Background information on Oxford

University of Oxford

Oxford is home to the world-renowned and prestigious University of Oxford, with evidence showing its early days starting from 1096. Therefore, this makes the University of Oxford the oldest in the English-speaking world.

The university is made up of 39 independent colleges located all around the city and has collectively and consistently been ranked among the top universities in the world.

The list of key alumni is also impressive. Prime ministers and presidents from all around the world – including 28 UK Prime ministers as well as ex-US President Bill Clinton – have all walked through the streets of this city! Then there are also famous entertainers like Emma Watson and Rowan Atkinson. The list is very, very long indeed.

Scientific breakthroughs

One of the most recent scientific breakthroughs and developments contributed by the University of Oxford, is of course the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, used widely in the world to control the pandemic. It was also here in Oxford where studies were made to mass produce penicillin, and map out the structure of insulin (for diabetics).

And how would life be today if Sir Tim Berners-Lee did not invent the World Wide Web?

Imagine a world without lithium-ion batteries that now allow us to carry our devices everywhere without having to charge them all the time?

Books, libraries and literary merits

As I mentioned earlier, book lovers may find Oxford an important place. You not only have the world’s largest room used for selling books at Blackwell’s bookshop, you also have some of the most beautiful libraries in the country of England. Furthermore, a number of famous literary writers have also lived and studied in Oxford. These include JRR Tolkien (for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit), CS Lewis (for the Chronicles of Narnia) and Lewis Carroll (for Alice in Wonderland which he wrote while in the city).

And even if not directly linked to or written in Oxford, there are connections to the Harry Potter series because of how Oxford was used to bring these scenes to life in their movie adaptations!

General information

Oxford is in essence a university city, with many of its colleges sprawled all around. And as mentioned earlier, there are altogether 39 independent colleges operating collectively as the University of Oxford. When visiting Oxford, you definitely have to visit some of these colleges. Many of them, especially those popular with tourists do charge an entrance fee though. Especially Christ Church College because of its links to the Harry Potter movie series, and is no doubt the most popular among visitors. But some of them (All Souls and Corpus Christi Colleges for example) are free for you to explore during their opening hours.

Refer to the University of Oxford website to see the list of colleges in Oxford together with their respective opening hours. However, I’d also urge you to check their respective websites in case they are closed for school activities, private functions or school exams.

Planning considerations for a day trip to Oxford

1. Getting to Oxford

Oxford is very well connected to various cities in England by rail, especially so from London. There are a few trains per hour departing from London Paddington as well as London Marylebone stations. The quickest and most direct trains depart from Paddington station and generally takes only about 50-65 minutes. The trains from Marylebone are slower however, taking between 1 and 1.5 hours.

Then, from the Oxford train station, you are just about a 15-minute walk away from the main city sights such as the Radcliffe Camera.

You can also get to Oxford from London Victoria by the Oxford Tube, which is an almost round-the-clock coach service that takes 2 hours.

As many of the streets in central Oxford are closed to vehicles and parking can be expensive, it may be better for you to park your car at Oxford Parkway train station before taking a bus (Stagecoach 4, 5, 7 or bus service 2, 2A, 800) to the city centre. Here at Oxford Parkway train station, parking only costs around £2.50 for up to 16 hours!

Counter-intuitively though, it may actually take longer for you to drive to Oxford from London because of the parking hassle. On the other hand, taking the train from London Paddington station may be the quickest option instead.

2. Getting around Oxford

The city centre is really small and compact, and so it is perfectly easy to get around by foot. In fact, I think this is the best way to explore the city. And that’s because many of the main attractions and key colleges are within walking distance from each other.

The only times I think you probably may need public transport, are when you decide to drive and have parked at Oxford Parkway station, or if you choose to visit the graves of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis (more about them later).

You can pay for your bus journey on board the bus using your contactless card, by cash, or through the Stagecoach bus app. In case you are planning to Park & Ride from Oxford Parkway station, you can purchase a parking ticket in combination with your bus rides (see Oxford Bus Company Park & Ride).

3. How long do I need at Oxford

In general, you can easily explore Oxford by a day trip from London and cover the key attractions within the day. And in case you live in the UK, you can easily return to cover the other less-visited attractions such as the museums. Even if you wish to explore the city in detail, you can easily do so over a weekend.

But generally for many, a day trip to Oxford is about enough time. If you want to cover the colleges, the museums, and also the graves of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, then give yourself at least a weekend.

4. Tickets to pre-book (Attractions are extremely popular)

As you can imagine, tickets for a number of attractions can be extremely popular for obvious reasons.

Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera

Firstly, entry to the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera are by guided tours only. Tickets can either be pre-booked online, or purchased on the day itself. Either way, tickets do really fly off the shelves because the libraries are one of the most stunning in the UK, if not the world. Online tickets go on sale exactly a month before the tour. For example, a tour on 5 August at 10am will go on sale on 5 July at 10am.

If there are no longer any availability online, the only other way is to be at the Weston Library information desk at its opening time at 9am. There, you can purchase tickets for the day. However, tickets normally get sold out within the hour. I was there just after 10.30am and all tickets for the day were already sold out.

Christ Church College

Then, there is also Christ Church College, which is extremely popular with tourists because of its association with the movie series of Harry Potter. Its dining hall (featured as the cover photo of this article) was the inspiration for the setting in the movie, while the stairway outside the hall was used as the actual filming location.

You can either purchase a self-guided ticket or a guided tour – online, or on the spot. I strongly urge you to purchase your tickets online, instead of on the spot. Otherwise you risk not being able to get tickets on the day itself.

For the guided tours, you can choose to tour only the college in 40 minutes, or the college plus cathedral in 60 minutes. Interestingly, the pricing of the self-guided ticket, the 40-minute and the 60-minute guided tours are all within £21 to £25. So choose the option that you’d prefer.

Tickets are released every Friday, for the following week. So make sure to act quick!

5. Tours

If you like a fuss-free day and want to be brought around and told where exactly to go and what exactly to do, then look no further than a guided day tour from London. Many of these tours include other places of interests as well to ensure you maximise the use of the entire day.

For example, many of these tours also bring you to Cotswold, Stonehenge and/or Windsor. While these may be great if you want to cover as much as possible in a limited time, you may not be able to see all the best parts of every place.

So, have a look at some of the guided day tour options with Get Your Guide* to see which best fits your pace and interests.

Things to do on your day trip to Oxford

There are so many things that you can do in Oxford, but if you are covering Oxford on a day trip, I personally will prioritise the following. In case you have more than a day, then you can also look at the other suggestions towards the end of this article.

1. Visit the colleges

You cannot say you’ve visited Oxford if you haven’t visited at least one of their colleges. Especially the most popular of them all, Christ Church College with all its associations with the Harry Potter movie series.

For a full list of colleges in Oxford, together with their opening hours, entrance fee and visiting instructions, refer to Visiting the Colleges on the University of Oxford’s website.

Christ Church College

This is notably the most visited college in Oxford and the most popular as well, mainly because of its association with the Harry Potter movies. The key things to see in the college are the Great Hall as well as the Christ Church Cathedral.

The Great Hall

The Great Hall is one of the most famous college dining halls in the world, especially after it has inspired the Hogwarts Dining Hall in the Harry Potter movie series. It features portraits of its various alumni, and the stairway leading up to the hall was used as a filming location for the movie. Note though, that the dining hall only inspired the movie set and wasn’t used as an actual filming location. This is due to the space restriction (there are only 3 table rows compared to 4 in the Harry Potter series).

Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church College is the only one in Oxford to have its own cathedral. It functions as the college chapel as well as the seat of the Bishop of Oxford. While you are here, make sure to admire its vaulted wooden ceiling and the colourful stained-glass windows.

Tom Quad (Great Quadrangle)

The Tom Quad is the largest college quadrangle in Oxford and features a Tom Tower designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren. Housed within the Tom Tower is the Great Tom, a large bell that rings 101 times at 9.05pm each night which was traditionally used to signify the start of the night curfew for students.

The quadrangle was originally designed to have cloisters but was left uncompleted. Today, you can still see the unfinished pillar bases and arches that were meant for these cloisters.

General information

Christ Church College’s alumni boasts a total of 13 Prime Ministers, as well as Lewis Caroll the author of the famous Alice in Wonderland.

As I mentioned earlier, you need to purchase a ticket in order to visit the college. You can do so online, either for a self-guided multimedia tour or a guided tour (40-minute or 60-minute). Tickets are released every Friday for the following week, so make sure to act quick!

Otherwise, you can also purchase a ticket on the spot at the Visitor Centre opposite the Meadow Building, but I can’t guarantee you will definitely get tickets!

The other colleges

Christ Church College is definitely the most visited of colleges in Oxford, mainly because of its association with the Harry Potter movies and its beauty. However, there are also many other colleges you can visit in Oxford. Have a look at the list of colleges, together with visiting instructions and prices where applicable.

Some of the most popular among visitors are the Trinity College, Balliol College, New College, All Souls College as well as the Magdalen College. They are all located within the city centre so are easily accessible by foot.

Particularly, the All Souls College is the one famous for its one-word exam, where students have to write an essay based on a single word given. The exam was meant to test a student’s analytical ability and intellectual depth, but was then abolished in 2010.

From outside Radcliffe Camera, you can take a peak into the All Souls College in case you miss its short opening time of 2-4pm.

2. Visit the Bodleian Library including the Radcliffe Camera

The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford and is spread across three buildings in the city of Oxford – specifically the Weston Library, Old Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera. It officially opened in 1602 and is without doubt one of the oldest libraries in Europe.

Radcliffe Camera in particular, is built in a unique circular neoclassical design and is one of the iconic landmarks in Oxford.

The Bodleian library is also one of the most beautiful in the UK, but the only way to visit it is through one of the Bodleian tours. As mentioned earlier, you can either book your tickets online (tickets are released for booking exactly 1 month in advance) or in person at Weston Library first thing in the morning. Either way, tickets do sell out very quickly so you need to be quick!

3. See the world’s largest single room used for selling books at Blackwell’s Bookshop

Right next to Weston Library is the historic bookshop of Blackwell’s. Blackwell’s Bookshop started off as a 12-foot-square shop in 1879 before its expansion to its size today. Presently, the bookshop actually holds the Guiness World Record for the largest single room in the world used for selling books! Specifically, this is the underground Norrington Room.

The Norrington Room today holds over 3.5 km (2 miles) of shelves in a space of 10,000 square feet, containing over 150,000 books!

The bookshop of today spans multiple levels selling various academic texts and books for general reading, and also houses a cafe within!

The bookshop is free to enter, so why not make a visit?

4. Imagine a graduation in Sheldonian Theatre

Opposite across from Blackwell’s Bookshop is the Sheldonian Theatre. This 17th-century building is designed by Sir Christopher Wren and used as the official ceremonial hall for the University of Oxford. In particular, the matriculation and graduation ceremonies for the university are held here.

When there are no ceremonies taking place, you can either take a self-guided visit for £8.25 or choose from various guided tour options. A self-guided visit allows you to visit the auditorium where the ceremonies are held, as well as a climb up to the cupola in 114 steps for a view of the Oxford city.

Although you can book your self-guided tickets online, I didn’t have any problems with getting a ticket on the spot. But if you’d like to take one of their guided tours, you’d probably be better off booking in advance.

5. Get a glimpse of Divinity School

As the name suggests, Divinity School was originally built for lectures and exams around the subject of theology. Built during the 15th century, it features an impressive and elaborate fan-vaulted ceiling, standing as the university’s oldest purpose-built room for teaching.

The Divinity School is presently being used as a multi-purpose hall for exhibitions and events venue, on top of being a tourist attraction. It is also one of the Harry Potter filming locations, used particularly for the Hogwarts hospital wing.

It costs £3 to enter the Divinity School and tickets can be purchased either online or at the Weston Library visitor information counter. Take note that although the Divinity School is part of the Bodleian Library complex, the tickets to Divinity School do not include visits to the library.

6. Visit the University Church of St Mary the Virgin

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin is a 13th century church which initially began as a place for ceremonies, lectures and library. But over the years, the library moved to the Bodleian Library and Radcliffe Camera, and the ceremonies moved to the Sheldonian Theatre. Thereafter, the church became a place dedicated to worship only.

Entry to the church is free of charge, although it costs £7 to climb the 127-step tower for the views of the city.

7. Explore the Oxford Covered Market

The Covered Market has been operating since 1774 and was built in order to ‘clean up’ the streets of untidy stalls. It now features a range of goods from raw ingredients to cooked food and from clothes to flowers. This is therefore an ideal place to take a short break, have a coffee or gelato, and then do some shopping. You can even choose to have your lunch here!

8. Have a meal at Turf Tavern

Nicely hidden away in a quiet corner of Oxford is a historic pub that began operations as far as the 14th century. This is Turf Tavern and is considered to be one of the oldest pubs in Oxford.

Even though it is tucked in a quiet corner via St Helen’s Passage, it is very close to the Sheldonian Theatre, Weston Library and the Bodleian Library. And while getting there, you can get a picture with the Bridge of Sighs (or original name Hertford Bridge).

Turf Tavern has shared a few notable historical moments with students of the Oxford University, some of which in particular, have since become public figures. For example, Bob Hawke (a former Australian Prime Minister) set a Guinness World Record of drinking a yard glass of ale in 11 seconds when he was a student here in 1963. This is also claimed to be the place where ex-President Bill Clinton allegedly experimented with marijuana, with reference to his 1992 clarification statement.

Over the years, celebrities such as CS Lewis, Stephen Hawking and more recently the Harry Potter movie casts and crew, have all frequented this pub.

I had one of their recommended dishes – the Duck Hash – served with a runny fried egg on top and that was really lovely!

If you have more time in Oxford

While the above activities are probably sufficient to occupy you for the entire day trip to Oxford, you can also consider the following activities if you have more time. Or even swap in any of them accordingly, based on your interests.

a. Punting along River Cherwell

A short walk away from the Magdalen College is River Cherwell, a river branch which then ultimately connects with the River Thames. You can either rent a private boat for your own punting, or be chauffeured in one. The latter is of course the more expensive option. You can do so either from Magdalen Bridge, or the Cherwell Boathouse. I’d say that it is more convenient doing so from Magdalen Bridge as the Cherwell Boathouse is much further up north from the city centre.

The river punting takes you through a rural side of Oxford with more green landscapes and you can read about their options and hire rates in detail on their websites linked in the paragraph above.

b. Oxford Castle and Prison

The Oxford Castle and Prison is a 1,000-year old structure that first began as a Norman fortress before it was converted into a prison. During your visit, you can climb the 101 steps up the St George’s Tower for views of the city, enter into the Crypt, as well as visit the prison wings. Entry costs £15 and is by guided tour only.

c. Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum is the University of Oxford’s world-famous museum of art and archaeology, featuring Egyptian mummies and Raphael drawings. It is Britain’s oldest public museum and also the world’s first university museum. Entrance is free and is also near the city centre.

d. Museum of Natural History & Pitt Rivers Museum

Both the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum are housed within the same complex and can be visited at the same time. The Museum of Natural History displays zoological collections including the remains of the dinosaur Megalosaurus as well as the soft tissues of the extinct Dodo bird.

The Pitt Rivers Museum displays artifacts on anthropology and archaeology housing over 500,000 items on human and cultural history – from tools and weapons to jewellery, textiles and musical instruments.

Entry to both museums are free and you might notice that I’ve not indicated their locations in the Oxford map shown earlier. But they are not far off from the city centre – just 10 minutes walk north from Weston Library.

e. Graves of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis

As mentioned earlier, famous authors such as JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis lived and studied in Oxford. Fans of them may be happy that it is possible to visit their graves, both of which are located just outside of the Oxford city centre.

JRR Tolkien’s grave can be found about 5 km (3 miles) north of the city and you can reach it by buses 2, 2A, 900, S4 or S7 and stop at the Five Mile Drive stop.

CS Lewis’ grave can be found a similar distance away but on the east of the city and you can reach it by buses 8 or X20 to the Gladstone Road stop before taking another 10 minute walk.

f. Take a Harry Potter or a literary walking tour

If you are fan of Harry Potter, then you definitely cannot miss taking Harry Potter walking tour of the various filming locations in Oxford. That may include some of the sights mentioned above such as the Divinity School as well as Christ Church College.

You could even go on a literary themed walking tour that would cover insights into the lives of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, their favourite haunts as well as their inspirations to their literary works.

Take a moment to find some of these tours from Get Your Guide* below:

What I did

Altogether, I’ve been to Oxford twice. The first time was in September 2017 when I was there for a day trip and took an Oxford walking tour. The tour took us along the route from Blackwell’s Bookshop, past the Bridge of Sighs, Sheldonian Theatre, Radcliffe Camera, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and then ending off at Christ Church College. We had a meal in Oxford too but that was about what we had time for.

I finally had a chance to visit Oxford again in May 2026, when I managed to see the interior of those sights I saw years ago. I popped into the Blackwell’s Bookshop’s Norrington Room, visited the auditorium and cupola of the Sheldonian Theatre, entered the Divinity School and University Church as well as took a guided tour inside Christ Church College.

However, I did not manage to get myself tickets to the Bodleian Library because the tickets were all sold out.

And as you might already guess from the lack of photos, that I have not visited any of those additional items I listed. I plan to return to Oxford again, and this time I plan to cover the Bodleian Library, Oxford Castle and Prison as well as the Museum of Natural History.

My thoughts on Oxford

Oxford on first look felt like an ordinary city, especially if you arrive by train. But as you walk towards the city centre and visit the interior of the medieval buildings, you find an incredible charm about the place. It is no wonder why the place has created so much inspiration for literary works over the years, as well as drawn so much attention from the Harry Potter films. So make sure you don’t just walk on the outside. You have to see the inside of those buildings because they sure are impressive!

I am definitely planning for a third visit!