Private Viking Walk Of York

John was an amazing guide—one of the best! We learned a lot of history, kept on the move, and had some good laughs along the way. Witty and smart. I’d give six stars if I could. My two sons and I highly recommend him.

Don’t sign up for this tour. The guide never showed up. Pay in advance but no guide. Texted and called tour provider at time of tour but no response from either.

Our guide, John, was outstanding. We really enjoyed the tour and highly recommend it and him. Lastly, he sent us to dinner at a vegan Chinese restaurant as it was late and not much was open. We are not vegans but it was excellent!

Great overview of the history of York and the Viking influence. An informative walk through history as we explored this amazing city. Neal our guide was first rate.

John is an outstanding guide. His depth of knowledge of York and its history is truly impressive. This was my third tour with him. and all have been extremely engaging in learning about the Roman and Viking and Anglo-Saxon history of the city of York.

Our tour with Neil was perfect! We met him at our hotel. He walked us around sharing the brilliant history of York through the centuries. He highlighted fun facts and stories for us as adults but more importantly for our 11yo daughter. He was funny and mindful. He tailored the tour to our interests. It was a great way to understanding York and it heritage to begin our three night stay. Highly recommend this tour to all couples and families. He also gave us wonderful recommendations for food and events to enjoy within York. Thank you!

Visited York to meet up with fellow travelers from a tour of Australia. The whole experience was magical and spent much time touring around York. There is so much to see and some is dating back to the Romans. The Shambles area is like something out of Harry Potter and there was a Christmas market present. I was last in York over 55 years ago for my first honeymoon. I remember it rained a lot then so took to potholing as there are lots of caves in the Yorkshire moors, but this time the sun shone for us and although the river was flooded, it all added to the magic.

🕍 Loved our stay in beautiful York! 🏰 The Grand Hotel was amazing — so much history and charm everywhere we went. From York Minster and The Shambles to Clifford’s Tower, we explored so much of this stunning city. A huge highlight was this morning’s Viking walking tour with John ⚔️ — his knowledge, stories, and sense of humour made the city come alive. We wandered hidden streets, learned fascinating Viking tales, and discovered corners of York we never would have found on our own. What a fun and memorable experience! 💛✨ We topped off our visit with a beautiful dinner at The Star Inn The City 🍽️— delicious food and a gorgeous riverside setting, the perfect end to an incredible York adventure ⚜️

Our trip was cancelled without Viator informing us. We wasted a half hour. You owe us a free tour. Unhappy!

John was friendly and accommodating. We were running late and he met us at our hotel. He was informative and passionate about his subject. Loved it!

Very interesting, very funny, John made the wander around York, and its history, highly entertaining

John was a fantastic wealth of information and knowledge about the Viking experience in York. He created an experience which catapulted you back in time and highlighted aspects of the culture which is still relevant today. He paced the walking tour to accommodate those who would otherwise be limited in extended periods of walking. He was passionate about the topic and was throughly engaging. It was an exceptional experience!

Fantastic private tour of the most important sites in York. Our guide, John, was an energetic and engaging person who tailored the tour to our intrests.

Wonderful guide! Adapted to our questions and knowlege. Almost forgot our next appointment. Loved our Viking guide from the South ;-)

John was incredible! He was so knowledgeable about the Viking history and relating it to tv series, Vikings and The Last Kingdom. We are big Viking movie buffs so it was awesome to learn more about the Battle of York and the history between Rome, Vikings, and Angelo Saxons. 10/10 recommend.

John’s knowledge of all history is next level and he presents it in a humorous way which appealed to our whole family.

This was a wonderful tour! John is extremely knowledgeable about the Viking history of York and the history of the city. He was very engaging and provided visual aides so we could imagine what the city once looked like. He kept our kids engaged throughout the tour and catered to their interests. This was a fun and enlightening way to see the city!

Highly recommend! John was incredible! He specialized our tour for our family including children. Met us at hotel.

My husband and I booked this tour when we decided we wanted to visit York for two days on our honeymoon. We love learning about Vikings and history in general and this tour was 100% worth every penny. John met us at our hotel and was extremely friendly and easy to work with from the start. He is clearly so passionate about this city and the history that goes with it and the two hour tour went by in the blink of an eye. We saw Roman and Medieval ruins and learned so much we would not have learned on a generic group tour or just by walking around. John related some of the stories to the popular shows the Last Kingdom and Vikings (because we said we've seen them) and it really was just an informative and enjoyable experience. If you made it this far, I hope this is a clear indicator to book this tour for your group -- big or small -- because you will leave with so much knowledge and excitement to keep exploring! Thank you for a wonderful experience.

My sister and I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It was delivered with humour, wit and a lot of enthusiasm. We learnt so much and had a great time.

You must walk the walls whilst in York, you see some stunning views. It was a lovely day so we went about 8.30 before it got busy only passed a few people on the way. Very interesting and some beautiful pictures to be taken.

Absolutely fantastic tour! Some of our group had prior knowledge of medieval and Viking history and our guide was able to address all of our questions while keeping the conversation lively and informative for everyone. John was a great guide!!!

I love British history and who doesn't love the Vikings? John had loads of great information and places to see that I didn't even know existed in York, even after having been atleast half a dozen times in the past. It was a fun and engaging tour and I would highly recommend John and this experience to anyone visiting York. It's the perfect tour for someone that wants to dig just a little deeper into it's history!

John is very knowledgeable and amusing. This history is rich and he makes it fun. Sadly because of the weather the wall walks were closed but we had an interesting hike around the city and saw some very cool things.

Our guide we friendly and intelligent. We had a wonderful time walking and learning about the great city if York.

We had a great experience with John! He was very knowledgeable and gave a very thorough history of York dating back from the Roman Empire, which was more than I could have hoped for. He even came prepared with visual aids that were very helpful. Would recommend!

Wow! Our guide John was so knowledgeable! He showed us many hidden spots that illustrated cool historical moments. I enjoyed it so much - definitely the highlight of our trip giving context and deep understanding of York and its history.

Awesome - best walking tour we’ve done (and we’ve done a lot)! Informative and best of all entertaining.

John brought the Viking history of York to life . His depth of knowledge combined with his wonderful enthusiasm, made the experience truly memorable, and I believe we learned things about the Viking history of York that few people ever get to hear about can’t say enough good things I would recommend it to anyone I know and don’t know !

John was an excellent tour guide and full of knowledge of the Vikings. Impressed my husband who is a historian.

If you have an interest in Vikings, you HAVE TO do this tour! It was the highlight of our trip. John is so knowledgeable, fun, and engaging, and we learned a ton. No joke, I wish I could have hired him for the entire day. This tour is worth every penny.

I really wanted to like this tour, especially because the guide seemed interesting and upbeat. Unfortunately, the reality didn't match my expectations. The tour barely touched on Viking history, and missed half of the proposed itinerary. I can't recommend this tour as it was off topic and didn’t feel like a good value for money. Despite being promised insights into York's rich Viking history, the tour ended up being incoherent, with hardly any Viking stories. Instead, I got a mix of random facts, mostly focusing on Romans and history as recent as Henry VIII. The tour missed the mark on its Viking theme. What disappointed me even more was that we didn't visit most of the places listed in the itinerary, such as the Jorvik Viking Center, Castle Museum, cliff tower, and the Viking-themed bar. Considering it was a private tour with just me and the guide, we were extremely mobile and missing all those stops confused me. I asked about the Jorvik center at the end, and the guide informed me it was already closed and I couldn’t visit even by myself. This information should have been communicated earlier so we could adjust the start time, begin the tour there, or at least notify me of potential closures beforehand. While I understand Viking history is based on folklore, titling a tour "Vikings" is misleading when the tour doesn't live up to that promise. The tour was exactly 1.5 hour long. Overall, it was a disappointing experience.

Brilliant tour. Learned a lot and we were thoroughly entertained Great insights into the history of York and the manifestation of that in the city today. Highly recommended!

Perhaps we did not do enough research, but the tour was not at all what we expected. Our guide only spoke about the Romans and the Viking. No other history. But most importantly he said it was a private tour and we could see what we wanted. When we said we wanted to see the cathedral he said “no, not part of his tour”! He said we could go in afterwards, but when we did it was closed. A licensed guide of York, should know the hours of the main attraction.

Tour guide advised a pick up area closer to be able to give us a full tour experience. Our guide John was very informative and knew the history of York inside and out. Not only covering the Viking eta but also romans until Tudor period We found it very informative and easy to understand. My wife who is not a real history buff also said she enjoyed the tour (which is saying something ) Job. Also gave us tips on places to go and see. I would totally recommend John for a private tour

Really knowledgeable tour guide and had a lot of fun learning the history. Was nice and informative, and was a really great interactive experience.

We started off on the York wall discussing the actual age of the wall and how the walls' shape was created from its history. We also discussed some anecdotal stories about the queen and her humor in regard to the wall. We learned about words and phrases that were created through ancient times. We then learned about the vikings' religion and their gods. It was an extremely interesting tour.

Brilliantly guided by John. Animated, informative, humorous, knowledgeable, passionate. What more could one ask for?

Could not have asked for a more knowledgeable, interesting, passionate, friendly, energetic tour guide than John! We walked the entire fortress perimeter with him, walking and talking Roman, Norman, Viking history, new archeological finds, and city secrets. He appreciated and happily integrated our love of Netflix Vikings shows and their characters, differentiating between fact and fiction. So enjoyable! Thank you John! You were the best!

Walked this with my partner as he loves vikings and the tour guide John was brilliant, he knew what he was talking about and it was so interesting. He took us to some places I would never have known were there, would definitely recommend as we loved it.

Tour guide was excellent. So much knowledge. Picked us up from our hotel. Would recommend to anyone. Well worth the money.

Me and my wife really enjoyed our walk with John our tour guide he was very knowledgeable of the history of york and nordic mythology, we really enjoyed seeing bits that we wouldn't have found otherwise and the history behind places. I would highly recommend booking a tour we are already thinking of doing another one in future

Such incredible history told by a super engaging tour guide, John. The insights and stories shared were so vivid as we walked the paths of this fascinating part of the world. Highly recommended!

It was absolutely enjoyable walk around most important places in York and also incredible dive in history that helped to understand logistic of the city

John was a great tour guide. He was very friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging. We were a little late to the tour having missed our first train but he met us at the station and adjusted the tour. Can we give him 10 stars!

Fantastic experience! John was very kind, informative, and patient. My mother is moving slower these days and very free with her opinions on history as she understands it, and he was patient and kind throughout while still correcting where she had it wrong. We both came away with a deeper knowledge of the town of York, the Viking experience, and the Victorians habit of adding useless details to medieval architecture. He gave us excellent directions back to our lodgings and gave recommendations for a Viking pub/restaurant to visit. Overall a great tour!

Thanks for really fascinating afternoon; highly recommended. Walked the most interesting locations from a historical perspective.

I’m going to sum this up briefly. John was an excellent tour guide on Viking history I would suggest using him.

John was so passionate and knowledgable. The tour was totally bespoke based on what we wanted to see and talk about. Without doing this tour I don’t think we would have seen the hidden gems John showed us. Included far more than just Viking history. Would highly recommend!