Your Tourist Guide to the Historic City of York, England and York Hotels

The historic city of York, England, is one of the highlights of a trip to the UK. With its fine medieval architecture, fascinating history and a long list of attractions its difficult to know what to do experience first. We talk about some of York’s top attractions in this article, including its popular ghost walks. Yes, did you know that York is reputed to be one of the most haunted cities in the world. This city is haunted by no less than 140 different ghosts, and with an amazing 500+ recorded hauntings it seems that every room, building or street seems to be haunted in this beautiful city.

York Minster is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe alongside the cathedral of Cologne. It has an amazing history, being first built in 627 for the baptism of Edwin, King of Northumbria. The English Civil War saw the city of York besieged by the forces of Oliver Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to the cathedral.

Some essential sights for a visit to York:

York Minster We have already spoken a little about this magnificent gothic buiding but did you know that it has its own police force? Thats right, after an arson attack in 1829 that destroyed parts of the east transcept and south west tower the guardians of the cathedral were put in place to protect it.

The Shambles This street used to be where the butchers of York made their trade but today is full of little coffee shops and other little curious shops. It is probably the best preserved example of a medieval street in Britain, the second storeys of the fifteenth century houses that form each side of the street lean inwards so far that the roofs on either side are almost touching each other.

Clifford’s Tower This is one of the 2 forts built by William the Conqueror following his conquest and was originally designed as an important base for administering the north of England. In the later part of the 13th century, the keep was rebuilt in stone. It was given a quatrefoil plan, of which there is no other example in England. The keep later became known as Clifford’s Tower after Roger de Clifford, who was hanged there in 1322.

Jorvik Viking Museum York gets its current day name from the viking invaders that once conquered this city, calling it Yorvik. The Viking Centre is a popular visitor attraction in the UK where you can travel back in time and experience the sights, sounds and smells of what was formerly a great Viking city.

The Guy Fawkes Inn is a York townhouse and is famous for being the birth place of Guy Fawkes. Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 and is famous in English history as ringleader of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’, the failed terrorist plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, on 5th November 1605. This is the source of the British ‘bonfire night’ celebrations which take place on the 5th on November.

If you are looking for a place to stay in York full of character then you can do alot worse than a stay at The Guy Fawkes Inn. Located adjacent to the Minster it provides a very convenient base with which to explore the city. Some room seven have 4 poster beds, and the GastroPub restaurant offers a menu with old English dishes and serves a variety of ales brewed specially for the inn, make sure you try the the Guy Fawkes Ale.

Karen can help you find hotels in york england at her online guide where she writes more articles about York, England and york hotels.

Taking Liverpool Vacations And Some Facts You Need To Know

Liverpool, once the second city of the British Empire, has, since WOrld War II been in decline. In recent years there has been a marked increase in investment with the centre of the city undergoing regeneration. In 2008 Liverpool was the European Capital of Culture throughout the full twelve months there were numerous events ranging from music concerts by world renowned musicians and singers to superb art exhibitions. No longer the European Capital of Culture what is there to attract visitors to this lively city? Well there are plenty of new Liverpool hotels which cater for all tastes. In the article below I introduce you to 3 tourist attractions in Liverpool.

Tate Liverpool

Found at the Liverpool’s waterfromt, as part of the Albert Dock complex, is Tate Liverpool. Since opening in 1988, the Tate, for a short space of time, was the largest gallery of contemporary and modern art in the United Kingdom, outside London. The Tate is a highly popular visitor attraction in Liverpool, catering for in excess of 600,000 visitors through its’ doors each twelve months. The gallery is in one of the 5 converted warehouses orignally converted by James Stirling. However, the building had to undergo further refurbishment in1988 to create more gallery space. In 2007 the foyer was redesigned, giving the gallery a more modern appearance and better proportions in the reception area.

Albert Dock

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, whom the docks were named after, opened the docks in 1846. Over the years the docks were extremely busy, but eventually had to close to shipping in 1972. For many years the docks lay derelict and quiet, until the 1980′s when they were redeveloped with funding from the Merseyside Development Corporation. The dock consisted of five warehouse buildings, all of which are Grade I listed, making the Albert Dock complex the largest set of Grade I listed building in the United Kingdom. The docks are now home to a number of attractions, including the Tate Liverpool and the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral

Liverpool is celebrated for having two cathedrals: the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral. When John Charles Rye was assigned Bishop of Liverpool in 1880, ironically Liverpool did not have a cathedral at that time. Eventually, after a lot of discussion, the powers that be decided that a cathedral was required. In 1902, they chose to hold an open competition for the design of the cathedral. The winning design was chosen in 1903, and astonishingly, was a proposal by student Giles Gilbert Scott, who had no former building experience. Another architect, George F. Bodley, was nominated to work with Scott, and oversee all designs and construction works. King Edward VII laid the foundation stone in 1904, and in 1910, the first part of the cathedral, the Lady Chapel, was finished.

Besides the 3 tourist attractions examined above Liverpool has a great many more. Not only this there are a great many more not too far away from the city, perfect for a day visit. If you are planning to spend time in Liverpool you may wish to take a look at our web site which has a comprehensive list of Liverpool guest houses and hotels as well as a selection of Liverpool apartments.

Taking A Birmingham Vacation And Some Things You Need To Know

This year more and more tourists are looking for new destinations which offer something found nowhere else or, at least something other than the popular vacation on a beach. Under the current conditions large numbers of folk are, sadly coming to the inevitable conclusion that they have a great deal less money for investing in a family vacation and are, obviously, forced to making cutbacks to stretch their money further. One way of reaching this objective is to seek out a cheaper resort. In the following article I introduce you to the British city of Birmingham. With favorable exchange rates Birmingham hotel accommodation is much cheaper than last year.

You will find the city of Birmingham in the county of England known as the West Midlands and the folk who live in the city are known as “Brummies”. The dialect of the Brummy sounds very similar to those of other northern English cities and it can be rather difficult to understand what is being spoken a problem which is made even worst if if you have not heard these accents before. Happily nearly all folk from Birmingham are extremely kind, helpful and polite and do their very best to explain so if necessary don’t hesitate to approach people about directions and help or assistance with bed & breakfast in Birmingham.

Birmingham possesses an excellent number of places to visit and things to do including some highly interesting museums and art galleries, such as the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Thinktank in the Eastside. The city of Birmingham also features an incredible number of hectares of open spaces and parks, Sutton Park being the largest having 970 hectares it is also the largest urban nature reserve in Europe.

The city of Birmingham features a varied and vibrant night life with many restaurants, bars, cafes and nightclubs. You will find some of the most popular in one of Birmingham’s squares, Victoria Square, Centenary Square, St Martin’s Square, Rotunda Square, Chamberlain Square, the historic Old Square at Corporation Street and the Gas Street Basin. Gas Street Basin is the central hub of Birmingham’s intricate canal systems. The city has about 32 miles of canals with a total of eight canals which were constructed during the 18th century and remained in industrial use until the nineteen seventies. Today the Gas Street Basin has been renovated and regenerated and is now a highly popular visitor attraction.

As an alternative to bed and breakfast why not consider hiring Birmingham apartments. If you If you are in the process of planning a vacation in Birmingham you should know that Birmingham’s international airport is approximately eight miles east of the center of the city just off the A45 and near the M42 (junction 6). You will easily find a respectable number of hotels and b & b’s reasonably close to the airport.

Uncover reduced hotels

Everyone seems to be looking for discount hotels these days. Whether its Manchester or London, New York or Chicago people are looking to save those few extra pennies off any potential hotel room. There are some obvious factors involved in the cost of a hotel room and a few not so apparent. Here is a quick guide to help you.

Possibly the largest price deciding factor is the time you make your booking. I think most vital thing here is to book your room well ahead to ensure you get a great deal. Equally, booking a room before or during a major sporting event can have a massive impact on the cost you pay.

The key to success here is to agree on when the hotel is most likely to have an abundance of available rooms. Usually, the best times to book a room are the few days following a major sporting event or public holiday. You’ll probably find cheaper rooms can be found following the kids long summer holiday as individuals don’t like to remove their children from school as they rightly see is an incredibly important part of the child’s education.

Another good option is to aim for strange times and dates. An example would be to book a hotel room between Sunday and Wednesday which it usually a cheaper period of the hotels week. You’ll also find beginning of the week is cheaper as less people are busy and many have gone back to work.

If you have Internet access you can always make use of the comparison websites. These are slightly long winded and can be tedious but they are an excellent way to save some money. During my time using these websites I found it best to keep with one as they’re all pretty much the same, they all provide similar discounts with the operators.

The hotel area will play a big role in the price too. Opting to stay at a centrally placed hotel near the city centre is going to cost a little bit more than one on the fringes. Utilise Google maps to your advantage here and get a good idea of the travel distance versus price ratio. You don’t want to save money on the room only to pay it out again (and sometimes more) on travel costs back into the city.

Do you really need the gym and other facilities? Don’t book a hotel with lots of snazzy add-ons unless you’re adamant you’re going to make use of them. The final fee is always bolstered by the availability of additions such as gyms, swimming pools and tennis courts. If you don’t plan to take advantage of something simply go without it and save some money.

Trying to bargain over the phone is not for everyone but it can still be worth a try and can yield some unexpected results. It usually doesn’t work too well with the big chain hotels but success can be found with smaller independents and at the end of the day there really is nothing to lose by enquiring for a cheaper price, you could be surprised by the results.

Its clear that there are quite a few things to think about when attempting to book a cheap hotel anywhere. However with a little bit of preparation and some luck you could end up lodging in your ideal hotel for a price you can afford.

Airport arrivals at Manchester

When you arrive at Manchester airport you will probably see the sign for Manchester airport arrivals but then what?

There is nothing worse than arriving at an airport especially a large airport like Manchester Airport and feeling lost and not sure where to go. Manchester is a large airport and there are flights to Manchester from over two hundred locations around the world. This situation can be easily be solved by doing a little bit of homework before you arrive and prevent any problems for your arrival at Manchester airport. The first thing to check is which terminal your flight is going to arrive into as Manchester airport has three terminals.

If you are lucky enough to be getting collected it is more than likely that the person collecting you will have parked in one of the short stay car parks. Each of the short stay car parks at Manchester airport are located near to the terminal buildings. Make sure you tell the person that is collecting you which terminal your flight arrives into.

Manchester airport has its own train station, which connects with the centre of Manchester in only twenty minutes. There are connections available to trains travelling to other parts of England and Scotland. The rail service offers a cheap easy and frequent service to the city centre.

Car Rental is available at the airport in the terminal building. This will enable you to get to your destination without having to wait for the next train or bus. It is advisable to pre-book your car to make sure you get the size of car you require and any extras such as baby seats or a roof rack. You can pre-book online and make sure the car is ready for you when you arrive. It is possible during buy periods that a particular size of vehicle may note be available, take advantage of some online deals and plan ahead.

Manchester Airport has a regular bus service to Manchester city centre, which operate every 10 minutes during the day. You can also connect with other buses to other parts of England and Scotland. The bus is cheaper than the train but can be subject to traffic delays especially at peak times.

As with all airports around the world Manchester Airport is no different and has a taxi service available. The taxis from Manchester operate on a meter basis within the Manchester licensed area and on a set charge for all areas outside by way of a fares chart. If you are worried about the cost just ask the driver what the approximate fare will be.

Simple research but very helpful so when you see the sign for Manchester airport arrivals you will know exactly what you are doing and be less stressed than the people who didn’t. This same information will also help you get to the airport for your return flight from Manchester.