York

Walled city center York's walls are usually counted as the longest town walls in England, a circuit of about 3.4 km, and walking them is the best way into the city. Most of the surviving stonework dates from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, on a line the Romans began, and the walk links the great fortified gateways the city calls bars. From the top you look down on the Minster and into back gardens, then drop into the medieval street plan below, where the Shambles keeps its overhanging timber houses. The Shambles itself is packed most days; the wall walk early in the morning, and side lanes off the main route, give a truer sense of the place.