The Grand York Hotel - York England

 We really enjoyed our stay at the lovely 5-star Grand York.  I took advantage of an American Express card credit and booked this hotel.  The hotel is the old railway headquarters that has been lovingly restored and renovated into the hotel that it is today.  There is an older section and a newer section and we stayed in the new.  The room was much larger than your average European hotel room and beautifully decorated.  I was a bit jet-lagged when going to sleep that night but I woke up exactly 12 hours later.  I do believe it was one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept on.  I got up the next morning feeling refreshed and had a couple of Nespresso coffees that were complimentary.  I had a bath in one of the longest tubs I have ever been in.  The bathroom was quite posh and done up in marble etc.

It is a 5-minute walk from the train station, no need for a cab.  The Grand is located inside the walled city of York and you pass under the entrance that was modified to allow for vehicles to enter Old York.  You can climb the stairs to the top of the ancient wall just steps from the hotel.

The ancient wall is to the right and you can see the Grand Hotel through the arch and above the wall.

The hotel staff is well-trained, friendly and helpful.  The doormen were dressed fancy with tophats and tails and shook our hands when we left.  It began to rain the morning that we had booked the Yorvik Center, so we grabbed a couple of complimentary umbrellas for our 10-minute walk.

The Key cards to our room were made out of wood and the sleeve that the cards were in was a folded-up little map of the ancient walled city of York, which was very handy.

The Grand York was a great stop that helped to make our trip to York fantastic and I would stay there again.  We did not end up eating at the hotel but ventured out and ate twice at Pizza Express which sounds like a dive but it is located in a beautiful old mansion across the river on the bank and a short walk from the Grand Hotel.  The Margarita Pizza was so good along with their side salad that I had to come back again for lunch the next day.  We really liked the Italian waiters who were super friendly and added to the experience.  I would say it was the best pizza outside of Italy that I have ever had.