn't do its job properly.

dfr4848

Yes, it's doable in a day and yes, it can be done without a car. IMO it's best not to use a car. Other posters have given you info on getting prices, schedules, etc. so I won't repeat. We took early express from London and got to York mid-morning. Really easy walk from station to town. We spent the day and returned to London around 9 pm. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although we decided it's worth more than a day. Next time we're planning to spend 2 or 3 days. Have fun.

PalQ

You don't really need schedules in UK on most routes as trains run very frequently - twice hourly to York from London. And trains are often late so throw schedules out the window. I've often arrived at the station to catch say the 10:20 only to find the 'delayed' 9:20 limping into the station.
With a railpass you can i think on gne, the main york service franchise, get free reservations until 6 or 7pm the night before - of course this means going to Kings X station to do so. In first class there are always empty seats in my hundreds of first class rides - second class can be full, especially as the deeply discounted tickets are drawing more and more riders. As Flanneruk says the British train system has recorded the highest increase in ridership in Europe in the last few years.
Admission to the National Rail Museum in York, right by the York station, is now free - this is one of Europe's premier rail museums. The York train shed itself is a marvelous piece of Victoria architecture - one of the finest classical train sheds in Europe in my opinion. If you want a hop on and off bus service around York's main sights, hop on the double-decker tour buses that serve the station. York, however, is eminently walkable and compact - don't miss the chance to walk around town on top of the walls on the Wall Walk.