York by Train

York is the one big day out from Thirsk that does not need a car at all, which makes it the easiest thing on this whole list to organise. The train takes 16 to 23 minutes. You step off at York station and the first attraction, the free National Railway Museum, is next door. Everything else worth seeing sits inside a 15 minute walk of the platform: the Minster, the medieval walls, the Shambles, the Castle Museum, the river. You walk from the platform and keep walking all day. For anyone travelling to Thirsk without a car of their own, this is the day out to build the trip around.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, walk to Thirsk station. Allow 25 to 30 minutes, flat all the way. If you would rather not walk it, there is a taxi rank by the clock on the square, and the Hodgsons 70 and X70 bus calls at Thirsk Market Place, the racecourse and the railway station on its run between Thirsk, Northallerton and Ripon, about five journeys a day Monday to Saturday.

At the station, trains to York are TransPennine Express and Grand Central. LNER runs through Thirsk but does not stop, so ignore it when you are searching times. Grand Central alone runs about seven services on a weekday, six on a Saturday and four on a Sunday, and with TransPennine Express on top you get roughly one train an hour. Book in advance and fares start around 8; turn up and buy on the day and you will pay more. The ticket office opens at 06.00 Monday to Saturday and the first train goes shortly before six.

You can drive, and this page carries a driving time because the planner needs one, but the car means finding somewhere to park in a city centre, which is the least enjoyable part of any York day. The train is quicker, cheaper and drops you in the middle of everything.

The National Railway Museum sits beside the station, so start there. It is free, it is enormous, and it swallows a couple of hours with children in tow. From there, get up onto the medieval city walls, which run for about 3.4km around the old city and cost nothing to walk. Do that early while the legs are fresh, because it puts the whole city underneath you and helps you work out where everything is.

York Minster is the centrepiece, described by the cathedral itself as the largest medieval Gothic cathedral in northern Europe and holding art of the period that exists nowhere else. It is separately ticketed. From there wander down into the Shambles, the narrow medieval street with the overhanging upper floors, then pick your museum: JORVIK Viking Centre for the reconstructed tenth century streets, York Castle Museum for the Victorian street, Clifford's Tower for the view. Finish with a walk along the Ouse before the train home.

The rail link is the feature. Sixteen minutes on a fast service from a small market town to a city of that size is a rare thing, and it turns a day that would otherwise involve a car park into something you can do on a whim. After that, the free National Railway Museum and the free city walls mean a family can have a full day in York and spend money only on lunch and the fares. The compactness helps too: nothing is far enough away to need a bus once you are there.

Book advance rail tickets rather than buying at the station, and check the return times before you set off, because the gaps between services are longer on a Sunday when Grand Central drops to four journeys. Do not sit waiting for an LNER train at Thirsk, because it will not stop. Check the opening hours of anything you are set on before you travel, because every attraction in York sets its own and the rail timetable will not wait for you. Take the walls early while your legs are fresh, and leave the Shambles for later when you want to be browsing rather than walking. Families should treat the National Railway Museum as the anchor and build the rest of the day around it. And come and have breakfast with us before you go, because the walk to the station is easier on a full stomach and the first train leaves before most places in town have opened.