Private tours of York with York's Hidden History are relaxed, fun, informative, reasonably priced and tailored entirely around you. Our tours typically last 2 hours and usually start in Museum Gardens but we can begin and end the tour at any convenient point for you in the city centre.

You are able to tell us what you want to see or give us a theme to base the tour around. Do you want to learn about York's Roman or Viking history? Or it's railway or river history? Want to focus on York's churches or city walls then we'll tailor our tour to whatever you want.

Alternatively, why not sit back and let us do all the work. We can give you a tour that guarantees to take in all the famous sights and best locations as well as some of our favourite, lesser known places. Along the way we'll tell you all about the people and events that made York the special place it is.

email or phone us with your desired date and time and we can get the process started to give you the best possible tour.

Our price list (in £'s) is below. 

If you are a local education group (e.g. a local history group, school or a WI branch) then please contact us and we'll quote you an appropriate, discounted price. 

Earth Tour - Find out what York is built on, what it is built from and learn about some of the remarkable families that helped us uncover Earth's history.

Our Earth Tour begins at Micklegate Bar where you will be introduced to the origins of York via Romans, glaciers and weather-proof limestone. We'll then meander down Micklegate towards the River Ouse where you can go hunting for corals in the cobbles at Queen's Staith. We'll then use a river to cross the river, find an upside down church and admire the oldest building in the city. We'll then make our way to the iconic York Minster and learn why it doesn't pay to use cheap building materials. Our tour ends in Museum Gardens with some bone-crunching hyenas and Jurassic giants, and a final pebbly stroll across the whole of Yorkshire.

Join one of our scheduled Earth Tours here

Air Tour - Dirty air, clean air, good air, bad air, the moon, the stars and the heavens. Learn how they've all contributed to York's history on our Air Tour. 

Our Air Tour begins at Micklegate Bar and walks the City Walls to steam our way past the railway station(s). En route we'll learn how the Victorian atmosphere became smokey and disease ridden and how York's air might not have been as bad as first thought. After crossing the river, we head into the rarefied and exclusive air of Museum Gardens and see how York's past residents helped us view the moon and predict the weather. Getting back on the City Walls again at Bootham Bar we'll experience the best and worst air that that the Medieval city had to offer. After some historical star gazing at Treasurer's House we'll finish at York Minster where you can admire the heavens themselves.

Join one of our scheduled Air Tours here

Water Tour - Follow the flow of the rivers Ouse and Foss as we learn the very wet history of the city of York.

Our Water Tour begins in Museum Gardens and explains how the monks of St. Mary's Abbey got best use of the water in York. At Lendal Bridge we'll talk ferries and water works before crossing the river to North Street Gardens for a game of Ouse Who. We'll then head down to King's Staith and Tower Gardens, discussing how and why York was bridged and learning how Ouse water was a vital (but occasionally dangerous) part of the city's history. We'll then walk through the moat of York Castle and head up along the River Foss hearing how fishermen, churchmen and adventurous merchants were dependent on this small but important stretch of water. Our Water Tour then finishes on Piccadilly.

Join one of our scheduled Water Tours here

Fire Tour - Learn how fire has always been part of York's history in good and bad ways. From industry and gunpowder to lanterns and arsonists, all these and more feature on our Fire Tour.

The Fire Tour begins in Museum Gardens and takes in a remarkable Roman cremation as well as soldiers behaving in both civil and frivolous ways. We'll then head through Bootham Bar to learn of York Minster in the Land of Fire as well as the devastating but fascinating blazes that hit the building in the 19th and 20th Centuries. We'll then walk down Stonegate, Coney Street and Parliament Street learning about a Victorian volcano chaser, a Frenchman who kept the city from burning and how the Roman army kept their soldiers warm and happy. From there we'll learn about the terrible fires at York Castle and finish at the Coppergate Centre in the fires of an industrial revolution from more than a millennium ago but which changed York forever. Oh, there was also a Guy called Fawkes who was from York. He might feature as well.

Join one of our scheduled Fire Tours here