How to spend a day in Oxford
In the order I'd do it.
Oxford is an hour from London and easily done in a day. Coffee by the canal, the buildings you've seen in films, the biggest bookselling room in the world, and a pub with a very good guest list.
Start with coffee and cake
The Paper Boat Café
A charming café on the water at Folly Bridge, with outdoor tables looking onto the canal and a delicious cake selection. It’s about twenty minutes on foot from the station, or a short bus ride, but it’s worth the walk, especially on a sunny day.
📍The Old Toll House, Folly Bridge, Oxford OX1 4LB
Walk around the Oxford you’ve seen in films
Radcliffe Square
Walk up to Radcliffe Square for the Radcliffe Camera, the round eighteenth-century building attached to the Bodleian that you’ve probably seen in a film or on social media. Carry on down Catte Street and you’ll find the Tower of the Five Orders on your left and the Bridge of Sighs on your right.
Worth doing: climb the tower at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin for the best view of the city, £7. It’s 127 steps up a narrow medieval spiral staircase, so not one for anyone unsteady, and children need to be at least eight.
Visit a college
New College
You can't come to Oxford and not go into a college, and New College is two minutes from the Bridge of Sighs. Walk through the chapel and the medieval cloisters, which you'll recognise from Harry Potter (the old holm oak in there is the one from Goblet of Fire), then sit in the gardens for a while.
📍 New College Lane, Oxford OX1 3BL (visitors’ entrance)
Or, if you'd rather: St Edmund Hall is right next to New College, and a smaller, quicker visit. Worth doing if you have time for both. Access can be restricted during exams and private events, so check before you go.
📍 Queen's Ln, Oxford OX1 4AR
Lunch in a pub with a good guest list
The Turf Tavern
A very old pub down a narrow alley, easy to walk past and hard to leave. Elizabeth Taylor, Ernest Hemingway, David Bowie and Emma Watson have all drunk here at some point. Not at the same time. It gets busy at weekends.
📍 4 Bath Place, Oxford OX1 3SU
The biggest bookselling room in the world
Blackwell’s
Go to Blackwell’s on Broad Street, and specifically down to the Norrington Room. It took me ten minutes to find it the first time, so: walk straight through the shop, it’s on your left, then down the stairs. Three miles of shelving in one basement room. It’s the best thing on this list.
📍 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BQ
Wander around the local market
The Covered Market
A covered Victorian market in the middle of town, full of small independent shops and food stalls. Worth going in even if you're not buying anything. Grab a coffee at Knead while you're there.
📍 Market St, Oxford OX1 3DZ
Worth doing: If you have time, visit Christ Church. Another Harry Potter one, including the sixteenth-century Bodley Staircase that everyone recognises. Book well ahead, because it sells out. Tickets for the following week go on sale each Friday at around 10am.
📍 St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1DP