Oxford
Thirty-nine colleges, a domed library on a cobbled square, punts on the Cherwell, and a business airport twelve kilometres to the north.
- Arrival
- London Heathrow · LHR
- To the city
- About 80 minutes from Heathrow by coach
- Private jets
- London Oxford Airport, 12 km north, 1,552 m runway
- Best time
- June to September
The city
Quads, domes and the river.
Oxford is a university town in the literal sense: thirty-nine colleges fill the centre, each behind its own lodge, and most open their gates to visitors in the early afternoon. The Bodleian Libraries, the largest academic library system in Britain, gather round cobbled Radcliffe Square, where the round Radcliffe Camera stands; Wren's Sheldonian Theatre was built in the 1660s. In term, college choirs sing Evensong in the late afternoon.
The Ashmolean was Britain's first public museum, and the Pitt Rivers, founded in 1884, keeps more than 700,000 objects. The Covered Market holds over fifty independent traders, and the Cherwell Boathouse hires out more than eighty handmade punts for an hour on the water. Summer brings highs of 19 to 22 °C and the longest evenings.
Arriving
Kidlington for jets, Heathrow for airlines.
Oxford has its own business airport at Kidlington, twelve kilometres north of the city. Airline passengers come in through Heathrow, about eighty minutes away on the coach that runs round the clock.
- Amsterdam 55 min
- Frankfurt 1 h 15
- Lisbon 2 h 25
- Beirut 4 h 55
- Johannesburg 12 h 05 long-range jet
When to go
June to September.
Mild and evenly wet, with rain spread thinly across every month. June to September are the warm months, with highs of 18 to 22 °C; July is the warmest. Winter days hold around 7 °C.
- 7° J 56
- 7° F 41
- 10° M 51
- 13° A 46
- 16° M 56
- 19° J 56
- 22° J 48
- 21° A 58
- 18° S 56
- 15° O 56
- 10° N 53
- 7° D 64
What to see and do
Days in and around Oxford.
-
Landmark
Radcliffe Square
The domed Radcliffe Camera at the heart of the Bodleian Libraries, seen whole from the cobbles around it.
-
Landmark
The Ashmolean
The university's museum of art and archaeology, and the first museum in Britain opened to the public.
-
Landmark
The Pitt Rivers Museum
More than 700,000 objects, photographs and manuscripts, collected under one roof since 1884.
-
Culture
Christ Church
Re-founded by Henry VIII in 1546, the college shows visitors its Great Hall of the 1520s, Tom Quad and a cathedral that was once St Frideswide's priory church.
Official site -
Culture
Blenheim Palace
Vanbrugh built the Duke of Marlborough's palace between 1705 and 1722; Churchill was born here, and Capability Brown shaped the 2,000 acres of park.
Official site -
Nature
Oxford Botanic Garden
Planted in 1621 as a physic garden beside the Cherwell, the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain grows more than 5,000 species on 4.5 acres.
Official site -
On the water
Cherwell Boathouse
Thomas Tims built this punt station on Bardwell Road in 1904, and its fleet of 75 punts still goes out on the Cherwell.
Official site -
Opera & music
Sheldonian Theatre
Built by Christopher Wren for the University and finished in 1669, the theatre seats up to 700 for concerts under Robert Streater's painted ceiling, and its cupola opens to visitors.
-
Opera & music
Evensong at New College Chapel
Most days in University term the New College Choir, part of William of Wykeham's foundation of 1379, sings Evensong in the fourteenth-century chapel.
Official site
On the calendar
Dates to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
-
16–19 Mar 2027
Horse racing
Cheltenham Festival
Four days of National Hunt racing in the Cotswolds, ending with the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the Friday.
Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, about 58 km away
In 4 months
-
2–4 Jul 2027
Formula 1
British Grand Prix
Round 10 of the 24-round 2027 Formula 1 World Championship, held at Silverstone Circuit with a Sprint race.
Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, about 39 km away
In 8 months
Where to stay
A parsonage in town, manors in the Cotswolds.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Old Parsonage Hotel A seventeenth-century house of 35 rooms where Oscar Wilde signed the guest book, and the first hotel in the city to win a Key.
- Thyme Two MICHELIN Keys for a cluster of seventeenth-century estate buildings turned into 31 rooms, with a spa and a spring-fed pool open in summer.
- The Feathers Hotel at Woodstock Twenty-three rooms in a building from the 1600s on Market Street, once a sanatorium.
- Artist Residence Oxfordshire A sixteenth-century farmhouse that became a village pub, now fifteen rooms mixing antiques with contemporary art.
Where to dine
A star in the county, and a fire in Burford.
Nut Tree Inn holds a MICHELIN star; Wild, Pompette and The Nest are in the MICHELIN Guide selection. Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is closed until 2027.
- Nut Tree Inn One Michelin star Modern British £££ Murcott, Oxfordshire
- Wild MICHELIN Guide Modern ££££ The Bull, Burford, about 27 km west
- Pompette MICHELIN Guide French £££ Oxford
- The Nest MICHELIN Guide Modern British £££ Woodstock, north of Oxford
Elsewhere in United Kingdom
More reasons to come.
-
London
Mayfair, the West End, and Farnborough or Biggin Hill for the jets.
- Edinburgh The Royal Mile, the Georgian New Town, and the festival in August.
- Bath Georgian crescents and the Roman baths.
- Ascot Royal Ascot in June, forty minutes west of London.
- St Andrews The home of golf, on the coast of Fife.
- St Ives Harbour, galleries and the beaches of Cornwall.
Flying to Oxford?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.