Hi, Am thinking of taking the train (from London) to York for one weekend night. I have found a few sites with ideas of what to do/see in York but can anyone recommend a B&B or hotel? Budget is 100 GBP for twin room. Would like something in center so we can spend the days walking/wandering. St. Raphael House looked charming. I just looked at one train site(nationalexpresseastcoast.com) and it looks like @ 84 GBP pp/rt. Are there other alternatives or is that about the average cost for train travel? Thanks!

I am sure you can do better if you book well in advance. Try national rail and play around with dates about 8-12 weeks in advance. Then check out fares. Then you can book direct with NXEC.

Unfortunately, the booking for train will probably be last minute as the trip has just been booked and it's only a few weeks away. I will search some sites for better train fares. Thanks rogeruktm.

Hi Gina,
Please be aware that many B&Bs require a two or three night minimum stay. St. Raphael requires a three night minimum, as we tried to book with them for two and they apologized but said only three night stays were accepted. There are many other B&Bs in York, we are staying at Abbeyfields, so you probably need to do a bit of checking as this info is usually not posted on their websites.

Good Luck with your search,
Michele

I've heard good things about Bootham Guest House http://www.boothamguesthouse.insidey....uk/index.html

Seems within your budget and just a short walk to the city walls. They were full when I tried to book but were very helpful in recommending other hotels.

We are soon to stay at the Ascot House--which will be a bit of a walk from the city center but looks to be pretty accessible. The rates are good (90 pounds for a family room), and we were able to book two nights only. The rooms look lovely. http://www.ascothouseyork.com/

I forgot to address the part of your post about train fares. Try different times of day for the train--I think we're paying 33 GBP per person round trip, leaving Kings Cross on a Saturday morning and returning on a Monday morning. The earlier train Monday would have made the round trip something like 45 GBP. It's kinda crazy.

Also, I was never able to book my tickets online with National Express--a very frustrating experience. My credit card would never go through, so I ended up having to phone them. It doesn't seem to be a problem with my card. I had the same problem with British Airways yesterday, and the BA person said they're having lots of problems with credit card failures. So just be prepared.

A one night booking on a weekend could be a real problem. The three I would most recommend all require 2 night minimums over a Fri or Sat. Now, if your one night is a Sunday, that's different and there may be lots that will book just the one night.

Hmmm, never considered there would be a 2 night minimum! Wonder if a last minute (say Thurs before) they may allow me to book just 1 night? Thanks for the hints on the train too penel523. Back to the internet search. Thank you.

Nost hotels, rather thn B&Bs and guesthouses, will allow one-night stay, but you will probably pay more for your accommodation. Go to York Tourism site for their online accommodation booking service.
http://www.visityork.org/accommodation/
£84 is the walk-on saver fare from London to York r/t, and you can take any off-peak train for that (any train on Sat and Sun). You should be able to get two single advance fare for around £30 to £40 total, but this will tie you to specific trains - if you miss, you have to buy a new ticket.

We enjoyed our stay at the Minster Hotel , a few yards from the cathedral and a hort walk to the Shambles.

www.yorkminsterhotel.co.uk

We too were looking for accomodations in York. Thanks to Alec's link we spotted St. Raphael's B&B (http://www.straphaelguesthouse.co.uk/). It got amazingly great reviews on Travel Advisor - like overwhelmingly high satisfaction. Plus the location looks great for getting around and parking. Unfortunately for us, when we plan to visit, at New Year's, the couple running the place are getting married (fools ) and thus they are closed.

We have since found a rather interesting place to stay in the village of Thirsk a few miles North of York. As this will be my first experience at driving on the opposite side of the road I'm hoping it'll be easier to navigate in a little hamlet as opposed to dealing the traffic of a city. It looks like we'll be staying very close to the James Herriot museum: www.gallerybedandbreakfast.co.uk

Otzi: If your are staying in Thirsk - then, if you are visiting York one day you might consider taking the train . You can leave your car in Thirsk and get off the train right outside the city walls.

Just back from York. We found a B&B on the day of arrival although it wasn't as close as "12 minute walk from the center". I went to Evensong at York Minster. It was incredibly beautiful with the choir of boys and men. Also, the National Railway Museum was quite interesting. We spent 2 hours there and still did not see everything. I can easily recommend both. Thanks everyone for your help.

I'm just seeing this thread for the first time today. penel, I know you've already come and gone but, for next time... I've run into a lot of credit card problems too, most notably with Aer Lingus. I finally learned that the trick is to call the credit card company <i>before</i> you try to book tickets. Apparently many American cc companies are doing some sort of security block on international online purchases.

I'm glad I saw this as I'll be buying train tickets online from London to York and then on to Edinburgh the next day. Thanks to you, I know that must be another purchase that requires calling the cc first!

Gina, can I ask the name of the B&B you wound up with? We're staying one night in June and have reserved Number 34 B&B. Since you mentioned yours being more than 12 minutes out, I'm hoping that's not the one where you stayed!

Glad to hear you enjoyed York!

Hi,

It was Heworth Guest House on East Parade.

Thanks, Gina!

Caph52,

I did call the credit card company first. In fact, I finally phoned them and asked them to stay on the line with me while I tried to do the online purchase. It still wouldn't go through. Interestingly, the credit card person said that when I clicked Buy (or whatever), there was no indication at all that a purchasing attempt was being made. I ended up calling National Express, and there was no problem at all. What a pain.

We finally figured that there must be some software-related issue. My son, studying in England, recently tried to buy train tickets online using his debit card and also ended up having to phone.

We're about to make another try, buying tickets for our daughter who's headed over to meet our son. Here's hoping the software issues will have been solved.

Thank you for filling me in on that, penel! I'm hoping to buy our tickets within the next few days. I'll report back. Would you please do the same when you buy your daughter's? Good luck!

Penel, just wanted to let you know that I just ordered my train tickets from this site:

http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/

I had no problem at all with the credit card going through.