One point that's not been clearly made is about the says to choose for a same-day trip.

It's a very great deal trickier to get low prices for trains leaving London before ~0930 (and therefore, by the time you've got out of York station and oriented yourself, getting you into central York before midday) on weekdays than at weekends.

Though trains typically run less often on Sundays than on Sats, they're so frequent on this route that really doesn't matter. But you'll probably spend less, certainly get more flexibility and definitely be able to pack more, more comfortably, into your day by travelling at weekends than on weekdays.

For the York experts - where would you recommend for a lunch? I'm also doing a daytrip from London to York.
I have been to York a few times, but have not yet found a restaurant I liked enough to go back too. Recommendations?
I've been to Betty's.

What sort of food do you like?
We always go to Ambiente Tapas for lunch.
http://www.ambiente-tapas.co.uk/

Thanks Morgana, that looks good! We like a wide variety of food, as long as it's not too heavy, and preferably not french cuisine, as we have enough of that at home in Belgium.

<i>Tulips on Nov 17, 13 at 11:13am
We like a wide variety of food, as long as it's not too heavy, and preferably not french cuisine, as we have enough of that at home in Belgium.</i>

Re: Eating in York:

Being as you are from Belgium you probably don't want to hear about the mussels I had at Gert and Henry's. They were cooked in a spicy Italian sauce and were excellent. I was not pleased with the ale. You are better off with a bottled beer in that place.

Also probably not what you are looking for, because it is rather heavy, was a prime rib eye with fried onion rings and a baked potato at Restaurant Plunket. The decor and service there was a grade C- but the food was excellent. That was the best baked potato I can remember anywhere. I had to ask for the salad dressing and sour cream. The house wine is rubbish, as they say in England.

I do not look forward to going back to either place.

Thanks for the tips. I'm also looking for somewhere to celebrate a graduation next summer - somewhere special.

I went to York for a day trip in October. I took the train and thought that 2 hours was just fine. The city was pretty but not amazing. It was nice to wander the streets but I felt that york did not have that much going for it compared to other cities that I have been to like Bath and Oxford (the other two day trips that I did before). Of course it was raining on my day trip to York so perhaps that is a factor.
When I was researching I found that there was an Indian restaurant that got rave reviews called Mumbai lounge. It was easy to find and I actually passed it while I was walking around but decided on Cote instead which was great as usual.

happy travels