Tour of York - Saints and Sinners
5
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About
*IMPORTANT NOTE: This tour is offered in ONE LANGUAGE ONLY. Please make sure you BOOK THE CORRECT LANGUAGE on the day that it is available.*
The Saints and Sinners Tour looks at the history of York through the eyes of those who shaped it.
Meet the King, the Bishop, the Highwayman, the Chocolatier, the Martyr, the Terrorist, the Emperor, and the Artist.
Do you know their names? What do you know about their lives? Where can you find their traces in the city? Were they saints… Or sinners..?
I am your guide: Irene, an art historian born in Madrid and living in York for the last seven years.
Join me on a fascinating walk around York to discover all this and more!
from per adult
£15.00
Lowest price guaranteeReserve now & pay laterFree cancellation
Ages 0-120, max of 15 per group
Duration: 2h
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
Live guide: English, Spanish
More
- Your guide: Art Historian; MA Archaeology & Heritage; background in museums and customer services.
What's not included- Entry/Admission - Micklegate Bar
- Entry/Admission - Clifford's Tower
- Start:
- Micklegate Bar, Micklegate, York YO1 6JX, UKGo through Micklegate Bar if you are coming from outside the city walls, or stop just before it if you are coming from inside the walls. We meet at the corner of Bar Lane and Micklegate.
End:- Exhibition Square, York, UKWe finish outside York Art Gallery (please note that a ticket to the gallery is not included).
- Wheelchair accessible
- Pushchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 393567P1- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Most travellers can participate
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s cancelled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travellers
- For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
- If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 393567P1
Reserve your spot
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Similar experiences
Itinerary
- Micklegate, York YO1 6JX, UKGo through Micklegate Bar if you are coming from outside the city walls, or stop just before it if you are coming from inside the walls. We meet at the corner of Bar Lane and Micklegate.
- 1
- 2
- 3Pass byYork Castle MuseumJorvik Viking Centre
- 4
- 5Pass byYork's Chocolate Story
- 6
- 7Pass byYork MinsterYork Art Gallery
- Exhibition Square, York, UKWe finish outside York Art Gallery (please note that a ticket to the gallery is not included).
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5.0
23 reviews
Excellent
23
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mroses90
Washington, D.C2 contributions
Aug 2023
Amazing tour! We were the only ones booked for the day so we basically got a personal tour of York with a historian. I highly recommend Irene and this tour which is a more unique take on York history than the hundreds of ghosts tours available.
Written 9 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am so glad you had a nice time! It is definitely a different experience to go on a tour in a small group, you get so much more out of it! It was a pleasure showing you around. Thank you for coming!
Written 11 August 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
John W
3 contributions
Jan 2024 • Family
Travelled to York on the morning of 13th January and had booked the Saints and Sinners Tour of York for 2pm that day, as an introduction for the family to Yourk and to our time there. What an inspired choice! Through the prism of the characters chosen, Irene brought people and periods in the history of York vividly to life before us. From first moment to last we three were engaged as a family. Brilliant storytelling, insightful pathways through the city and a huge degree of personal charm, all of which are testament to a quite brilliant guide. As a lover of place and history, could not have asked for more. My recommendation, to end, is to book Saints and Sinners without any hesitation. Thank you, Irene for such a superb start to our break in York. John, Amanda and Saoirse.
Written 19 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much John, Amanda and Saoirse for such a kind review! It was an absolute pleasure for me to show you around, I had a fantastic time; it didn't feel like work but more like a nice walk with friends.
Having so much fun and getting reviews like yours is the best reward I could wish for. Thank you again and hope you come back to York soon!
Written 9 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
srober12345
New Glasgow, Canada20 contributions
May 2024 • Couples
This was a great tour & Irene was absolutely a 5 star guide. Knowledgeable, informative, interesting, personable and funny. The tour covered areas of York history that are known, ie Guy Fawkes, King Richard III, but also persons and events that were unknown to us but very Interesting.
Irene’s tour is so good we hope she expands her repertoire and offers other tours very soon.
Irene’s tour is so good we hope she expands her repertoire and offers other tours very soon.
Written 24 May 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Joepala1
Melbourne, Australia5 contributions
May 2023 • Couples
We had a wonderful experience with Irene our tour guide. Her extensive knowledge of York's history is incredible. She was passionate in her work and escorted us through York as if she had been living here at that moment in time. I highly recommend this tour
Written 29 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you Joe for your kind words! I remember we commented on how difficult it is to really "know" these people who lived so long ago, their thoughts and feelings... It would be nice to travel back in time and meet them... We probably wouldn't survive long back then though!
Thanks again :)
Written 19 June 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Frank D
2 contributions
Aug 2024 • Family
My wife and I met Irene for our Saints and Sinners tour this afternoon. Even though we have lived in York for several years, Irene passed on some really unusual and interesting information we weren't aware of. It was a really pleasant leisurely walk round York on a lovely afternoon. Irene made sure we stopped at quiet locations out of the way of the public and tourists. And took time to chat with us about the various Saint and Sinner subjects included in the tour. A varied and well compiled subject list of York 'locals'. Very highly recommended for both residents an visitors to York.
Written 23 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christopher F
4 contributions
Irene was a wonderful guide with a clear passion for history and an ability to engage others with the subject.
What I liked about the Saints And Sinners Tour is the variety of individuals featured. Not all the ‘Saints’ were members of the Clergy and not all the ‘Sinners’ were brutes.
Also, given the title of the tour it would have been very easy for Irene to just talk about figures from the Medieval period, but instead she included people from much earlier and much later than that. This helped give an insight into a broader scope of Yorks history.
Some of the figures featured on the tour I’ve known about since childhood and others I hadn’t even heard of before. Yet I learnt something new about every one of them.
I recommend this tour.
What I liked about the Saints And Sinners Tour is the variety of individuals featured. Not all the ‘Saints’ were members of the Clergy and not all the ‘Sinners’ were brutes.
Also, given the title of the tour it would have been very easy for Irene to just talk about figures from the Medieval period, but instead she included people from much earlier and much later than that. This helped give an insight into a broader scope of Yorks history.
Some of the figures featured on the tour I’ve known about since childhood and others I hadn’t even heard of before. Yet I learnt something new about every one of them.
I recommend this tour.
Written 8 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much Chris for such a detailed review! I'm so glad you learnt something new about every character, even the ones you already knew well!
I'm also very happy that you liked the format and variety of characters: I try to talk about people from different eras to show that they are not that different from each other and us. It's important for me to share stories that visitors can relate to, even if they happened many centuries ago.
Best wishes from York :)
Written 9 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Ayaka
2 contributions
Aug 2023 • Solo
Thank you so much for your wonderful tour. I’d been to York before the tour with school, but I couldn’t learn anything new from the school trip. That’s why I joined Saints and Sinners tour. The tour guide Irene is considerate, erudite and funny. I didn’t know about history of the UK at all, but through the tour, I got a new point of view which enables me to enjoy the time in York more.
Written 9 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for your lovely review! I really enjoyed our walk and I am very glad you got to learn new things about York and the British history and culture. Being a foreigner myself, it is always nice to share impressions with visitors from all over the world :)
Written 11 August 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Daniel S
1 contribution
Feb 2024 • Solo
If you want to find out the real story of the people who make York great, rather than the usual tripe about witches and ghosts, then this is the tour for you. History needn’t be boring with Irene Altares Lerma, who brings the past to life with humour and knowledge.
Written 23 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lukefly
10 contributions
Apr 2023 • Solo
The tour has been one of the best I have ever experienced! Irene is very knowledgeable and fun and made the tour extremely interesting! Highly recommended!
Written 15 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much, Luke! I am so happy you enjoyed the tour and thought so highly of it!
It was a pleasure showing you the city and sharing facts about the famous characters who inhabited it. All the best!
Written 20 June 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kirsty186
Wakefield, UK5 contributions
Sept 2023 • Friends
Great afternoon tour with friends. Irene brings York to life with her interesting Saints and Sinners tour, can definitely recommend.
Written 18 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much Kirsty! I'm so glad you enjoyed the tour and can see York in a different light now! Best wishes.
Written 9 February 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
No questions have been asked about this experience
