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55 miles (90 km) northwest of London.
With arguably the most famous university in the world, Oxford has been a center of learning since 1167, with only the Sorbonne preceding it. It doesn’t take more than a day or two to explore its winding medieval streets, photograph its ivy-covered stone buildings and ancient churches and libraries, and even take a punt down one of its placid waterways. The town center is compact and walkable, and at its heart is Oxford University. Alumni of this prestigious institution include 48 Nobel prize winners, 26 British prime ministers (including David Cameron), and 28 foreign presidents (including Bill Clinton), along with poets, authors, and artists such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oscar Wilde, and W. H. Auden.
Oxford is northwest of London, at the junction of the rivers Thames and Cherwell. The city is more interesting and more cosmopolitan than Cambridge, and although it’s also bigger, its suburbs aren’t remotely interesting to visitors. The interest is all at the center, where the old town curls around the grand stone buildings, good restaurants, and historic pubs. Victorian writer Matthew Arnold described Oxford’s “dreaming spires,” a phrase that has become famous. Students rush past you on the sidewalks on the way to their exams, clad with marvelous antiquarian style in their requisite mortar caps, flowing dark gowns, stiff collars, and crisp white bow ties. TIP Watch your back when crossing roads, as bikes are everywhere.
Visiting the Colleges
You can explore major sights in town in a day or so, but it takes more than a day to spend an hour in each of the key museums and absorb the scene at the colleges. Some colleges are open only in the afternoons during university terms. When the undergraduates are in residence, access is often restricted to the chapels, dining rooms, and libraries, too, and you’re requested to refrain from picnicking in the quadrangles. All are closed certain days during exams, usually from mid-April to late June.
Tours
The Oxford Tourist Information Centre has information on the many guided walking tours of the city. The best way of gaining access to the collegiate buildings is to take the two-hour university and city tour, which leaves the Tourist Information Centre daily at 11 and 1. City Sightseeing offers hop-on, hop-off bus tours (£13.50) with 19 stops around Oxford; your ticket, purchased from the driver, is good for 24 hours. City Sightseeing offers hop-on, hop-off bus tours (£13.50) with 19 stops around Oxford; your ticket, purchased from the driver, is good for 24 hours.
Essentials
Visitor and Tour Information
City Sightseeing. | 01865/790522 | www.citysightseeingoxford.com.
Oxford Tourist Information Centre. | 15/16 Broad St. | OX1 3AS | 01865/252200 | www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com.
Exploring
Top Attractions
Fodor’s Choice | Ashmolean Museum.
Britain’s oldest public museum displays its rich and varied collections from the Neolithic to the present day over five floors. Innovative and spacious galleries on the theme of “Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time” explore connections between the priceless Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, and Indian artifacts, and also display a superb art collection. Among the highlights are drawings by Raphael, the shell-encrusted mantle of Powhatan (father of Pocahontas), the lantern belonging to Guy Fawkes, and the Alfred Jewel. This ancient piece features a large semiprecious stone set in gold carved with the words “Aelfred mec heht gewyrcan,” which translates from old English as “Alfred ordered me to be made.” It piece dates from the reign of King Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). TIP There’s too much to see in one visit, but the free admission makes return trips easy. The Ashmolean Dining Room, Oxford’s first rooftop restaurant, is a good spot for refreshments. | Beaumont St. | OX1 2PH | 01865/278002 | www.ashmolean.org | Free | Tues.–Sun. and national holidays 10–6.
Fodor’s Choice | Magdalen College.
Founded in 1458, with a handsome main quadrangle and a supremely monastic air, Magdalen (pronounced maud-lin) is one of the most impressive of Oxford’s colleges and attracts its most artistic students. Alumni include such diverse people as P.G. Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde, and John Betjeman. The school’s large, square tower is a famous local landmark. TIP To enhance your visit, take a stroll around the Deer Park and along Addison’s Walk; then have tea in the Old Kitchen, which overlooks the river. | High St. | OX1 4AU | 01865/276000 | www.magd.ox.ac.uk | £5 | July–Sept., daily noon–7 or dusk; Oct.–June, daily 1–6 or dusk.
FAMILY | Fodor’s Choice | Pitt Rivers Museum.
More than half a million intriguing archaeological and anthropological items from around the globe, based on the collection bequeathed by Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers in 1884, are crammed into a multitude of glass cases and drawers. Items are organized thematically rather than geographically, an eccentric approach that’s surprisingly thought-provoking. Labels are handwritten, and children are given flashlights to explore the farthest corners and spot the world’s smallest dolly. Give yourself plenty of time to wander through the displays of shrunken heads, Hawaiian feather cloaks, and fearsome masks. Children will have a field day. | S. Parks Rd. | OX1 3PP | 01865/270927 | www.prm.ox.ac.uk | Free, suggested donation £3 | Mon. 10–4:30, Tues.–Sun. and national holidays noon–4:30.
Worth Noting
Christ Church.
Built in 1546, the college of Christ Church is referred to by its members as “The House.” This is the site of Oxford’s largest quadrangle, Tom Quad, named after the huge bell (6¼ tons) that hangs in the Christopher Wren–designed gate tower and rings 101 times at five past nine every evening in honor of the original number of Christ Church scholars. The vaulted, 800-year-old chapel in one corner has been Oxford’s cathedral since the time of Henry VIII. The college’s medieval dining hall, re-created for the Harry Potter films, contains portraits of many famous alumni, including 13 of Britain’s prime ministers. TIP Plan carefully, as the dining hall is only open weekdays 10:30–11:40 and 2:30–4:30 and weekends 2:30–4:30. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, was a teacher of mathematics here for many years; a shop opposite the meadows on St. Aldate’s sells Alice paraphernalia. | St. Aldate’s | OX1 1DP | 01865/276492 | www.chch.ox.ac.uk | £8; £8.50 in July and Aug. | Mon.–Sat. 10–5, Sun. 2–5; last admission 30 mins before closing.
Radcliffe Camera and Bodleian Library.
A vast library, the domed Radcliffe Camera is Oxford’s most spectacular building, built in 1737–49 by James Gibbs in Italian baroque style. It’s usually surrounded by tourists with cameras trained at its golden-stone walls. The Camera contains part of the Bodleian Library’s enormous collection, begun in 1602. Much like the Library of Congress in the United States, the Bodleian contains a copy of every book printed in Great Britain and grows by 5,000 items a week. Tours reveal the magnificent Duke Humfrey’s Library, which was the original chained library and completed in 1488. (The ancient tomes are dusted once a decade.) Guides will show you the spots used for Hogwarts School in the Harry Potter films. TIP Arrive early to secure tickets for the three to six daily tours. These are sold on a first-come, first-served basis (except for the extended tour on Wednesday and Saturday, which can be prebooked). Audio tours, the only tours open to kids under 11, don’t require reservations. Call ahead to confirm tour times. | Broad St. | OX1 3BG | 01865/277216 | www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk | Audio tour £2.50, minitour £5, standard tour £7, extended tour £13 | Bodleian and Divinity School weekdays 9–5, Sat. 9–4:30, Sun. 11–5.
St. John’s College.
One of Oxford’s most attractive campuses, St. John’s has seven quiet quadrangles surrounded by elaborately carved buildings. You enter the first through a low wooden door. This college dates to 1555, when Sir Thomas White, a merchant, founded it. His heart is buried in the chapel (by tradition, students curse as they walk over it). The Canterbury Quad represented the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford, and the Front Quad includes the buildings of the old St. Bernard’s Monastery. | St. Giles | OX1 3JP | 01865/277300 | www.sjc.ox.ac.uk | Free | Daily 1–5.
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
Seven hundred years’ worth of funeral monuments crowd this church, including the tombstone of Amy Robsart, the wife of Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I’s favorite. One pillar marks the site of Thomas Cranmer’s trial under Queen Mary for his marital machinations on behalf of Henry VIII. TIP The top of the 14th-century tower has a panoramic view of the city’s skyline. It’s worth the 127 steps. The Vaults and Garden Café, a part of the church accessible from Radcliffe Square, serves breakfasts and cream teas as well as good lunches. | High St. | OX1 4BJ | 01865/279111 | www.university-church.ox.ac.uk | Church free, tower £3 | Mon.–Sat. 9–5, Sun. noon–5; last admission 30 mins before closing.
Where to Eat
Brasserie Blanc.
FRENCH | Raymond Blanc’s sophisticated brasserie in the Jericho neighborhood, a hipper cousin of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Great Milton, is one of the best places to eat in Oxford. Wood floors, pale walls, and large windows keep the restaurant open and airy. The changing menu always lists innovative, visually stunning adaptations of bourgeois French fare, sometimes with Mediterranean or Asian influences. Try the pasta with Jervaulx blue cheese, chestnut, and apple or the chicken stuffed with Armagnac-soaked prunes. There’s a good selection of steaks as well. The £11.50 fixed-price lunch is a good value, and kids have their own menu. | Average main: £15 | 71–72 Walton St. | OX2 6AG | 01865/510999 | www.brasserieblanc.com.
Grand Café.
CAFÉ | Golden-hue tiles, towering columns, and antique marble tables make this café both architecturally impressive and an excellent spot for sandwiches, salads, or other light fare. It’s packed with tourists and the service can be slow, but this is still a pretty spot for afternoon tea. On Thursday and Friday nights, it transforms into a popular cocktail bar. | Average main: £8 | 84 High St. | OX1 4BG | 01865/204463 | www.thegrandcafe.co.uk.
Jamie’s Italian.
ITALIAN | Gazing through the window at the shelves of freshly made pasta, the multicolor gourds, and the abundant hams hanging from the ceiling is enough to entice you into this buzzing eatery. Chef Jamie Oliver’s mission is to re-create the best rustic Italian fare, as shown in a diverting range of antipasti and mains such as tuna fusilli slow-cooked with tomatoes and cinnamon, and steak tagliata with crunchy fennel and garlic. The various dishes servied on a wood plank are a steal, desserts are light and refreshing—tutti frutti lemon meringue pie and fruit sorbets, for example—and the lively crowd appreciates it all. | Average main: £15 | 24–26 George St. | OX1 2AE | 01865/838383 | www.jamieoliver.com.
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