On our visit to York, we prioritized convenience and booked a stay at the Principal York hotel.
Only a few steps away from the train station, it was super easy to get to and from the hotel with our bags. The hotel fits right in with the local atmosphere with its beautiful late-Victorian architecture.
After our very short commute, we headed straight to the lobby and our room was ready immediately, despite our early arrival. Our standard twin room was a little small, but the bathroom was huge! Unlike many of our previous hotels, our room included two completely separate beds- a nice treat for us since we’d gotten used to our twin beds being pushed right up against each other.
There is a small elevator that services the hotel, but it was typically a little slow and we often took the stairs to save time and get some extra steps in.
Since we were visiting in late December, the hotel was all decorated for Christmas with festive touches everywhere and a huge Christmas tree and prop presents front and center in main lounge area.
The decorations added to the overall impression that this hotel was more of a fancy mansion than an actual hotel- there were tons of beautifully appointed areas for guests to gather, and The Garden Room area even served light food. We got soup to warm us up after a cold day of exploring the town since we wanted to take advantage of staying in such a beautiful hotel.
The Chapter House bar area was another popular place tho hang out, serving wine, beer, and cocktails along with a limited bar menu. This area was right next to the stairs to the sauna, which was unfortunately closed during the duration of our visit.
Similarly, the onsite Refectory was closed, though in this case it was booked out due to the holiday parties hosted by the hotel. At this point in our travels, we had become little backpacking goblins who’d been wearing the same outfit for several days straight so seeing all of these holiday outfits was a nice prompt to change into some nicer clothes while utilizing the lounge area.
Since this hotel was close to the train station, that did mean that it was a little outside of York proper- but not by much. Yorkminster Cathedral is only a ten minute walk away.
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